Some 50% of the Dutch think Geert Wilders’ anti-immigration party PVV is on the extreme right of the political spectrum and 66% think Wilders is stimulating a fear of Islam, according to a new poll by Maurice de Hond.
And a further 46% think Wilders is encouraging a hatred of the government, the poll of 1,500 people showed.
Last week the Volkskrant leaked details of a preliminary government report on polarisation in the Netherlands which said the PVV is an ‘extreme right-wing’ grouping and a threat to social cohesion and democracy. The report’s conclusions are still being finalised.
Egads! A threat to social cohesion! Hatred of the government! Whatever shall we do? Geert Wilders may well become the new V. And as for the supposed ‘hatred’ of Muslims that Geert Wilders is fomenting, who, exactly, has established just what ’fear’ is? Is it an extreme, irrational dislike of all Muslims everywhere? Or is it a deep concern about and dislike of the conduct of certain extremist Muslims immigrating into Holland? Because if the latter, then I would say that Wilders is accomplishing the job that he’s set out for himself to accomplish.
Indeed, this poll just seems to confirm my theory: the political and media establishments simply don’t know how to handle Geert Wilders. He’s too much for them, and as such, he’s considered dangerous, particularly to the social order that those establishments enjoy so much. Or rather, this poll shows that those attitudes have filtered down to the general populace at large.
Arfan Khan, a barrister at the Chambers of Mark Littman, QC, acted for Geert Wilders. The controversial Dutch MP was barred from entry to the UK to address the House of Lords in February. That bar was overturned by the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal and he has now visited the UK. What were the main challenges in this case and the possible implications?
Finding the time to sleep in the week leading to the hearing, as was dealing with an extraordinary amount of media attention. The decision has huge implications for the freedom of speech and authoritatively states the correct applicable test for exclusion cases in general. The effect is that we should rejoice in the freedom of expression, rather than suppress it and that there can be no discrimination between UK and foreign nationals through premature exclusion.
A controversial Dutch lawmaker and fierce critic of Islam received an overwhelming positive response from a largely Jewish audience in Center City, just days after several dozen students protested outside Temple University, the parliamentarian’s first local stop. Both events took place under tight security. Geert Wilders, the leader of the Netherlands Freedom Party, has angered Muslims by claiming that terrorism and violence are central components of Islam, as opposed to products of an extremist, fringe subset.
Wilders is facing charges of incitement to hatred in his native country for producing a short film called “Fitna.” The documentary has been widely viewed on the Internet, and essentially argues that the West is under siege from radical Islam.
Wilders, who has called for limiting Muslim immigration to Europe, has portrayed himself as an advocate of free speech. He’s even become a darling in certain conservative circles.
“I have nothing against Muslims. I do have a problem with Islam,” said Wilders to a burst of applause during an Oct. 22 speech held at the Union League of Philadelphia. “The Koran is an evil book; it calls for murder, terror and war.”
Alright, here we go. I’m going to be adding in some older links, due to technical reasons that I will leave unspecified for now. If any links have already been posted in previous round-ups, well, such is life.
No, this is London. The link goes to a must-see video of “protestors” — barbarians of death of destruction — voicing their “objections” (“head on a stake”) to Geert Wilders’ continued existence (snapshot below).
that, in Islam, the punishment for anyone who insults the prophet — peace be upon him, of course — is capital punishment. He should take the lesson from Theo van Gogh and others who’ve faced the punishment.
So say Muslim demonstrators in the United Kingdom. Welcome to the birthplace of the Magna Carta, here. [Thanks to Diana West.]
Andy, be fair. That nice young gentleman does add:
The one who insults any of the Prophets, kill him. That is the capital punishment.Not necessarily that I personally am going to carry it out…
Awfully decent of you. And no doubt a tribute to the awesome assimilationist powers of the advanced social democratic state. As for the basic message:
Obviously all these people who insult Islam they are under constant protection, they don’t live a life. So they should learn from that…
You’d be surprised how many people already have. (Tim Blair has a poem about it.)
These young men are, de jure, British subjects and, de facto, the demographic energy of every city down the spine of the country. “Islam will dominate!” they yell, impatient that it doesn’t already, not entirely. The delusions of multiculturalism have brought about the death of England – in nothing flat. An amazing feat.
