Ban Pro-Paedophilia Organisation

One of the more peculiar results of the Dutch tradition of tolerating dissenting opinions and mostly harmless divisive activities like cannabis use is the existence of the a political organisation carrying the banner of legalising paedophilia. This group, called Vereniging Martijn, has been around since the 1980s and has long flown under the radar of public outrage, with the only organised opposition coming from equally despicable far right, extremist parties and clubs. That is until late last year when, after the arrest of a serial child abuser in Amsterdam who turned out to have been a Martijn member, the PvdA, the Dutch Labour Party, raised (Dutch language alert) the matter in Parliament and proposed banning the organisation.

Since then little progress has been made on the matter, but events earlier this week should be a catalyst for action. Yesterday morning a 67 man was arrested on suspicion of possessing enormous quantities of child pornography, and wonder of wonders, he turned (Dutch language alert) out to be a member of Martijn. And not just a member, he was the president of the organisation. The name of this human abberation - that you may know him and his sins - is Ad van den Berg. Of course, in the interest of common decency - to which I adhere even when men like this do not - I should stress that Van den Berg has not been convicted, he is as yet only a suspect.

Still, his arrest should spurn the Dutch state into action against Martijn. The organisation's reaction to the arrest of its president should be a clarion call for outlawing it: they wrote on their website that Van den Berg had been arrested by the 'Moral Authority Police' (Moraalpolitie). In the face of the stongest evidence of his guilt, Martijn's instinctive response has been not to sever all ties that bind them and their president, but to impugn the motives of those appointed by the representatives of the Dutch people to carry out their democratic will. Instead of admitting he appears to have broken the law, they defend Van den Berg, the direct opposite response from how any honest and legitimate organisation would have reacted.

I am straining myself not to come out against Martijn and paedophilia in stronger terms, but I believe calling them monsters and scum and human garbage would give them a stature they do not deserve, they do not stand apart from society and its norms and we should not honour them by comparing them to any romanticised outlaws. They are men - overwelmingly, I don't think there are many women paedophiles - and they will have to adhere to the democratically made laws of man which have made paedophilia and child pornography illegal. And should they invoke natural law or human rights, then let us answer that natural law demands the protection of the weakest by the strong, and children are weakest of all. As for human rights, children, anywhere in the world, have the right to the maintenance of their innocence, the right to wonder bright and wide-eyed and no one has the right to steal that from them under the guise of 'consensual' sexual gratification.

Let us seize the moment and ban such an organisation that advocates the ruination of childhood. Their response to the arrest of their president Ad van den Berg has shown us that they will never accept that society will not stand for their desires, so let's make it as clear to them as possible. Ban Vereniging Martijn, that blot on the honourable national tradition of toleration of dissent.