Geert Wilders is guilty of nothing more than thinking he lived in a free country
Dear Geert Wilders,
What a sad day. In amongst the predictions of a global meltdown and government’s fighting for their survival, it strikes me as a strange time to attack you – but attack you the Dutch government has. Your film entitled Fitna (which can be viewed HERE) caused quite a stir in political and religious circleson its release. I wrote to you at the time expressing my support for freedom of speech and your right to express whatever views on Islam you wished. Sadly, the Dutch government has finally caved in and you are to be charged for making ‘anti-Islamic’ remarks.
The Amsterdam Appeals Court had some startling remarks to justify their prosecution. “In a democratic system, hate speech is considered so serious that it is in the general interest to… draw a clear line.” The three judges said that they had weighed your “one-sided generalisations” against your right to free speech and decided that you had gone beyond the normal leeway granted to politicians. The court case will revolve around proving that you are guilty of “inciting hatred and discrimination, based on comments by him in various media on Muslims and their beliefs” the court said. “The court also considers appropriate criminal prosecution for insulting Muslim worshippers because of comparisons between Islam and Nazism made by Wilders,” it added. This is truly disturbing. The judges have in essence decided that there is a line up to which freedom of speech is tolerated and after which people will be prosecuted. Naturally, there was no attempt to clarify where this line was, thereby unleashing a number of legal and moral problems. As I understand it, freedom of speech and freedom of expression are pretty much all-or-nothing. You can’t have partial freedom of expression, in which individuals can criticise others but not too much in case they upset them. Who cares if you make “one-sided generalisations”? Didn’t Jerry Springer The Opera make one-sided remarks about Christianity? Did the recent conflict in Gaza make hundreds of thousands of people take sides and make one-sided generalisations about their opponents?
The question of whether you incited hatred and discrimation is surprisingly straightforward. While your movie was clearly designed to hit a nerve, Fitna made no calls for violence against Islam and did not demand hatred or loathing; it merely sought to portray the religion in an unflattering light. I see no evidence of discrimination, unless one decides that all criticism of a particular religion is discrimination. A quick look at the banners being waved around at pro-Israel and pro-Hamas rallies over recent weeks makes me think that Western governments are being awfully selective when it comes to allowing or disallowing attacks on religious groups. Apparently comparing Islam to Nazism is also against the law – a bizarre suggestion given the number of commentators who have compared the Israeli government to the Nazis during the recent troubles in the Middle East. If you are guilty then so are they, yet I hear little in the way of prosecutions. You described this judgement as an “attack on the freedom of expression” and went on to say that “participation in the public debate has become a dangerous activity. If you give your opinion, you risk being prosecuted. …”Who will stand up for our culture if I am silenced?” That is a very interesting question to which I have no answer.
I have no doubt that your Freedom Party (PVV), which has 9 MPs in the lower house of parliament, thrives on tapping into the fear and resentment of Muslim immigrants. The Dutch government call this ‘offensive’ illegal – I call it democracy. In the UK, the British National Party (BNP) similarly prey on fear and misinformation and they continue to make progress in local and national elections because of this. Unfortunately, as in the Netherlands, rather than take on critics of religion in the open the authorities cower away and undermine freedom of expression by appeasing those on the receiving end of the criticism – in this case, Islam. Yet again, the concept of ‘living in a free country’ feels like a distant memory.
Yours sincerely,
A.Tory
Witanagemot Blogs
“This is truly disturbing. The judges have in essence decided that there is a line up to which freedom of speech is tolerated and after which people will be prosecuted.”
And you can bet some pretty unsavoury characters will be watching this in the UK with an eye to bringing in here…
And you can bet some pretty unsavoury characters will be watching this in the UK with an eye to bringing in here…
Julia, that’s a terrible way to talk about the Home Secretary, Communities Secretary and the Leader of the House. And here we’d do it properly by extending the blasphemy law to any old ‘religion’, as Hindus and Muslims and Roman Catholics have sought for so very long!
The line is fairly easy to understand.
We have complete and total freedom to express our opinions. So long as those opinions are deemed acceptable by the authorities.
I am increasingly concerned at (a) the government’s failure to stand up for freedom of expression, and (b) the opposition parties’ failure to make an issue of the government’s failure to stand up for freedom of expression.
You can love or hate Geert Wilders as much as you wan’t, personally I think the guy is a moron, but there is so much more at stake here than a silly YouTube film.
“Julia, that’s a terrible way to talk about the Home Secretary, Communities Secretary and the Leader of the House.”
Among others…
I am increasingly concerned at (a) the government’s failure to stand up for freedom of expression, and (b) the opposition parties’ failure to make an issue of the government’s failure to stand up for freedom of expression.
