Geert Wilders
Encyclopedia
Geert Wilders (ˈxɪːrt ˈʋɪldərs or ˈɣeːrt ˈβ̞ɪldərs; born September 6, 1963 in Venlo
) is a Dutch
right-wing politician and leader of the Party for Freedom
(Partij voor de Vrijheid – PVV), the third-largest political party in the Netherlands
. He is the Parliamentary group leader
of his party in the Dutch House of Representatives. In the formation in 2010
of the current Rutte cabinet, a minority cabinet
of VVD and CDA, he actively participated in the negotiations, resulting in a "support agreement" (gedoogakkoord) between the PVV and these parties. Wilders is best known for his criticism of Islam
, summing up his views by saying, "I don't hate Muslims, I hate Islam".
Raised a Roman Catholic, Wilders left the church
at his coming of age. His travels to Israel
as a young adult, as well as to neighbouring Arab countries, helped form his political views. Wilders worked as a speechwriter for the conservative-liberal
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
(Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie – VVD), and later served as parliamentary assistant to party leader Frits Bolkestein
from 1990 to 1998. He was elected to the Utrecht
city council in 1996, and later to the House of Representatives. Citing irreconcilable differences over the party's position on the accession of Turkey to the European Union
, he left the VVD in 2004 to form his own party, the Party for Freedom
.
Wilders has campaigned to stop what he views as the "Islamisation of the Netherlands". He compares the Quran with Mein Kampf
and has campaigned to have the book banned in the Netherlands. He advocates ending immigration from Muslim countries, and supports banning the construction of new mosques. Wilders was a speaker at the Facing Jihad Conference
held in Jerusalem in 2008, which discussed the dangers of jihad
, and has called for a hard line against what he called the "street terror" exerted by minorities in Dutch cities. His controversial 2008 film about his views on Islam, Fitna
, received international attention
. He has been described in the media as populist
and labeled far right, though this is disputed by other observers. Wilders, who has refused to align himself with other European far-right leaders such as Jean-Marie Le Pen
and Jörg Haider
, views himself as a right-wing liberal and has expressed concern of being "linked with the wrong rightist fascist groups."
Wilders was banned from entering the United Kingdom between 12 February 2009 and 13 October 2009 by the Labour government
, the Home Office
saying his presence would be a "threat to one of the fundamental interests of society". The ban was overturned after Wilders appealed and he visited the UK in October 2009, and again in March 2010 to show his film. In January 2009, the Amsterdam
Court of Appeal ordered Wilders' prosecution
for "incitement to hatred and discrimination". Wilders was acquitted of these charges on 23 June 2011.
, in the northern part of the Dutch Province of Limburg
on the southeastern border with Germany
. He is the youngest of four children, and was raised Catholic. He was born to a Dutch
father and a Dutch mother born in the Dutch East Indies
, of Dutch and Dutch-Indonesia
n descent or Indo heritage through her mother's side. His father worked as a manager for the printing and copying manufacturing company Océ
. His father fled the area to escape the Nazis
and became so traumatised from the experience that he refused to physically enter Germany even forty years later.
Wilders received his secondary education at the Mavo and Havo
middle school and high school in Venlo. Reflecting passions that came to the fore later in his career, Wilders took a course in health insurance
at the Stichting Opleiding Sociale Verzekeringen in Amsterdam
and earned several law certificates at the Dutch Open University
.
Wilders' goal after he graduated from secondary school was to see the world. Because he did not have enough money to travel to Australia, his preferred destination, he went to Israel instead. For several years he volunteered in a moshav
and worked for several firms, becoming in his own words "a true friend of Israel". With the money he saved, he travelled to the neighbouring Arab
countries, and was moved by the lack of democracy in the region. When he returned to the Netherlands, he retained Israeli ideas about counter-terrorism
and a "special feeling of solidarity" for the country.
Living in Utrecht, Wilders initially worked in the health insurance industry. His interest in the subject led him into politics as a speech-writer for the Netherlands' People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
. He started his formal political career as a parliamentary assistant to Liberal party leader Frits Bolkestein
, specialising in foreign policy
. He held this job from 1990 to 1998. During this time Geert Wilders travelled extensively, visiting countries all across the Middle East, including Iran, Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Israel. Conservative Liberal Party leader Bolkestein was the first Dutch politician to address the consequences of mass immigration for Dutch society, including a sharp criticism of Muslim immigrants. He set an example for Wilders not only in his ideas but also in his confrontational speaking style.
. They were in possession of three grenades
and were accused of planning to murder Wilders as well as a fellow MP, Ayaan Hirsi Ali
. The suspects were presumed to be members of what the Dutch intelligence agency, the General Intelligence and Security Service
, has termed the Hofstadgroep
. Since this incident Wilders has been under constant security protection because of frequent threats to his life. In September 2007, a Dutch woman was sentenced to a one-year prison term for sending more than 100 threatening emails to Wilders. Wilders remained the most threatened politician in the Netherlands in 2008.