In a stunning act of cowardice and dhimmitude, Temple University may be caving to the demands of the student jihad at Temple University to cancel Geert Wilders.
“We strongly urge that his invitation be rescinded immediately in order to foster appreciation of free speech that is not based on hatred and discrimination”.
CIRCA joins the College Republicans in inviting Geert Wilders to speak at Columbia University on October 21st, at 8 p.m. Mr. Wilders is a Member of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands and Chairman of the the Party for Freedom in that body. His views on Islam in the European Union and other matters have made him one of Europe’s most controversial figures. Mr. Wilders’ remarks will address issues of free speech in Europe.
CIRCA is a multipartisan organization and does not endorse Mr. Wilders or his views. As with all CIRCA speaker events, we hope Mr. Wilders’ remarks will inspire lively discussion and debate on important questions of international politics.
Check back soon or contact College Republicans at gop@columbia.edu for information on event registration and logistics.
The penalty for insulting the “prophets” is death.
Geert Wilders had better watch his back (or neck, as the case may be).
But the young Muslim at the start of the video isn’t threatening Wilders. Oh, no.
And lest you think I’m drawing too much from this, note the speaker’s reference to Theo van Gogh, the filmmaker murdered in Amsterdam by a devout Muslim for insulting Islam and Muhammad – by exercising his right to free speech. Van Gogh was Wilders’ countryman, and the Dutch lawmaker, who lives under police protection, knows exactly what message was intended.
But he’s an Islamophobe and overreacting; after all, Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance, and perfectly compatible with Western democratic liberties.
PHILADELPHIA — An anti-Islamic Dutch lawmaker’s visit to Temple University was cut short after a question and answer session turned nasty.
Geert Wilders (VIL’-durz) was escorted from the Philadelphia university’s lecture hall as some in the crowd of several hundred students began shouting jeers at the Dutch politician.
Wilders’ previous 30-minute address was met by a mixture of applause and boos Tuesday night at the public university serving about 34,000 students.
He touched on common themes in his speeches, including calling the Muslim holy book, the Quran, “an evil book” that promotes violence and intolerance.
The event was organized by a student group called Purpose and is being funded by the California-based David Horowitz Freedom Center, a foundation that promotes conservative scholarship.
It was a triumph for free speech tonight at Columbia University. Despite resistance from Columbia University administration and Columbia security efforts to limit access to the event, Wilders packed the house and was allowed to speak freely.
I watched Wilders this evening and reflected upon the whole journey that got this man to this moment. I was so grateful to this man for taking on this global encroaching monster against all odds. I have uploaded his remarks. Watch the videos. There was a little hissing and a random heckle, but they let him speak — and in the age of jihad that is huge.
And it was good.
Waiting to get in ……….who’s the guy with the sign?
Ladies and gentlemen, it is a privilege and a great honour for me to speak at this fine academic institution, which gave the world so many Nobel Prize winners. As a Dutchman, I am proud that your first Nobel laureate, in 1906, was of Dutch descent: The youngest President of the United States: Theodore Roosevelt.
I thank Columbia University for inviting me, and I also thank the US border police for allowing me to enter this great country of democracy, liberty and free speech. Ladies and gentlemen, today, the dearest of our many liberties is under attack all throughout Europe. Free speech is no longer a given. What we once considered a natural element of our existence, our birth right, is now something we once again have to fight for.
I would not qualify myself as a free man. 5 years ago I lost my personal freedom. Since then I am under 24-hour police protection. In addition some people tried to rob my freedom of speech: A Dutch Islamic organization tried to stop the appearance of my documentary ‘Fitna’. Because of ‘Fitna’ the most radical Dutch imam claimed 55.000 Euros in compensation for his hurt feelings. The State of Jordan is possibly going to issue a request for my extradition, to stand trial in Amman. I have been charged in France.
Binks of Free Canuckistan, doing that magic that he does, provides us with another good ol’ link round-up: Steynian 392. Here’s something from the post that I thought worth repeating here:
~ AWAKEN, SMELL COFFEE– The moral and intellectual vacuum of the modern university has been on display this past week. At McGill, some students– including their council– refuse to allow a free and open exchange of ideas on the deliberate killing of preborn humans. Instead, they shout down a lawfully held meeting.