Because we refuse to engage directly with the fact that we are basically engaged in a religious war against self-defined muslims who’s aims have widespread support throughout the global ‘muslim’ community as to do so would force our own elites to question their own Abrahamic religions, all that is left for them is to appease. Churchgoing CoE, Roman Catholics and Jews are represented much more heavily in Parliament than in the country at large, giving them disproportionate influence over our policy. Instead they dissemble that we’re fighting muslims over their ‘grievances’, from Gaza to Kashmir to unemployment in the UK. If we listened to our enemies, they say quite clearly why they fight – they fight against infidels, Jews who are as pigs to them and against our freedom.
Secretly, I’d suggest, they are hoping that if they can hoodwink our society into appeasing Islam then they’d be able to force us to not criticise their own
fairy storiesreligionsBlair’s decision to introduce laws on inciting religious hatred never got the criticism that they deserve. Appeasement in terms of cultural and ethnic groups in the UK will make achieving an integrated society an even more difficult goal than it already is.
Unless the government starts standing up for this country and its values, we’re going to end up in a country full of fear and resentment – and no doubt this will eventually spill over into something rather unpleasant (and that includes the BNP getting an MP).
Agreed. Please add my signature to that.
Liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one’s thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist. That, of all rights, is the dread of tyrants. It is the right which they first of all strike down. “Frederick Douglass”
It’s hard to work out whether this situation is being driven by our authoritarian masters in government, seeing as other Western governments appear to be following suit so readily.
Mind you, the Netherlands has born the brunt of the attacks and now appears to be caving, but Gordon Brown has no such excuse – a simple case of cowardice and appeasement.
And that from the man who (supposedly) wrote a book on ‘Courage’ too…
Perhaps we wrote the book in a quest to find out what the word meant? Seeing as he clearly hasn’t got the answers to the financial crisis, it wouldn’t surprise me if he didn’t have the answers to a lot of other things.
Maybe it was Ghandiesque but suffered at the hands of a sub-editor.
‘Courage: It would be quite a good idea if we got some’
I can’t weigh it up how the court can say all this and still be said to remain “impartial”? – Okay, suppose he’s charged and brought before the court. How will he be given any kind of fair hearing if the court has already decided what view it holds of what is alleged ( by the court ), against him?
It strikes me that he has a case against the court itself in such a matter if the outcome goes against him.
The prosecution certainly didn’t mince their words. Trying to find an impartial jury will probably take them forever, assuming that it’s possible.
No but since the appellate court instructed the prosecution, should a lower court find Geert guilty and he appeals, surely if that appeal is before that appealate court, any verdict to uphold a guilty verdict would look prejudiced. Which would, I suspect, quickly make its way to the ECHR for overturning, should Holland’d supreme courts not do the trick first.
.
FREE Partij voor de Vrijheid! The Koran shouldn’t be banned. Mein Kampf isn’t a ‘Holy Book’, but it shouldn’t be banned either, but you should be able to criticize it and the idiots who agree with it.
As many sane people know, Geert Wilders is NO racist. He is simply against out-of-control immigration; and against immigrants who won’t assimilate. He is also very much against the ones who kill their own daughters and sisters for their ‘family honor’.
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absurd thought –
God of the Universe says
don’t criticize religions
just use Christian words
substitute for Islam’s words
.
here’s an absurd thought -
your Supreme God knew
Jesus as a pedophile
and a raping terrorist
converting slaves by the sword
.
Muslims are not a ‘race’ anyway, they are followers of a religion/ideology and its Sharia Law. Most Muslims aren’t even Arabs, which by the way, is also not a ‘Race’.
But their duty is, according to their Koran, to spread Sharia law over the whole Earth. It might take 100-200 years, if they succeed.
Is that the kind of world we want for our great-grand childrens’ great-grand children? A Taliban Planet? I bet not. Muslims are the biggest victims of Islam. Wilders is NOT against Muslims, he is against Islamic Fundamentalism.
We all should read the Koran, but be careful, for the Koran prohibits non-Muslims from reading it. I wonder why.
This is BIG, this is REAL BIG! SPREAD THE WORD to the world everyone! The EU Mandarins have crossed the line! If this goes to court, how much more of the public will become aware of this tyranny?
All real freedom starts with freedom of speech. If there is no freedom of speech, then there can be no real freedom.
The Christians and Jews don’t riot when somebody makes fun of Christ or Jews. People must learn to be civilized, and held to account when they are not. Muslims included.
Geert Wilders is a hero spreading the painful truth. He MUST be protected!
.
here’s an absurd thought -
your Supreme God says
Christians are a race
who love the Jewish race
and the peaceful Buddhist race
.
absurd thought -
God of the Universe wants
Sharia Law for ALL
submit to glorious life
slavery and servitude
.
absurd thought -
God of the Universe says
outlaw self-defense
exposing violent crimes
shall be deemed hate speech
.
absurd thought -
God of the Universe says
decide to change your race
just simply change religions
your religion is your race
.
All real freedom starts with freedom of speech. Without freedom of speech there can be no real freedom.
.
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