On 18 December 2009, the Rotterdam
rap
per Mo$heb was sentenced to 80 hours community service and a two-month suspended jail term for threatening Wilders in a rap titled "Wie is de volgende" ("Who's next"), which included that if he met Wilders, it would be "bam bam". The rapper also called on Wilders to take back his words if he wanted to stay alive and said "This is no joke. Last night I dreamed I chopped your head off". The public prosecutor said the threat could reasonably lead to Wilders fearing for his life or that he would be subjected to violence. The court agreed with this conclusion and said the rap was threatening. "A politician must be able to do his work", the judges said.
Wilders is said to have been "deprived... of a personal life for his... hatred of Islam". He is moved by his state-provided bodyguard
s to a different location every night, and does not receive visitors unless they are carefully screened and escorted at all times. He is married to a former diplomat of Hungarian origin, with whom he can only meet about once every week because of security concerns. The restrictions on his life because of this, he said, are "a situation that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy".
In January 2010, Karen Geurtsen, a Dutch journalist from the magazine HP-De Tijd, revealed a painful breach of security. She spent four months working undercover, posing as an intern, for the PVV party. She claimed that she had had unchecked access to Wilders. "I could have killed him", were the first words of the article that she published about this operation. According to her, she had "dozens" of opportunities to take his life.
Wilders has acquired nicknames such as "Mozart" and "Captain Peroxide" because of his flamboyant platinum blond
hairstyle. Radio Netherlands calls him "the most famous bleach-blond since Marilyn Monroe
".
Wilders is an agnostic
, but he has stated that he thinks Dutch Christians "are my allies" and that they fundamentally should want the same thing.
He has been described as populist, labelled as both "extreme right" and far right, and defended by others as a mainstream politician with legitimate concerns saying that such labels are shallow smear attempts. Wilders himself rejects the labels and has called the new description "scandalous".
He has been accused of building his popularity on fear and resentment and vociferously defended for having the courage to talk openly about the problems unfettered immigration brings with it and the incompatibility of fundamentalist Islam with western values.
On 15 December 2007, Wilders was declared "Politician of the Year" by NOS-radio
, a mainstream Dutch radio station. The parliamentary press praised his ability to dominate political discussion and to attract the debate and to get into publicity with his well-timed one-liners. The editors eventually gave the title to Wilders because he was the only one who scored high amongst both the press and the general public.
In December 2009, Wilders came in second in two polls in the Netherlands for Politician of the Year. A panel of Dutch television viewers praised him as "the second best" politician this year (after his outspoken critic Alexander Pechtold
), while his colleagues in parliament named him "the second worst" (after Rita Verdonk
). After the last elections on 9 June 2010, Wilders holds 24 out of 150 seats in the Dutch parliamentary government.
Some Muslim critics of Wilders accuse him of using Koranic verses out of context. Because of Wilders' perceived positions on Islam, the Dutch–Moroccan
rapper Appa
, when interviewed about Wilders for a newspaper, said "if someone were to put a bullet in his head, I wouldn't mind".
Wilders' views on Islam prompted the Muslim Mayor of Rotterdam
, Ahmed Aboutaleb
, to reprimand him.
Editorials by AlterNet
, The Montreal Gazette, The Wall Street Journal
, The Guardian
, and The New York Times
have accused Wilders of hypocrisy
given that, in their view, Wilders has called for the ban of the sale of the Quran while simultaneously arguing for his own personal freedom of speech
. In a speech during a Dutch parliamentary debate, Wilders elaborated that he calls for the consistent application of Dutch laws restricting any act of expression that incites violence
. Ideally, he would prefer to see nearly all such laws abolished. As such, he supports a European-wide constitutional protection of freedom of speech like that which exists in the United States
.
Wilders has also been compared to the assassinated fellow critic of Islam and filmmaker Theo van Gogh
, but he does not see himself as taking on van Gogh's mantle. Wilders has stated that he supports the free speech
rights of his critics, saying that "An Imam who wants a politician dead is—however reprehensible—allowed to say so". He has responded to charges of racism and Islamophobia
by stating, "I don't hate Muslims. I hate their book and their ideology".
In February 2010, the trailer of a newly published online satirical video on the website of the Dutch radio station FunX, which targets a young urban audience, spoofed a murder attempt on Wilders.
In July 2010, the magazine Inspire
announced that Wilders, as well as Ayaan Hirsi Ali
, Kurt Westergaard
and Salman Rushdie, were mentioned on a "death list" of an international islamist terrorist network.
Shortly before this publication it was revealed in The Hague that Dutch law enforcement officers succeeded twice in smuggling a firearm into the parliament buildings and into the guarded headquarter of Wilders' party. This check was carried out by the Special Security Assignments Brigade BSB
, a special unit of the Dutch Military Police. The test was carried out following a complaint from Wilders about his security being inadequate.
In July 2011, Anders Behring Breivik
declared to be a great admirer of Geert Wilders and the Party for Freedom. However, Wilders immediately distanced himself strongly from Breivik.