At Temple University in the US, students protest Geert Wilders for presenting uncomfortable facts about the Jihad facing Eurpe and the West.
Among the demonstrators was Megan Chialastri, vice president of All Sides, an organization that seeks to promote peace between Israel and Palestine. “We feel student groups should not bring people on campus that jeopardize the safety, or just the way people feel on this campus,” she said.
“Or just the way people feel on this campus?”, is it? Words fail. Or are stifled by student thugs. McGill, Temple, UGueph, UCalgary, St. Mary’s U, and the list lengthens.
Some will say we should hearken back to the free-wheeling 60s, when all sorts of ideas were freely discussed. Nonsense: all sorts of radical ieas were freely discussed; classical liberalism, Judaeo-Christianity, Greece and Rome were off the menu, except as straw men, or spicy appetizers for Hinduism, Marxism, Orgasmism, and Ganjaism. As Jonah Goldberg has demonstrated in his book Liberal Fascism, the 60s student uprisings were just that: revolutions of self-righteous fascistic idiots against their elders, the established order, against goodness and truth, dead white men, and the very idea of a university. It was indeed the closing of the American (and Western) mind, not a rebirth, as author Allan Bloom clearly saw it.
Untruths & Consequences
The fruit, 40 years on? Ideological thought, via entrenched geezer demagogic radicalism in faculty and administration and the wider academy; political correctness and intellectual disability to deal with even the most basic assertions or logic or non-spirit-of-the-age ideas and principles. Or, just the way “people feel on this campus”, having suckled at the teat of Marxist egalitarianism, statism, radical politics, gender theory, multicultism, and hence the predictable skulls full of compliant mush.
Not all universities are like his, nor all professors. But this parent will not be dumping his kids into a bubbling stew of costly radicalism, and expecting well-educated civilized people out the other end. With modern education, you don’t get what you pay for unless you really look around and dig for the good stuff, the better places, the good profs and programs. Even if some collection of buildings was once your alma mater and the seat of good memories, don’t take it for granted that the buildings have the same content or intent in 2009: choose wisely, unless you like throwing away time and money and children. ~
That statement stands on its own merit; indeed, it may even be an understatement.
For those who don’t know his name, Geert Wilders is a Dutch politician, notable for his staunch opposition to hard-line Islamic extremism, and his questioning of Dutch immigration policies. He was responsible for a film called Fitna, which high-lighted some of the more, eh…notable comparisons between the teachings of Muslim clerics and the actions of Muslim terrorists, and he has pubicly compared the Koran to Mein Kampf.
He’s also being prosecuted for hate speech in the Netherlands, and was banned from treading on British soil, although that ban was recently repealed.
It was that prosecution which really got me involved in the man’s affairs, primarily as a news-gatherer and occasional apologist at a site that that I run called Defend Geert Wilders. But lately another thing about Wilders has nagged a little bit at my mind.
I think that ‘thing’ can probably be best illustrated by a comment that I received on Defend Geert Wilders a little while ago. The comment reads, in part:
“It’s not clear to me why so many journalists refer to Wilders as “far right”.
Because he doesn’t agree with Islam?”
And really, if you look at a lot of the media coverage of Geert Wilders, you will often run across some derivative of “Anti-Islam MP says…”; or “Far-right Dutch MP has…”; or something along those lines. The media seems hell-bent on painting the man as a Reicht-Wing,Islamophobe fascist, although, now that he runs what is probably the most popular political party in the Netherlands, to paint Geert Wilders as a fascist is to paint a majority of the Dutch population as fascist.
Ahem.
So what is the reason for this labelling? Is it malice on the media’s part? Is it some sort of partisan agenda? Do they simply dislike Geert Wilders that much?
To my mind, the answer lies in the focus of most of Geert Wilders’ attention: Islam. Islam is a very sensitive issue in Europe, and in Holland ( if you would like a very apt portrait of this issue, I would suggest some of Bruce Bawer’s work to get you started ). Indeed, it’s a matter of difficulty and discomfort in most of the Western world. Islam has raised a variety of debates that tread the fine line between reacting to a very aggressive strain of religion, and maintaining freedom ( witness the ‘Burqa ban’ debate, for instance ). This is the line which Geert Wilders is constantly walking, and I think it is this which could be used to explain the media’s seeming incomprehension of the man.
