Category Archives: Netherlands

Wilders trial to resume

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Right-wing Dutch MP Geert Wilders stands next to his lawyer in an Amsterdam court charged with inciting hatred and discrimination against MuslimsThe trial of Dutch anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders for inciting hatred will resume shortly in Amsterdam with new judges, judicial authorities have said.

Mr Wilders is on trial charged with inciting hatred and discriminating against Muslims. The trial was suspended when the defendant’s lawyer raised objections against the judges. The impartiality of one of the judges was questioned when it turned out he had had a private conversation about the case with a defence witness prior to the trial.

Although the witness in question, Islamologist Hans Jansen, was present in the courtroom when the allegations were made, the court denied Mr Wilders’ attorney Bram Moszkowicz the right to question him about the private meeting with Judge Tom Schalken.

The objections made by the defence were upheld, and the judges have been replaced.

Mr Wilders rejects the charges of hatemongering against Muslims and claims that he is speaking the truth in calling Islam an aggressive ideology which promotes terrorism.

RNW, 11 November 2010

Spiegel interview with Wilders

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Wilders in New York 2Geert Wilders’ interview with Der Spiegel, in which he accused Angela Merkel of “copying” his own anti-Islam rhetoric, has already attracted attention. Spiegel Online has now published an English translation of the interview. On the subject of Merkel’s attack on multiculturalism, Wilders states:

“My party and I are a threat to the political elite in many countries. But they will not stop us. Take a look at German Chancellor Angela Merkel who is now trying to create a copy….

“Merkel is afraid – because there are opinion polls which show that a charismatic figure, if one were to emerge in Germany as I have done in the Netherlands, could count on 20 percent of the vote. I mean a figure without a far right-wing background – in other words, not from the Republikaner (REP) or the National Democratic Party (NPD). This represents a threat to the mainstream political parties, which is why they are now trying to copy us: Merkel has declared that the multicultural society has failed….

“I have never heard her say before that the multicultural society has failed. And the majority of Germans reject the statement by German President Christian Wulff that Islam is part of Germany. This means that what we have already witnessed here in Holland is now occurring in your country as well – the political elite is in turmoil…. The head of Germany’s conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), Horst Seehofer, not only says that the multicultural society is dead, but also that he wants no more Turkish and Arab immigrants.”

Continue reading →

Wilders is a fascist, says Dutch philosopher

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party is a fascist movement. That’s according to Dutch philosopher Rob Riemen in an essay sent to all members of parliament. He says he cannot understand why people are afraid to call a spade a spade.

Up to the 1990s, the fascism and Nazism of WWII marked the moral limit in Dutch politics. However, since the debate about immigration and the rise of Geert Wilders, it has become taboo to mention this. Any comparison of Wilders’ anti-Islamic party with fascism has been regarded as muddying the waters.

Nonsense, says Rob Riemen, Wilders is simply a fascist. “I don’t mean that as a term of abuse, it’s an objective historical judgment. There are numerous parallels between fascism then and now. History is there to learn from and, if we don’t, we will make the same mistakes.”

Continue reading →

Parcel bomb forces evacuation of Dutch mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A suspicious package has forced police officers to evacuate Muslim worshippers from a mosque in Netherlands, according to officials. There has been no information about who was behind the attack, according to police.

The parcel was found at a mosque located on the Bella Vista street in Almelo town in eastern Netherlands on Wednesday morning. Police announced later that the suspicious package was a homemade bomb and the mosque was opened to people on Wednesday afternoon.

PressTV, 7 November 2010

It appears that the bomb was a dud. See Islam in Europe, 8 November 2010

Wilders accuses Merkel of copying him

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders says German Chancellor Angela Merkel is copying his politics. In an interview with German magazine Der Spiegel, the anti-Islam MP said Chancellor Merkel is scared that a charismatic figure, like himself, who can attract 20 percent of the vote, will emerge in Germany.

“That is a threat to the traditional parties,” says Mr Wilders. “That is why she is trying to copy us; Merkel declared the multicultural society a failure.” The controversial politician criticised a pattern he also sees in the Netherlands; he thinks the political elite is in disarray. As an example he pointed out that CSU leader Horst Seehofer says he does not want any more Turkish or Arabic immigrants.

