The sequel of the movie Fitna from dutch PVV leader Geert Wilders will not be released before the upcoming elections on the 9th of June. “Fitna 2 will be spectacular but we cant get it ready before the elections.”
The controversial far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders appeared at the House of Lords today to screen an anti-Islam film and denounce the religion as “totalitarian” and incompatible with democracy.
The visit, which was originally planned for last year, sparked demonstrations from anti-fascists and a show of support from the far-right English Defence League.
Wilders, 46, who leads the Freedom party, was banned from the UK when Jacqui Smith was home secretary. She said his presence had the potential to “threaten community harmony and therefore public safety”.
Wilders succeeded in getting the ban overturned and told a press conference that he had screened his film in the Lords and discussed it afterwards in what he termed a “victory for freedom of speech”.
“I had to debate with people who disagreed with me and people who agreed with me,” he said.
Wilders said he had “nothing against Muslims whatsoever” but Islam was a “totalitarian religion”.
“Islamism and democracy are incompatible. The more Islam we have, the more freedom we will lose and this is something worth fighting for.”
Wilders, whose film describes the Koran as a fascist book, has received death threats for denouncing Islam and has been under close protection for more than five years.
This afternoon he repeated the views that have angered Muslims in Europe and across the globe, saying Islam was a “fascist ideology”, “a violent and dangerous religion and a retarded culture”.
Wilders, who visited the Lords at the invitation of the UK Independence party leader Lord Pearson and the crossbencher Baroness Cox, said: “Cultural relativism is the greatest disease we face in Europe today.”
Lord Pearson said that while he and Wilders – “a very great man” – agreed on many things he did not support his Dutch colleague’s desire for the Koran to be outlawed.
“If Geert is still calling for the Koran to be banned like Mein Kampf then I would not agree with him,” he said. “[But] the Koran should be very much more discussed among the Muslim community.”
When Wilders was asked whether he would engage with Muslims who reinterpreted their holy book in a manner more compatible with his views, he replied: “If you tear the hateful passages out of the Koran, you would get Donald Duck.”
In any case, he said, Muslims would never abandon the text of what he called “a terrible book”.
Lord Pearson denied suggestions that Wilders’s visit had been a publicity stunt designed to woo those on the far right, saying it was a multi-party event.
Asked how many people had attended the event in the Lords, he said “about half a dozen”, adding that he was not aware of any objections or boycotts.
Wilders was escorted from the press conference as a crowd of about 100 protesters from Unite Against Fascism (UAF) demonstrated against both his visit and the presence nearby of the far-right English Defence League, who had turned out to welcome the Dutch politician.
A large-scale police operation ensured that UAF and the EDL were kept well apart.
While the anti-fascists were waving placards reading “EDL+BNP=Nazi racist thugs” and chanting “EDL, go to hell, and take your Nazi mates as well”, members of the league were massing further up the Thames outside Tate Britain.
After waiting around for two hours outside the gallery and in a nearby pub, the 300 EDL demonstrators began marching towards Parliament Square just before 2.30pm.
Flanked by mounted officers and escorted by a thick police line, the EDL members wore shirts bearing the names of their divisions – Glossop, Blackburn, Oldham, Stockport, Merseyside – and carried placards reading: “Gert [sic] Wilders, England Salutes You” and “England needs a Gert [sic]“.
The point of the march appeared to have been lost on at least one EDL member. Spying a Dutch tricolour carried in salute to Wilders, he asked his fellow demonstrators: “What you got a French flag for?”
Dutch voters went to the polls in local elections yesterday, with political parties opposing Muslim immigration expected to make gains before national elections in June. The elections in 394 local authorities cover matters such as parking fees and taxes on dog ownership – in theory at least. But national politicians have stated their stances on the Nato mission in Afghanistan and immigrant crime in the hope of influencing the local vote.
The party of the prominent anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders participated in only two cities: The Hague, where most opinion polls put it in second place, and Almere, where it is running neck-and-neck with Labour. Mr Wilders faces prosecution for allegedly inciting racial hatred with remarks including calling the Koran a “fascist” book and calling for it to be banned.