Simply put, Geert Wilders is proposing scary answers to scary questions; answers which don’t fit the nice, polite, civlized tone of discourse, and which the political and media establishments in the West just aren’t accustomed to. Subsequently, they are horrified, and seek to distance themselves from the scary proposals, even though the man making them has good intentions in mind.
I don’t support Geert Wilders in everything that he does or says. I think that he goes too far with some things. But I think that he is, at least, trying to find a solution to a growing problem in his country, and for that he should be applauded. However, in the process, he has made himself into somewhat of a harsh, scary figure, and for it he has been damned in the press, which, for all of its ‘bravery’, has grown unaccustomed to what it perceives as incivility.
Alright, here we go. I am aware that I may very well be recycling some links from the last post. Too bad. If somebody wants to cross-reference the articles and the links and then email me with a correction or something, then be my guest. Otherwise, I guess you’ll just have to suffer through…
THE HAGUE, 17/10/09 – Geert Wilders wants to organise a debate on Islam with radical British Muslims in the House of Lords in London, he said Friday after succeeding in entering the UK.
The Party for Freedom (PVV) leader said at a press conference in London that he wants to discuss Islam with the British. His preference would be to hold a debate in the House of Lords, to which both proponents and opponents should be welcome, including some 40 demonstrators who awaited Wilders after his landing with pro-Sharia and anti-Western slogans on banners.
The Muslim Student Association at Temple University is making a push to have Dutch Parliamentarian and anti-jihad advocate Geert Wilders banned from speaking at Temple University next Tuesday. In a statement issued early today, the group’s president attempted to out-do George Orwell:
The Temple University Muslim Students Association (MSA), one of the largest, most active and socially conscious student organizations on Temple’s campus, is issuing this public statement of protest concerning the invitation of Geert Wilders to address the Temple community on October 20, 2009. Geert Wilders is a far-right Dutch MP who is infamous for his anti-Islamic rhetoric and extreme hatred towards Muslims. A person who has been tried in the Netherlands Supreme Court for his hate speech concerning Islam, banned from the United Kingdom due to the threat he poses to community harmony, and is concurrently being charged for violating anti-hate laws in the European Union, should not be allowed to address the Temple community. Temple MSA speaks for the many Muslims and socially conscious students and faculty on campus when we say that the presence of Geert Wilders on our campus is a breech of Temple University’s pledge to ensure the wellbeing and safety of all students and faculty on campus. The Muslim population at Temple feels attacked, threatened, and ultimately unsafe that Mr. Wilders has been invited to voice his hate-driven opinions. The fact alone that backpacks are prohibited for entry to this event reinforces our argument that this creates an unsafe atmosphere where prejudiced, racist and vehemently hateful words will be disguised under the veil of academia.
Geert Wilders, who is head of the Freedom Party, flew into Heathrow airport this morning after winning a court battle to enter the country.
Mr Wilders had been due to host a press conference on College Green, opposite the Palace of Westminster, at noon.
However, about thirty male activists from a group called Islam for UK began chanting: “Wilders burn in hell” and “Sharia for UK”.
Brandishing banners saying, “Sharia is the solution, freedom go to hell” and “Geert Wilders deserves Islamic punishment”, the protesters were held back by about fifty policemen.
Mr Wilders was advised not to confront or walk past the protesters and instead to hold his press conference in the nearby Abbey Gardens building used by members of the House of Lords.
Gert Wilders, leader of the Freedom Party, was forced to hold a press conference inside a Lords annexe after a group of Muslim radicals stopped him from speaking on College Green in front of Parliament.
Amid chaotic scenes and a heavy police presence, protesters called for the “death sentence” to be imposed on Mr Wilders for his views of Islam.
The far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders intends to travel to London next week after an immigration tribunal ruling overturned a ban on visiting Britain.
The Home Office said it was disappointed after the tribunal rejected its claim that his presence could “inflame community tensions and lead to inter-faith violence”.
