Category Archives: Netherlands

Wilders claims unstoppable ‘anti-Islam wave’ is sweeping Europe

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Wilders posterIn an interview with Dutch news channel NU.nl, Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders says that his party’s ideas are striking a chord with increasing numbers of people across Europe. Mr Wilders spoke of an unstoppable “anti-Islam” wave. “We are having our own little revolution down here”, he said.

The politician believes that some of the measures he wants to take in collaboration with the ruling coalition will eventually be introduced across Europe. Some critics of the current cabinet’s policies say many of its intended measures are in violation of European legislation. However, Mr Wilders argues that many people in other European countries support these measures as well.

A party similar to the Freedom Party (PVV) has since been created in Germany: Die Freiheit (Freedom), led by Rene Stadtkewitz. And Mr Wilders said there were also possibilities to create such a party in the United Kingdom. It would fill the gap between the allegedly racist British National Party and the conservatives.

“The time that the CDU (German Christian democrats) and the CDA (Dutch Christian democrats) could ignore problems is definitively over. It is not a temporary comet or something like that. The genie is out of the bottle and it will never be put back in again. Never again.” He said the fear for new PVV-like parties would ensure that many of the cabinet’s anti-immigration policies found widespread support across Europe.

RNW, 28 February 2011

Wilders plugs anti-Islam book

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Geert Wilders is writing a book about the history of Islam that argues it is not a religion but an ideology.

The book, which was to be published in the first half of 2011, is now due to appear in the second half of the year, Mr Wilders told news website NU.nl. The initiative for the book, Mr Wilders says, comes from the United States, where it will appear first, to be followed by a Dutch translation. Mr Wilders also revealed he is working on a continuation of his short anti-Islam film Fitna, but he couldn’t yet say when it would be completed.

Regarding the unrest in the Arab world, the far-right politician claims that democracy will not take hold in the Maghreb and the Middle East unless people turn away from Islam. He warned that things could go either way and the future could see regimes that are even worse than those of ousted Presidents Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia or that of Libya’s Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

RNW, 26 February 2011

Dutch broadcaster removes anti-Wilders cartoon after threats to staff

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Wilders as Nazi

The website of a left-leaning public broadcaster has removed a cartoon depicting a plan by the far-right PVV party as a Nazi death camp following serious threats to its staff.

The cartoon, by Adriaan Soeterbroek and posted on the VARA’s Joop.nl site, ridiculed a PVV plan to create “hooligan villages”, likening them to a Nazi concentration camp with PVV leader Geert Wilders showing the inmates into a shower. Millions of people, mostly Jews and Roma gypsies, were killed in Nazi gas chambers masquerading as showers.

The VARA says it removed the cartoon after careful consideration, saying that while freedom of expression is a key right some of its staff felt too threatened to continue working. The broadcaster has reported the incident to the police.

Continue reading →

Dutch minister forced to withdraw criticism of Wilders

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Junior farm minister Henk Bleker on Thursday backtracked on stinging criticism he made of the anti-Islam PVV at a campaign meeting on Wednesday night.

At the meeting, the minister reportedly said he wanted nothing to do with the PVV, which has an alliance with the ruling minority CDA and VVD government.

Bleker, a CDA politican, said on Thursday he should have made it clear it is only some of the PVV’s standpoints which he objects to.

During Wednesday’s meeting, Bleker was quoted as saying the PVV’s call for a ban on Muslim headscarves make him feel sick and that party leader Geert Wilders’ suggestion that anti-social families be placed in special “scum villages” was against all forms of decency.

According to Nos television, Bleker has also apologised personally to Wilders at the behest of CDA leader Maxime Verhagen.

Dutch News, 24 February 2011

‘European free speech under attack’ claims Wilders

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Wilders posterThe Wall Street Journal has provided Geert Wilders with a platform to re-run his “lights are going out all over Europe” spiel, though suitably toned down in order to present a more respectable image toWSJ readers.

According to Wilders, “Islam is primarily a totalitarian ideology aiming for world domination” and “the Koran orders Muslims to establish the realm of Allah in this world, if necessary by force”, but he indignantly denies that he has anything against Muslims as people.

The fact that he, along with fellow anti-Muslim racists like Lars Hedegaard and Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, has been prosecuted for inciting hatred against Muslims represents a major threat to freedom of expression, Wilders claims:

“When I stand before my judges I do so in defense of free speech and human liberty. Freedom is the source of human creativity and development. People and nations wither away without the freedom to question what is presented to them as the truth. There is reason for concern if the erosion of our freedom of speech is the price we must pay to accommodate Islam. There is reason for concern if those who deny that Islam is a problem do not grant us the right to debate the issue. I want to be able to make my case without needing to fear criminal prosecution.”

In Wilders’ world-view, of course, freedom of speech doesn’t extend to Muslims. This is, after all, the man who wants to ban the Qur’an. It doesn’t extend to his leftist opponents either. A spoof anti-Wilders website parodying the official PVV website that was set up by a Dutch anti-fascist group has now been taken offline after threats of legal action by Wilders.

Dutch senator’s call for ban on sharia law is enthusiastically welcomed by Wilders

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Roel KuiperChristian Union Senator Roel Kuiper wants to amend the Dutch constitution to include a ban on Sharia, Islamic law. Senator Kuiper made his statement in an interview with newspaper Trouw.

The Christian Union politician wants to ban Islamic law because it is “not rooted in principles which form part of Dutch culture. Our rights, the way we treat each other, our norms of good and evil have all been molded by Christianity.”

Mr Kuiper argues that Islamic law is still grounded in retaliation, while the laws of a democratic constitutional state are geared toward forgiveness, correction and reconciliation. “Our laws are not based on ‘an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth’. Our legal system applies the law, but knows reconciliation must follow.” Senator Kuiper also wants to regulate the flow of money from Arab countries to Dutch mosques. The Christian Union politician says these measures are necessary “to take the Islam debate in the Netherlands a step forward”.

Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders has enthusiastically welcomed Senator Kuiper’s proposal. “Sharia is based on the Qur’an. So this means an end to head scarves, halal food, the Qur’an etc.”

RNW, 21 February 2011

Judges rule that Wilders ‘can challenge’ Islam hate trial

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Geert Wilders trialDutch anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders has been granted the right to challenge the charges against him of inciting hatred.

The ruling was made by a new panel of judges appointed after the initial trial collapsed in October when Mr Wilders complained of bias against him. Mr Wilders’ lawyer will now be given a chance to set out the objections he made at the start of the initial trial. One of the judges told the court on Monday that if the objections were successful, “the case will be closed”.

Continue reading →