French journalist and author Dora Moutot and feminist activist Marguerite Stern have had to cancel a scheduled conference at Café Laïque in Brussels following death threats.
The event, set for October 22, was centred around Stern and Moutot’s book Transmania, which criticises the “excesses of trans ideology”.
The decision to pull out was made after death threats from trans activists were published in a manifesto on the hard-left anarchist website Paris-Lutte.info on October 14.
“They [Moutot and Stern] want us dead, and we want them dead,” the activists wrote.
In the anonymous transcript, the trans activists confessed that they had been violently targeting events and places where Moutot and Stern were staying.
“We are among those who came to confront them with ‘bladed weapons’, ‘explosives’ and with nothing in our pockets, on October 5 at the boat where Stern, Moutot and their fascist friends were gathering,” they claimed.
Following that text and apparently in fear for their lives, Moutot and Stern decided to cancel their meeting in Brussels.
“We do not wish to play with fire; we don’t want to lose an eye like Salman Rushdie, or even our lives like the journalists of Charlie Hebdo, just because a group of trans activists would find it ‘glorious’ to kill us,” Moutot wrote on social media on October 16.
ENGLISH READERS ??: With @Margueritestern, we have decided to cancel our conference at Café Laïque in Brussels on October 22. Some will be disappointed or say that we are giving up, but that is not the case. Everything we have to say is in our book Transmania.
However, we do not… pic.twitter.com/Du99oP0Nu2
— Dora Moutot (@doramoutot) October 16, 2024
Physical attacks are openly endorsed in the trans activists’ message: “We are violent and dangerous because it is necessary and imperative to be so. We are violent and dangerous because we believe it is the only valid revolutionary strategy.”
In response, Stern and Moutot have filed a complaint against the authors of the text. They have requested French interior minister Bruno Retailleau to dissolve the group Paris-Lutte.info.
According to French media outlet Le Figaro, he is now considering whether the dissolution of such groups would be an appropriate response.
Moutot reassured that she was not giving up her fight. “Some will be disappointed or say that we are giving up, but those not the case. Everything we have to say is our book” she said.