Facing up to Labour leader Wouter Bos in a televised pre-election debate, Mr Wilders called for a ban on immigration from Muslim countries and especially Moroccans because “they cause problems, they cause crime, they cause intimidation and violence.
“For the people that are already here, I say: if you adapt to Dutch laws and Dutch norms and values, you’re welcome to stay,” Mr Wilders said. “But if you don’t, then you go to jail and as far as I’m concerned, out of the country.” Mr Bos responded that “we’ll only help this nation move forward if we stop thinking in terms of Muslims and non-Muslims”.
He cited examples of a prominent Dutch football player, a comedian and a politician of Moroccan ancestry and said that he doubted their religion influenced their abilities.
“I think in terms of citizens that participate in society and basically behave and those that don’t,” he said. “What their religion is, that’s not my business.” After a major wave of immigration in the 1990s, Muslims make up about 6 per cent of the Dutch population.
Anti-immigrant political parties have been a major force in Dutch politics since the national elections of 2002, when a populist called Pim Fortuyn was assassinated by an animal rights activist days before the vote. His party finished second and joined a right-wing cabinet.
Mr Wilders is seen as an heir to Fortuyn, and his Freedom Party finished in second place among Dutch parties in European elections last year.
In the current local elections, Labour saw a late surge in the opinion polls after walking out of the cabinet over Dutch involvement in the Afghanistan war last month.
Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende’s centrist government collapsed, forcing the recall of 1,600 Dutch soldiers in the province of Uruzgan at the completion of their mission in August.
Dutch national elections are scheduled for 9 June. Official results in the local elections will be announced tomorrow morning.
Source: independent.co.uk
Geert Wilders, the Dutch far-right anti-immigrant maverick, scored big gains in yesterday’s local elections in the Netherlands, according to projections last night, indicating he may dominate the political scene in the run-up to the general election in three months.
Yesterday’s poll, 10 days after the centrist coalition government collapsed, was seen as a gauge of the national mood ahead of the national elections on 9 June.
Wilders last night claimed a big victory, predicting: “We are going to conquer the entire country … We are going to be the biggest party in the country.”
With almost 400 local authorities being contested, the focus was on only two areas – The Hague and Almere, in the centre of the country – because of the campaign by the anti-Muslim populist to establish his Freedom party in local government for the first time.
According to early results this morning, he won in Almere and came second to the Dutch Labour party in The Hague, the only two places the Freedom Party was running because of a lack of resources and candidates.
Wilders, who likens the Qur’an to Hitler’s Mein Kampf and wants Muslim immigrants deported, is bidding fair to win the general election in June, with the latest opinion polls predicting he might take 27 of the 150 seats in the Netherlands’ highly fragmented political scene.
The maverick rightwinger is expected at the House of Lords tomorrow on an invitation from the UK Independence Party for a screening of his incendiary anti-Islamic film, Fitna, after the Home Office barred him from entering Britain last year, a ban that was rescinded.
Yesterday the civic halls in The Hague and Almere were under heavy security. In both places and elsewhere scores of men and women turned up to vote wearing headscarves, in protest against Wilders’ demand for a tax on Muslim headgear and for the wearing of headscarves to be banned in all public buildings.
While local elections in the Netherlands are usually a subdued affair focused on issues such as cycle paths and rubbish collection, yesterday’s poll was dominated by immigration and Afghanistan.
The coalition government of Christian and social democrats fell 10 days ago because the Labour party, the junior partner, refused to extend the presence of 2,000 Dutch troops in Afghanistan who are to be withdrawn from August.
It was the first Nato government to fall because of the war and the collapse looks likely to end the career of Jan Peter Balkenende, the Christian Democrat prime minister who has been in office for eight years.
The Afghan pullout is popular and Labour has risen in the polls as a result. Turnout in The Hague and Almere was several points up on four years ago, suggesting that the Freedom Party would do well.
