Fight for Geert Wilders
Amazingly, Geert Wilders still faces persecution in Holland for speaking the truth about Islam.
Please continue to fight back: International Civil Liberties Alliance, Wilders' website, Gates of Vienna, New English Review.
Update: Geert Wilders on course to be next Dutch prime minister!
“It is irrelevant whether Wilder’s witnesses might prove Wilders’ observations to be correct”, the ‘Openbaar Ministerie’ stated, “what’s relevant is that his observations are illegal”.Holland is proving the Pappas exclusion principle. It is becoming clear that Islam and liberty can not both exist in the same place at the same time.
Please continue to fight back: International Civil Liberties Alliance, Wilders' website, Gates of Vienna, New English Review.
Update: Geert Wilders on course to be next Dutch prime minister!
posted by Jason Pappas at 12:07 PM
9 Comments:
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/
Geert Wilders' personal speech at pre-trial hearing
Mister Speaker, judges of the court,
I would like to make use of my right to speak for a few minutes.
Freedom is the most precious of all our attainments and the most vulnerable. People have devoted their lives to it and given their lives for it. Our freedom in this country is the outcome of centuries. It is the consequence of a history that knows no equal and has brought us to where we are now.
I believe with all my heart and soul that the freedom in the Netherlands is threatened. That what our heritage is, what generations could only dream about, that this freedom is no longer a given, no longer self-evident.
I devote my life to the defence of our freedom. I know what the risks are and I pay a price for it every day. I do not complain about it; it is my own decision. I see that as my duty and it is why I am standing here.
I know that the words I use are sometimes harsh, but they are never rash. It is not my intention to spare the ideology of conquest and destruction, but I am not any more out to offend people. I have nothing against Muslims. I have a problem with Islam and the Islamization of our country because Islam is at odds with freedom.
Future generations will wonder to themselves how we in 2010, in this place, in this room, earned our most precious attainment. Whether there is freedom in this debate for both parties and thus also for the critics of Islam, or that only one side of the discussion may be heard in the Netherlands? Whether freedom of speech in the Netherlands applies to everyone or only to a few? The answer to this is at once the answer to the question whether freedom still has a home in this country.
Freedom was never the property of a small group, but was always the heritage of us all. We are all blessed by it.
Lady Justice wears a blindfold, but she has splendid hearing. I hope that she hears the following sentences, loud and clear:
It is not only a right, but also the duty of free people to speak against every ideology that threatens freedom. Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States was right: The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
I hope that the freedom of speech shall triumph in this trial.
In conclusion, Mister Speaker, judges of the court.
This trial is obviously about the freedom of speech. But this trial is also about the process of establishing the truth. Are the statements that I have made and the comparisons that I have taken, as cited in the summons, true? If something is true then can it still be punishable? This is why I urge you to not only submit to my request to hear witnesses and experts on the subject of freedom of speech. But I ask you explicitly to honour my request to hear witnesses and experts on the subject of Islam. I refer not only to Mister Jansen and Mister Admiraal, but also to the witness/experts from Israel, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Without these witnesses, I cannot defend myself properly and, in my opinion, this would not be an fair trial
Weingarten
Glad you are back most of us are still around
Thanks for posting Geert's speech, Allen.
Thanks, Beak.
And yes Ronbo, our biggest problem is within.
I support Geert Wilders, but consider the following comment by Jason Pappas:
“... Islam and liberty can not both exist in the same place at the same time.”
This may be true, but it doesn’t follow from Holland’s violation of Wilder’s right to speak freely.
Violations of free speech in Europe predate the Muslim immigrant invasion. Wilders is paying for Euopeans’ past failure to support the free speech of all dissidents, whatever the truth of their views.
A prime example would be David Irving, who spent time in an Austrian prison about the same time just as the Wilders case, merely for speaking out on a controversial subject. Irving may not be your cup of tea, whereas Wilders is, but that is irrelevant. If Europeans didn’t defend Irving they have no basis on which to defend Wilders.
What’s sauce for the goose ...
“... in the transition to statism, every infringement of human rights has begun with the suppression of a given right’s least attractive practitioners. In this case [a case before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973], the disgusting nature of the offenders makes it a good test of one’s loyalty to a principle”
— Ayn Rand in “Censorship: Local and Express”
It is essential not to pick and choose whose right of free speech you support.
I agree Mark. I'll also add that Wilders undercuts his case by calls to ban the Koran. He points to the hypocrisy of banning Mein Kampf but not the Koran; he is right. But hypocrisy can be resolved in two ways. Instead of his ban, both should be allowed in print. They should, of course, be examined and refuted. I suspect his tactic is meant to be provocative but it undermines the moral clarity of his case.
Fox News Rebukes Wilders and Anti-Islamization, by Diana West.
http://townhall.com/columnists/DianaWest/2010/03/11/fox_news_rebukes_wilders_and_anti-islamization?page=full&comments=true#comments
Weingarten
Some conservatives still don't get it. But some do:
Frank Gaffney
I agree with Jason that we oughtn't ban the Koran, not only to maintain our cultural heritage, but because the best refutations of Islam are quotes from the Koran.
At the same time, since Wilders is to be censored for providing negative stereotypes about Islam, he could respond that the most negative stereotypes are that Islam is murderous, hateful, racist, misogynous, and vicious. So if that is to be censored, it should apply to the teachings of the Koran, Mosques, and Madrassas.
Allen Weingarten
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