Every now and then I like to post what’s going on with Geert Wilders who is an important man in Europe who fights for freedom of speech in the Netherlands. This is a man who dares to break the walls of political correctness that have encircled his country for too long.
The kind of battle he’s fighting against the Islamization of the Netherlands will be the same battle fought here in the United States. The debate over the Ground Zero Mosque is only the opening salvo.
Geert Wilders is a hero!
Chicago Tribune reports: He calls Islam a "totalitarian ideology." He compares the Koran to "Mein Kampf" and wants it banned. He says that millions of Muslims who have settled in Europe ought to be deported, taking their "retarded" culture with them.
Such statements have made Geert Wilders the most controversial politician here in the Netherlands and a provocative figure abroad.
But do they also make him a criminal
For months, Wilders, 47, has been at the center of a messy legal fight that has forced the parliament member to defend himself in an Amsterdam courtroom against charges of inciting hatred and insulting an entire class of people.
Wilders insists that he is being prosecuted — and persecuted — simply for speaking the truth about a dangerous religion and its adherents. His critics accuse him of whipping up public paranoia and jeopardizing the lives and livelihoods of the thousands of Muslims in the Netherlands.
The rancorous legal battle has thrown a spotlight on the growing tensions in societies where freedom of speech and freedom of religion seem to collide.
Observers throughout Europe are closely watching the Wilders case at a time when vocal anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiment is fueling the rise of right-wing parties and politicians.
The case also resonates in the U.S., which has been dogged by controversies such as the maverick pastor who threatened to publicly burn a copy of the Koran and the heated debate over the proposed building of an Islamic community center near the site of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York.
A verdict in the Wilders case had been expected early this month. But the trial collapsed in late October after a successful procedural challenge by his lawyer, which resulted in an ordered retrial that will drag out the case for several more months.
There is no doubt that Wilders' highly charged rhetoric and anti-immigrant stance have helped boost his Freedom Party in the polls, turning him into one of the most popular politicians in a country famed for being tolerant, possibly to a fault.
During elections in June, the party won the third-most seats in parliament; Wilders, with his signature shock of ash-blond hair, is now something of a kingmaker in Dutch politics.
To his detractors, he is also a peddler of fear and hatred directed at the Muslims, who make up just 6% of the population but who Wilders constantly warns are undermining traditional Dutch society by following the dictates of a "fascist book."
"More and more people are starting to believe his paranoia," said Rene Danen, head of an anti-racist organization based in Amsterdam. "The fear is planted by Wilders, who says that the Muslims are taking over, that they're a fifth column."
More details here
The kind of battle he’s fighting against the Islamization of the Netherlands will be the same battle fought here in the United States. The debate over the Ground Zero Mosque is only the opening salvo.
Geert Wilders is a hero!
Chicago Tribune reports: He calls Islam a "totalitarian ideology." He compares the Koran to "Mein Kampf" and wants it banned. He says that millions of Muslims who have settled in Europe ought to be deported, taking their "retarded" culture with them.
Such statements have made Geert Wilders the most controversial politician here in the Netherlands and a provocative figure abroad.
But do they also make him a criminal
For months, Wilders, 47, has been at the center of a messy legal fight that has forced the parliament member to defend himself in an Amsterdam courtroom against charges of inciting hatred and insulting an entire class of people.
Wilders insists that he is being prosecuted — and persecuted — simply for speaking the truth about a dangerous religion and its adherents. His critics accuse him of whipping up public paranoia and jeopardizing the lives and livelihoods of the thousands of Muslims in the Netherlands.
The rancorous legal battle has thrown a spotlight on the growing tensions in societies where freedom of speech and freedom of religion seem to collide.
Observers throughout Europe are closely watching the Wilders case at a time when vocal anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiment is fueling the rise of right-wing parties and politicians.
The case also resonates in the U.S., which has been dogged by controversies such as the maverick pastor who threatened to publicly burn a copy of the Koran and the heated debate over the proposed building of an Islamic community center near the site of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York.
A verdict in the Wilders case had been expected early this month. But the trial collapsed in late October after a successful procedural challenge by his lawyer, which resulted in an ordered retrial that will drag out the case for several more months.
There is no doubt that Wilders' highly charged rhetoric and anti-immigrant stance have helped boost his Freedom Party in the polls, turning him into one of the most popular politicians in a country famed for being tolerant, possibly to a fault.
During elections in June, the party won the third-most seats in parliament; Wilders, with his signature shock of ash-blond hair, is now something of a kingmaker in Dutch politics.
To his detractors, he is also a peddler of fear and hatred directed at the Muslims, who make up just 6% of the population but who Wilders constantly warns are undermining traditional Dutch society by following the dictates of a "fascist book."
"More and more people are starting to believe his paranoia," said Rene Danen, head of an anti-racist organization based in Amsterdam. "The fear is planted by Wilders, who says that the Muslims are taking over, that they're a fifth column."
More details here
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