In Almere, a new town with a population of nearly 200,000 and hardly any immigrants, it was tipped to win.
In The Hague the contest was more even. In European elections last year the Freedom party came second, trouncing Labour in its heartland cities of the western and northern coasts.
Polls predict Wilders could triple his vote at the general election.
Source: guardian.co.uk
The Dutch government collapsed in the early hours of Saturday morning over Labour’s insistence that the Netherlands pull out of Afghanistan this year.
After two days of intensive talks and a bitter parliamentary debate, it had become increasingly clear the gulf between prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende and deputy prime minister Wouter Bos was too great to bridge.
Labour leader Bos stated earlier this week that he wanted a decision on Nato’s request to the Netherlands to stay in Afghanistan at Friday’s cabinet meeting. And that decision would have to be a no, he said repeatedly.
Balkenende said he wanted to keep all options open and was sticking to the March 1 deadline.
Statement
‘I have to conclude that there is no fruitful path to allow this cabinet to continue,’ Balkenende said in a short statement.
The Labour party’s comments had placed a ‘political mortgage’ on the cabinet, he said.
Efforts to restore trust between the parties had failed, he said. ‘Given the challenges facing the Netherlands, what is needed is strength, not the easy way out.’
Resignations
The prime minister will now offer his government’s resignation to the queen, who is skiing in Lech, Austria.
This is the fourth Balkenende government not to complete a formal four year term. Two others collapsed over political infighting and one was a minority cabinet.
A general election will take place within three months and will not affect the local elections which take place on March 3.
Withdrawal
The collapse of the government means that the withdrawal of Dutch troops from Afghanistan will now begin in August because caretaker ministers are not allowed to make controversial decisions.
‘A withdrawal will damage the reputation of the Dutch as a reliable partner that is willing and able to contribute to important military missions,’ Edwin Bakker, a senior research fellow at the Clingendael Institute in The Hague told news agency Reuters.
The Netherlands has some 1,800 soldiers and support staff in Afghanistan, mainly in the southern region of Uruzgan. In total, 21 Dutch soldiers have been killed in the region.
Decisions
Other important decisions will also now be put on hold. This means there is unlikely to be any moves on government spending cuts planned for 2011 to get the national finances back under control. The budget deficit is set to reach 6.1% this year, double the EU limit.
Some 20 committees are currently looking at all areas of government activity in an effort to find €35bn in savings.
According to the latest opinion polls, the CDA and Geert Wilders’ anti-immigration party PVV will be the biggest parties after the vote. But there are indications Labour’s decision to pull out of the government may boost its electoral fortunes.
DUTCH MP Geert Wilders is due to screen his controversial anti-Koran movie in the House of Lords next month. Wilders has accepted an invitation from Lord Pearson of Rannoch to screen his film ‘Fitna’ on March 5.
‘Fitna’ is a 17-minute anti-Koran movie which features quotations from the Koran interspersed with footage of terrorist atrocities and speeches by Muslim preachers. This is the second time that the politician has been invited to the House of Lords to show the film.
Wilders was invited to screen Fitna in the House of Lords last February, but found himself at the centre of an international free speech row when he was held at London’s Heathrow airport before being sent back to Holland.
The then Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, was accused of undermining free speech and of ‘appeasing’ religious extremists by blocking the Dutch politician’s visit. But the ban on Wilders entering the UK was overturned on appeal last October by the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal.
A British official said: “He’s free to travel and the Border Agency will not be alerted.”
The official added: “The ruling is pretty crucial here – if he did try to travel it would be very difficult for the Government to stop him entering as the tribunal made it very clear they do not support the Government’s position.”
The controversial MP has also been criticised for writing anti-Islamic articles and letters which were later published in a mainstream Dutch newspaper. But Wilders has always maintained that he is targeting Islam not individual Muslims.
Wilders is currently on trial for hate crimes in the Netherlands and could face up to two years in prison if he is found guilty. Despite the controversy Wilders, the leader of the Freedom Party, is one of Holland’s most popular politicians.
