The New English Review is holding a symposium, “Understanding the Jihad in Israel, Europe and America.” It is in Nashville, and had been scheduled since December to be held May 29 and 30 at Loews Vanderbilt Hotel. That’s today and tomorrow. On Tuesday the hotel cancelled the event for reasons the personnel refused to discuss.
Ken Timmerman looked into the matter and reports at Newsmax:
The manager of a prominent Nashville hotel cancelled a contract with a conservative foundation to hold a conference this weekend on radical Islam, apparently after learning that the group would feature a keynote address by controversial Dutch parliamentarian and filmmaker, Geert Wilders.
….Thomas A. Negri, managing director of Loew’s Vanderbilt Hotel and Office complex in Nashville, told Newsmax on Wednesday that he had taken the extraordinary step of cancelling the conference at the last minute “for the health, safety and well-being of our guests and employees.”
Negri refused to say why he felt the conference would adversely affect the “health, safety and well-being” of the hotel’s guests and employees, except to refer to the website of the New English Review, the group organizing the conference.
It turns out that the reason is certainly ideological. The New English Review publishes articles on radical Islam, and one of the presenters, Jerry Gordon, had written an article about the Somali refugees at the Tyson’s plant in Shelbyville, Tennessee — something we’ve covered extensively.
Negri appeared at a 2003 pro-immigration event on the same dias with a well-known Somali warlord, Gordon told Newsmax.
Negri seems to be deeply involved in pro-immigration and anti-assimilation activities.
Negri also serves on the board of advisors of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, TIRRC, an activist group that states its mission “is to empower immigrants and refugees throughout Tennessee to develop a unified voice” and “defend their rights.”
The coalition helped defeat an English-only amendment in Nashville. It won an award from the Migration Policy Institute, which is funded by a foundation involved in left-wing causes.
The New English Review folks found another location for their meeting, which they are not disclosing. We’re big fans of the New English Review, and wish them the best of luck in holding their symposium unmolested. And kudos to the unknown location that allowed them to come at the last minute.