The Persecution of Geert Wilders Continues

Gates of Vienna reported yesterday that the defence team acting on behalf of Geert Wilders have discovered that he may be being prosecuted for things he never actually said.

They claim that some of the quotes listed on the charge sheet against him were said by the late, great Oriana Fallaci, whom he was quoting.

This is a very interesting development. But sadly, a man in Mr Wilders' position must get used to being misquoted and having his views distorted, often to a fantastical degree.

Recently, I stumbled upon this thread from the 'Dutch News' website. Here is the story:

'Three boys have been given community service of 50 hours for posting threats against MP Geert Wilders on his website.

The boys, aged 12 and 13 at the time, visited Wilders' website during a school anti-racism project and used the digital contact form to leave their messages, reports news agency ANP.

One text, inspired by rap rhythms, read: 'Geert Wilders, we will take you to the cellar. Then I will hit you and you won't see clearly any more'.

The public prosecution department had called for suspended juvenile detention sentences of up to two weeks.'

So a teacher, a public servant with wages paid by the taxpayer, gets her pupils to log onto Wilders' site to see an example of a racist.

This is wrong for so many reasons, and to be honest it was the first part of the story that jumped out at me, closely followed by the rap lyrics and the insinuation that these boys of 12 and 13 would like nothing more than to beat some sense into him.

What if a teacher who planned to vote for Wilders used his site as an example of the dangers of Islam, or a man who loved his country and culture?

I somehow doubt that would be accepted.

It seems I was alone in noting these aspects of the story, however. The first commenter, 'Osita', writes:

"But surely they were only exercising their Right to Freedom of Speech?
Wilders is really so scared of 12 year old boys? He is a joke.
I demand a tax rebate for all the money wasted funding this monkey's publicity machine (apologies to any monkeys who feel insulted by such association)."

By osita February 17, 2009 11:37 AM

Quite how someone could so spectacularly miss the point is beyond me. How is leaving death threats for someone 'freedom of speech'?

Why does 'being scared' come into it? They broke the law, they were punished (sort of). If Wilders is such a joke, such a big scaredy cat, why didn't he run away to the US after what happened to Theo van Gogh? Why does he continue with his work, knowing how real the threat is?

Incidentally, I'd be interested to see how 'Osita' feels about the idea of a tax rebate to cover the costs of violent immigrant criminals who make up a large percentage of the prison population, or welfare benefits for their families.

On the same subject, I stumbled across the following post on the blog 'P.I. Bill Warner', regarding Wilders' current poll lead.

In it, he tells several outright lies; Wilders is a pompous bigot, Wilders is like Hitler, 'Fitna' is like 'The Eternal Jew', Wilders wants to deport all Muslims, the Dutch are naturally racist people and we know that because they invented apartheid, etc etc.

Frankly, at points his hatred for Wilders and distaste at the Dutch for supporting him seem to border on the pathological. He has defaced the photo I display at the top of this post and on my sidebar with a crude 'Hitler moustache' and the words 'neo-Nazis support Geert Wilders'.

He calls Wilders 'a snake in the grass with an agenda', whilst insisting, against all the facts and logic that criticising Islam is just like anti-semitism. He also advocates that Wilders be jailed for his political opinions.

I left the following comment:

"A few facts you might be interested in:

Wilders has never, ever said he would ‘deport all Muslims’. What he has said is he’s concerned about radicalised Muslims and terrorists and the estimated 5-15% of the Muslim population which supports them, implicitly or otherwise.

He has talked about stripping violent criminals with dual-nationality of their Dutch citizenship and deporting them on a ‘3 strikes and you’re out’ basis. I personally don’t see what is wrong with this - citizenship as an immigrant is a privilege, not a right. All countries have the right to say who can come in and who can settle - it’s called sovereignty.

You also claim the PVV is a ‘one issue party dedicated to sowing racism’ and (so very imaginatively) compare Mr Wilders to Hitler.

Firstly, the PVV is a classical Dutch liberal party (conservative in the British tradition). It is not Mr Wilders who sows racism, but the violent individuals from immigrant communities who will not integrate and treat their host society like some conquered province. Have a look at the Dutch prison statistics, post them, then argue Wilders is wrong - I dare you.

How is it that Mr Wilders is the Nazi? He does not preach violence or hatred, he simply exposes people who do. Someone like yourself who advocates that people be thrown into prison for their political beliefs should be very careful about bandying around the n-word in any case.

As far as I can tell, this nonsense is projection - you’re afraid of Wilders and therefore you want to silence him. You can’t do so with logical, rational debate, so you opt for prison and making him fear for his life instead.

It’s about time the political elites of the West started listening to the people, not locking up anyone who does.
Comparing anti-semitism to Wilders sentiments on Islam is a logical fallacy. You know it is.

The Nazis hated all Jews, even ones who didn’t practice or even converted to other religions. They didn’t hate their ideas, but their genes, because the Nazis were, generally speaking, irrational psychopaths.

Wilders is simply challenging Islam, which is a faith - a set of ideas and beliefs someone willingly holds. Why should they not be questioned like any other belief?

Tell me, if challenging Islam makes you a racist, which race is it you hate? The Arab Muslims, black Africans, Slavic Bosnians, Indonesians, Chinese Hui?
I look forward to your response."

Comment by The Venerable 1st Earl of Cromer March 5, 2009

How did Mr Warner react? He called me a neo-Nazi and deleted my comment.

Nice to know that freedom and tolerance are alive and well amongst those who hate the Nazis.