Progressive colonialism must end

By Bill Connor, Op-ed Contributor Wednesday, September 21, 2022

Though it has received scant coverage, the recent Belgrade “EuroPride 2022” event created a great deal of controversy in Serbia.

Serbia is a conservative Orthodox country, while EuroPride is a radical LGBTQ+ parade (the event included marchers showing naked buttocks and other such scenes).

Prior to the event, the majority of Serbian Leaders, from Orthodox Church leaders to political leadership, opposed the event, along with the majority of the conservative Serbian population. The President of Serbia had promised Serbians that “The parade will not be held and that decision will not be changed.” Sadly, the pressure from the EU and the Biden administration was just too much, and he had to reverse course.

Those pushing the parade claimed there would be as many as 40,000 marchers, and yet an estimated 150 showed up, with half being European and American diplomats like Biden’s Ambassador to Serbia, Christopher Hill. After the event, Hill tweeted “Successful EuroPride 2022 (Belgrade) affirms Serbia’s European future.” In context, this tweet was a clear message that if Serbia had not given in to pressure for EuroPride, it would not have a future in Europe. Almost every country in the EU, or seeking EU membership, was basically required to hold a EuroPride march. All of this is part of the ongoing and increasing progressive colonialism.

First, progressive colonialism is seen most clearly in the demands by European and American progressive elites for things like EuroPride. Yet this dynamic goes well beyond the forced celebration of gay “marriage,” and involves pushing other progressive priorities. Priorities like suppression of conservative speech as “hate speech,” the pushing of a radical “green” agenda, and the promotion of progressive social justice concepts. It’s become so bad that even some traditionally liberal western nations have started pushing back. For example, the left-of-center French President Emmanuel Macron has spoken out against the American woke culture that seems to be slipping into French society, as well.

The most insidious aspect of progressive colonialism has been the heavy-handed way it shuts down all manner of opposition. Those fighting against progressive colonization become vilified and stigmatized as bigots. It goes so far as to threaten opponents with criminal penalties over unpopular speech. Former U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Janice Rogers Brown puts it like this: “If speech opposes that preferred narrative, we are told it is itself an act of violence. So, speech is violence. And responding to such speech with actual violence is an act of self-defense. I think that this is at the core of what is happening to us.”

The new progressive colonialism fits the pattern of the system we all decry in the modern era. In the case of Serbia’s coercion into EuroPride, we witness the more powerful European Union and the United States applying pressure to force Serbia to progressivism against its conservative and religious traditions. With Serbia’s neighbor, Hungary, we can see a concerted effort to have its conservative president removed from leadership despite his recent election. The EU just voted to deny Hungary billions of Euros after Victor Orban’s election. They have alleged that Hungary is not a true democracy. This follows the colonial pattern of removing opponents and elevating sympathizers of the dominant culture. For years, Progressives have been turning elite educational establishments into the means of progressive acculturation. The young are taught the glories of progressivism, including things like EuroPride, while conservative cultures are denigrated.

It’s time for progressive colonialism to end, as has colonialism of old. Ancient cultures in nations like Serbia should be respected and not denigrated and forcibly overturned. We should end the threats against non-dominant conservative cultures for not complying with progressive dogma. Free speech and self-determination are not privileges enjoyed only by the left. They are foundational rights that all human beings are entitled to. These truths must be championed as loudly as possible. We owe it to the world and to the next generations.

Bill Connor, a retired Army Infantry colonel, author and Orangeburg attorney, has deployed multiple times to the Middle East. Connor was the senior U.S. military adviser to Afghan forces in Helmand Province, where he received the Bronze Star. A Citadel graduate with a JD from USC, he is also a Distinguished Graduate of the U.S. Army War College, earning his master of strategic studies. He is the author of the book Articles from War.