The Freedom party leader immediately announced his intention to meet Ukip’s Lord Pearson of Rannoch to discuss a showing of his anti-Islamic film Fitna later this month in the House of Lords.
Judge CMG Ockelton, who chaired the tribunal, said that Wilders’s opinions were expressed strongly and in a way that was bound to cause offence but that the right of freedom of expression was important in a democratic society.
“Substantial evidence of actual harm would be needed before it would be proper for a government to prevent the expression and discussion of matters that might form the opinions of legislators, policy makers and voters,” he said.
The ruling said there had been no evidence of public order problems or damage to community relations as a result of a previous visit by Wilders to Britain.
“It was more important to allow free speech than to take restrictive action speculatively,” said Ockelton.
The judgment goes further, saying that even if there were evidence that Wilders posed a threat to public order it would still not have been necessary to ban him because the police would have been able to ensure no disorder took place and remove him if there was trouble.
The decision to ban Wilders was taken under regulations introduced in 2006 which allow the exclusion of those who represent “a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat affecting one of the fundamental interests of society”.
Wilders, who faces trial in the Netherlands for discrimination and inciting hatred, was turned back at Heathrow in February when the then home secretary, Jacqui Smith, banned him from entering Britain. He had been coming for a screening in the Lords of his film which calls the Qur’an a “fascist book”. Smith said his presence had the potential to “threaten community harmony and therefore public safety”.
Geert Wilders, who is accused of Islamophobia, was barred from the UK in February after Jacqui Smith, the then Home Secretary, said his presence would threaten community security. He was turned back at Heathrow Airport after still trying to gain entry.
But he now plans to visit “as soon as possible” after winning an appeal against the decision at the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal.
Far-right Dutch MP Geert Wilders has been challenged to a public debate on Islam when he comes to the UK later this week.
Quilliam’s directors have announced that they wish to challenge the politician following a court ruling which overturned a Home Office decision to ban him from the country.
Quilliam believes that although many of Wilders’ public statements on Islam and Muslims are bigoted, ill-informed and offensive to people of all faiths, this is not an adequate reason to prevent him from coming to the UK given that he has not directly incited violence. Instead Quilliam believes that Wilders’ ideas, like those of non-violent Islamist extremists, should be challenged through debate and argument.
This is a total humiliation for Jacqui Smith, who requested the ban, not to mention Gordon Brown and this whole tawdry Labour Government who have conspired to diminish our precious liberties and eradicated them systematically one by one.
You are invited to attend a Legal Conference On Freedom Of Speech & Religion
At the U.S. Congressional Auditorium in Washington, DC On October 27 & 28, 2009
Featuring Keynote Speaker Dr. Michael Savage of The Savage Nation
Members of Congress and Staff are invited to attend free of charge
Presented by International Free Press Society, Liberty Legal Project International & Center for Security Policy
Co-Sponsored by Horowitz Freedom Center, The O’Leary Report, Florida Security Council
This conference will survey the legal foundations of freedom of speech and religion around the world and address emerging threats to these rights around the globe.
* The Fairness Doctrine
* Hate Speech Laws, Hate Crime Laws, and Blasphemy Laws
* The Rifqa Bary case
* Venezuela’s Media Crime Law
* The Banning of Michael Savage &
Geert Wilders from the UK
* Censorship of Citizens
* Bloggers Rights
It took a while. But Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party (PVV) will get a 5th seat in the EU Parliament (EP) in Brussels. According to the otherwise desastrous Lisbon Treaty The Netherlands will get an extra seat in the EP. This seat will go to the second biggest fraction, the PVV. This will make the PVV as big as the Christian Democrats (CDA) in the EP. It is an portent of things to come in The Netherlands.
Rarely have the limits of free speech been so hotly debated. The Unite Against Fascism group yesterday called for a blockade of the BBC’s Television Centre to disrupt the appearance of the leader of the British National Party, Nick Griffin, on the Corporation’s Question Time programme later this month. Meanwhile, the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal has overturned a government bar on the far-right Dutch MP, Geert Wilders, entering the UK. Mr Wilders and Mr Griffin are both xenophobes with poisonous views. But they are also elected representatives. Provided they stay within the law, they have a right to air their opinions, no matter how vile right-thinking people might find them.