However, his visit is expected to be greeted by protests from Muslims. The Muslim Council of Great Britain has described Wilders as a ‘relentless preacher of hate.’
Source:
Wednesday February 3rd 2010 Dutch politician Geert Wilders launches two websites on the political trial against him and the freedom of speech. From now on both the Dutch (www.wildersproces.nl) and the international public (www.wildersontrial.com) are able to keep up with the trials’ proceedings.
Both websites not only include the latest news on the trial but also provide background information on the trials’ participants, the summons, the cause and the importance of this trial for freedom of speech in the Netherlands and –possibly- for the whole of Europe.
Geert Wilders: “This trial is not just about me. It is about the future of freedom of speech in the Netherlands. The outcome of this trial affects the freedom of all Dutch citizens. With these websites, I want to make it possible for people to follow the latest developments concerning the trial.”
Links to both websites:
· www.wildersontrial.com (International version)
· www.wildersproces.nl (Dutch version)
Did Islam critic Geert Wilders violate Dutch law by calling the Koran a “fascist book” and Islam a “backward culture?”This is the question an Amsterdam court will have to answer when the leader of the Freedom Party PVV goes on trial Wednesday.
Wilders, a member of parliament, faces charges of discriminating against a group and inciting people to hatred.
Prosecutors claim his 16-minute internet video Fitna, released in March 2008, incites people to hatred against Muslims. The film also warns against the spread of radical Islam and the alleged “Islamization” of the Netherlands.
Wilders claims the trial is “political” and that he is the victim of a “witch hunt.”
The parliamentarian triggered dozens of complaints to police in 2006, following statements he made about Islam to the media. He repeatedly called Islam a “backward” culture and the Koran a “fascist book that incites people to violence”
The public prosecutor initially found he could not be charged, as the statements about Islam and the Koran were made in the context of a political debate.
According European Court of Human Rights rulings, the prosecutor said, maximum freedom of expression had top priority in a public debate.
But in January 2008 top attorney Gerard Spong filed a complaint against Wilders on behalf of a group of students, arguing the lawmaker had incited people to hatred with his remarks.
Among other things, they referred to statements Wilders had made to the media in which he compared the Muslim Holy Scripture to Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf.
An Amsterdam court subsequently determined that because of the extreme nature of the remarks and the fact he Wilders repeated them consistently in the public realm, a court would have to test whether or not the politician had violated the law.
In September, the public prosecutor expanded the indictment to include a count of discriminating against a group. An attempt by Wilders’ lawyer Bram Moskowicz to have that charge dropped failed last week.
The maximum sentence for each offence is one year imprisonment, or, if found guilty on both counts, a combined 16 months. The maximum fine is 10,000 euros (14,369 dollars).
Almost 6 per cent of the Netherlands’ 16.5 million inhabitants are Muslim, most of them with Turkish or Moroccan roots. The percentage is higher in big cities, reaching 30 per cent in some suburbs.
Source:
An Amsterdam court has rejected submissions by far-right MP Geert Wilders that one of the charges against him should be dropped.
The Freedom Party (PVV) leader’s lawyer argued that he had only criticised Islam and not its adherents, and that the charge of insulting Muslims as a group should not stand. He is also facing counts of inciting hatred and discrimination towards Muslims.
However, the judge said the indictment only put into practice an earlier court ruling that Mr Wilders should stand trial and that the defence had not put forward any new evidence to overturn that ruling. The trial is scheduled to begin next week.
October was a tumultuous time for Geert Wilders, leader of the Dutch Freedom Party (PVV) in the Hague Parliament. Dutch public opinion polls show Wilders and the PVV in the lead position in any future Parliamentary election. The PVV is currently the leading Dutch party in the European Parliament. After the next elections, Wilders might be in a position to form a ruling coalition in Holland as Prime Minister. What sets Wilders apart from most EU political leaders is his ringing support of America and Israel. He considers Israel’s embattled position in the Middle East as fighting for all of us. As he says in his speeches: “we all are Israel.”
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