RNW, 7 November 2010

Wilders’ party warns of Islamic ‘right to lie’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Party for Freedom (PVV) has added a new word to Dutch vocabulary: takiyya. It says it is an Islamic rule that allows Muslims to lie to non-Muslims.

In his recently-published book, PVV MP Martin Bosma describes takiyya as “lying to strengthen Islam.” It amounts to Muslims being able to present themselves as liberal and modern, while secretly working on the introduction of the Sharia.

In a debate last week, GroenLinks leader Femke Halsema accused PVV leader Geert Wilders of making all Muslims suspect with the reference to takiyya. Wilders advised her to seek information from Islam experts.

If Halsema were to go to Maurits Berger for advice, she would not be convinced of Wilders’ views. The professor of Islam in the present-day West reacted angrily to the PVV message in De Volkskrant newspaper yesterday.

“How dare Wilders throw around Islamic terms about which he does not have a clue? Takiyya is a concept from the Middle Ages. It infuriates me that such a dogma from the past should be stuck onto the Muslims of today. It is as if you claimed that Christians think women who stay afloat are witches.”

“Only among extreme groups does this secrecy still do the rounds,” according to Berger. He considers it a “complete scandal” that Wilders and Bosma have introduced it. “This is manifest incitement to hatred.”

NIS News, 2 November 2010

EDL’s pro-Wilders demo in Amsterdam flops

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Amsterdam demoMembers of the English Defence League travelled to the Netherlands in support of far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders. The European Freedom Initiative group organised a rally against what they claim is the “growing Islamisation” of Europe.

Authorities moved the demonstration from a central Amsterdam location to an industrial site on the outskirts of the city for fear of violence. Hundreds of people were expected to attend, but the rally drew far more police and journalists than marchers.

Continue reading →

Mayor bans EDL hooligans from centre of Amsterdam

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL rioters BradfordAmsterdam mayor Eberhard van der Laan has shifted a pro-Geert Wilders demonstration, organised by the English Defence League, to the western port area in order to minimise the chance of riots.

Van der Laan said he had concrete evidence that members of the far-right EDL were coming to the Netherlands to look for a confrontation with both the police and anti-racist demonstrators.

The demonstration was due to be held on the Museumplein.

Dutch News, 28 October 2010

Wilders applauds Merkel’s stand against Islam and multiculturalism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Dutch Islamophobic politician Geert Wilders hailed German Chancellor Angela Merkel for what he termed her “critical” stance towards Islam, the daily newspaper Die Welt reported Wednesday. Addressing the Dutch parliament, Wilders said Merkel had taken over “the lead in the area of criticism about Islam”. “Mrs. Merkel, you are right,” said the head of the Dutch anti-Islam Party for Freedom.

ABNA, 27 October 2010

See also “German chancellor rejects anti-Islam accolade from Dutch far right”, DPA, 27 October 2010

In his speech Wilders also stated: “If even the chancellor says that multicultural society has completely failed, then that means something. The most important politician of the Christian Democrats in the most important country of Europe breaks a taboo and says it like it is. And she says what millions of people are thinking.”

Wilders’ party called for immigrants to be banned from amateur football leagues

Posted on by Bob Pitt

According to the Dutch newspaper Trouw, the PVV, also known as The Freedom Party, proposed a ban on immigrants in amateur soccer leagues in the Hague, claiming that soccer clubs with many immigrants are facing violence and “Islamization.” The group withdrew that proposal when it appeared to provoke outrage among other politicians.

The Hague PVV party asserted that many soccer clubs with a high number of immigrant members must deal with violence on the field and a shortage of volunteers.

The Councilor of Sports Karsten Klein responded by calling their claim “utter nonsense.” “Violence in soccer is definitely not an immigrant problem, as the Freedom Party would like people to believe,” he said. Soccer clubs have to be accessible to everyone, according to Klein.

The conflation of soccer violence with Islamicization and the influence of immigrants along with the proposed ban constitute an absurd attempt to polarize opinion on a topic as localized and unpolitical as amateur sports leagues. Luckily, the Dutch national soccer association, the KNVB disagrees: “Soccer plays a significant role in integration in the Netherlands,” it claimed in a statement responding to the ban.

Huffington Post, 26 October 2010