The Philadelphia Freedom Center is honored to host an afternoon with Mr. Geert Wilders at his first public appearance in Philadelphia. Mr. Wilders is one of the world’s most outspoken voices against radical Islam, for freedom and in defense of western civilization.
Mr. Wilders, a parliamentary member in the Netherlands, is Europe’s most eloquent defender of free speech and most outspoken voice regarding the threat of radical Islam. Mr. Wilder’s short film, FITNA, will be screened. He describes this film as “a call to shake off the creeping tyranny of Islamization.” Under 24 hour protection and relentless personal threats, Mr. Wilders cannot be silenced. Net proceeds from the afternoon will go to the Geert Wilders Legal Defense Fund.
Event Details: Thursday, October 22, 2009 Union League Club, 140 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia PA 19102
Rightwing Dutch politician Geert Wilders has announced he will be travelling to London on Friday, after a court in London ruled that the British Home Office was wrong to refuse him entry to the country in February.
SOMERSET, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky girl is seeking counseling after her class at a Kentucky high school watched a short film that showed beheadings and other violence allegedly committed by Muslims, the student’s father said Tuesday.Bill Cruey said his daughter Amber, 17, was horrified by images of children being injured and dead bodies interspersed with readings from the Quran while watching the film “Fitna,” made by the anti-Islam and anti-immigration Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders.
“She’s very upset with all of this,” Cruey told The Associated Press.
Cruey said he pulled his daughter from the leadership class at Pulaski County High School that viewed the film on Sept. 11.
Pulaski County Superintendent Tim Eaton said Tuesday that the teacher’s intent was to commemorate the Sept. 11 terror attacks and discuss the dangers of extremism — “not only of Muslims but other viewpoints, too.”
“The intent of the lesson and discussion was very appropriate,” Eaton said. “However, the teacher’s choice of the clip was not appropriate, and that’s been dealt with.
“It was poor judgment on this teacher’s part.”
Eaton said the film was shown to about 10 students in the leadership class.
Eaton declined to say what action was taken against the teacher, calling it a personnel issue.
Cruey said his daughter was so upset by the scenes that a counseling session has been scheduled.
“She said she has to talk to somebody about it because those images are really upsetting her still,” he said. “She can’t believe people can be that cruel to each other.”
Since the controversy arose, he said, his daughter has been ridiculed and feels like an outcast at school in south-central Kentucky.
“She stood up for what’s right, and then everybody’s kind of teasing her,” he said.
Aly A. Farag, imam at a Louisville mosque, criticized the school for exposing students to a “very tilted and utterly hateful message about a religion.”
“They are blatantly and willingly participating in smearing a religion in front of kids who do not have the full picture,” said Farag, a University of Louisville engineering professor.
The Philadelphia Freedom Center is honored to host an afternoon with Mr. Geert Wilders at his first public appearance in Philadelphia. Mr. Wilders is one of the world’s most outspoken voices against radical Islam, for freedom and in defense of western civilization.
Mr. Wilders, a parliamentary member in the Netherlands, is Europe’s most eloquent defender of free speech and most outspoken voice regarding the threat of radical Islam. Mr. Wilder’s short film, FITNA, will be screened. He describes this film as “a call to shake off the creeping tyranny of Islamization.” Under 24 hour protection and relentless personal threats, Mr. Wilders cannot be silenced. Net proceeds from the afternoon will go to the Geert Wilders Legal Defense Fund.
Event Details
Thursday, October 22, 2009 Union League Club
140 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia PA 19102
Registration
$100 Luncheon Program with Geert Wilders
$250 VIP Reception and preferred seating
$2,500 Head table seating, VIP Reception with Mr. Wilders and special recognition
Dutch government prosecutors have announced they will put legislator Geert Wilders on trial January 20 on charges of discrimination and inciting hatred. Wilders said he wants to put Islam on trial and that he is “considering calling on radical imams and other idiots as witnesses.”
The Netherlands’ largest newspaper called it the “trial of the century.” It will begin on January 20, two months before municipal elections in which Wilders’s Freedom party is involved.
Last week, an article by the cultural anthropologist Lizzy van Leeuwen in the leftist weekly De Groene Amsterdammer (“The Green Amsterdammer”) caused a stir. She explains Wilders’s “rabid anti-immigration and anti-Islam ideas” as stemming from his ethnic mix. The article is considered to be “an intellectual attempt to analyze what drives Wilders.” According to Mrs. van Leeuwen his statements – plus the fact that he dies his hair peroxide blond – are connected to his genealogical link to Indonesia, the largest Islamic country in the world.
Of Barack Obama it is said that his worldview has been influenced by his childhood years in Indonesia, the former Dutch colony that is also said to have shaped Geert Wilders’s worldview. Van Leeuwen reveals that Wilders’s maternal grandmother, Johanna Meijer, was a member of a prominent Jewish-Indonesian family. Her husband, Johan Ording, was a regional financial administrator in the Dutch colony. According to van Leeuwen, the latter was fired while on leave in the Netherlands and reduced to poverty when the government refused to give him a pension. Van Leeuwen says that Wilders is out to avenge the injustice done to his granddad.
The Indonesian colonial background of his grandfather is also said to explain Wilders’s “far-right” opinions. She claims that in the 1930s many colonial administrators sympathized with the Dutch Nazi party NSB. After the independence of Indonesia in 1949, they were forced to leave for the Netherlands. This frustrating experience led to their attachment to patriotism and European values. Moreover, they harbored strong sentiments against Islam, the dominant religion in Indonesia. In Wilders’s case, his anti-Islamic and pro-Israeli feelings were exacerbated by the Jewish origin of his grandmother.
Van Leeuwen’s revelations – if true, because Wilders has not responded to them and keeps his private life absolutely private – do not explain, however, how Wilders’s father can have harbored sympathies for the anti-Semitic NSB while being married to a Jewish wife. That accusation makes her thesis highly unlikely, if not ridiculous.
It is astonishing, however, that leftist intellectuals in Europe no longer see a contradiction between Nazism and pro-Jewish positions. Indeed, Israel is consistently depicted by the European left as a racist Nazi-like state. Meanwhile, the Dutch media criticize Wilders for not disclosing his genealogy. “Wilders hides his family roots,” a major (center-right) Dutch newspaper headlined.
No-one ever demands (would even dream of demanding) that a leftist politician, even one from the far-left, disclose who his ancestors are in order to allow anthropologists to come up with an explanation for his crazy political views. However, a politician on the right, who is pro-Israel and opposes the Islamization of Europe, is treated like a weirdo whose “ethnic mix” has to be researched in order to explain his “incorrect” ideas. When he insists on keeping his family out of the limelight, he is accused of trying to hide something and has the media delving into the lives of his long deceased parents, grandparents and great-grandparents, trying to find the Jew, the Nazi, preferably both, and preferably both combined in one person.
A date has been set, and Geert Wilders is going to court. From Expatica.com:
A court in the Netherlands has ordered far-right politician Geert Wilders to stand trial on 20 January 2010. The leader of the Freedom Party is charged with inciting discrimination and hatred with his statements about Islam and Muslims.
The Netherlands – A court in the Netherlands has ordered far-right politician Geert Wilders to stand trial on 20 January 2010.
The leader of the Freedom Party is charged with inciting discrimination and hatred with his statements about Islam and Muslims.
In an interview in the conservative De Telegraaf newspaper, Wilders says it’s regrettable he has to face trial for what he says are merely political statements.
The lawyer defending him is the well-known Amsterdam attorney Bram Moszkowicz.
This is a blog and a gathering place for all who are opposed to Geert Wilders' prosecution under Dutch law, for the apparent crime of criticising Islam.
The last time I checked, religion was not able to dictate the terms of an entire country's speech - there is something incredibly dangerous in the precedent that this sets.
Regardless of whether or not you agree with Geert's criticisms of Islam, the issue is much larger than that. Blasphemy laws, and religious chills upon freedom of speech need to be put to an end.
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This site is all about serving as a central source for information and opinion on the Geert Wilders case. Have you seen something from around the blogosphere, or in your travels through various newspapers and websites throughout the day, that you think fits into the theme of this site? Please, by all means, let us know about it. It'd be much appreciated. Other feedback and commentary is welcome too.
Send any mail to: dresdenmorrow@gmail.com