On 11 September 2010, 2,000 people gathered close by the site of a planned Muslim community center near the site of the World Trade Center
attacks, on 11 September 2001, where they were addressed by Wilders who flew from The Netherlands to urge the crowd: "This is where we have draw the line. We must never give a free hand to those who want to subjugate us," Wilders added. "Draw this line so that New York... will never become New Mecca."
Wilders was extensively discussed in American diplomatic cables, released by WikiLeaks
in December 2010. In a briefing to President
Barack Obama
, he was described as "no friend of the US: he opposes Dutch military involvement in Afghanistan; he believes development assistance is money wasted; he opposes NATO missions outside 'allied' territory; he is against most EU initiatives; and, most troubling, he foments fear and hatred of immigrants."
, a suburb with cheap social housing and high apartment blocks, and which has a relatively high number of immigrants. While a city councilor, Wilders was mugged in his own neighbourhood; some have speculated that this may have catalysed his political transformation. He was not rewarded for his time on the municipal council of Utrecht, for in the following elections he would score well below the national average in the University city.
A year later, he was elected to the Netherlands' national parliament, but his first four years in parliament drew little attention. However, his appointment in 2002 as a public spokesman for the VVD led Wilders to become more well known for his outspoken criticism of Islamic extremism. Tensions immediately developed within the party, as Wilders found himself to be to the right
of most members, and challenged the party line in his public statements. He was expelled from the VVD parliamentary party, and in September 2004, Wilders left the VVD, having been a member since 1989, to form his own political party
, Groep Wilders, later renamed the Party for Freedom
. The crunch issue with the VVD party line was about his refusal to endorse the party's position that European Union accession negotiations must be started with Turkey.
The Party for Freedom's political platform often overlaps those of the assassinated Rotterdam
politician Pim Fortuyn
and his Pim Fortuyn List. After his death, Fortuyn's impact remained, as more and more politicians sought to gain political mileage by directly confronting topics such as a ban on immigration that were, from a politically correct
point of view, considered unmentionable in the Netherlands until Fortuyn came on the scene and upended the Dutch tradition of consensus politics with an anti-immigration stance. Wilders would position himself to inherit Fortuyn's constituency. He bases his ideas on an ideological framework
of small government
, law and order
and direct democracy
. The Party for Freedom call for a €16 billion tax reduction, a far stricter policy toward recreational drug use
, investing more in roads and other infrastructure, building nuclear power
plants and including animal rights
in the Dutch constitution
. In the 2006 Dutch parliamentary election
, their first parliamentary election, the Party for Freedom won 9 out of the 150 open seats.
In March 2009, in a party meeting in Venlo, Wilders said "I want to be prime minister
", believing the PVV will eventually become the Netherlands’ biggest party. "At some point it's going to happen and then it will be a big honour to fulfil the post of prime minister".
Polling conducted throughout March 2009 by Maurice de Hond
indicated the Party for Freedom was the most popular parliamentary party. The polls predicted that the party would take 21% of the national vote, winning 32 out of 150 seats in the Dutch parliament. If the polling results were replicated in an election, Wilders would be a major power broker. Under such circumstances, there would also be some likelihood of him becoming Prime Minister of the Netherlands. This has been partially attributed to timely prosecution attempts against him for hate speech and the travel ban imposed on him by the United Kingdom, as well as dissatisfaction with the Dutch government's response to the global financial crisis of 2008–2009.
On 3 March 2010, elections for the local councils were held in the municipalities of The Netherlands. The PVV only contested these local elections in the Dutch towns The Hague
and Almere
, because of a shortage of good candidates. The big gains that were scored indicated that the party and Wilders might dominate the political scene in the run-up to the parliamentary elections scheduled on 9 June 2010. The PVV won in Almere and came second to the Dutch Labour party in The Hague. In Almere, the PVV won 21 percent of the vote to Labour's 18 percent, preliminary results showed. In The Hague, the PVV had 8 seats—second to Labour with 10 seats.
On 8 March 2010, Wilders announced that he would take a seat on the Hague city council, after it became clear he won 13,000 preference votes. Earlier he had said he would not take up a seat if he won.
In the parliamentary elections on 9 June 2010, the PVV went from 9 to 24 seats (out of 150) resulting from over 15% of the vote. This made the PVV the third party in size. With a fragmented parliament, at least three parties were required for an absolute majority. A coalition of VVD and Christian Democratic Appeal
(CDA) was negotiated with parliamentary support by the PVV. The PVV did not become part of the government formed by VVD and CDA but actively participated in the negotiations and thus policy decisions and – as part of the outcome agreed that they would not support any motion to dismiss ministers concerning topics listed in a so-called "support agreement" – much like the Danish model where the Danish People's Party
plays a similar role. The very fact of the participation of Wilder's party in these negotiations caused fierce discussions in political circles.
liberal, with a specific mix of positions independent of the European political spectrum
and particular to iconoclastic Dutch society. He has stated that "My allies are not Le Pen
or Haider
... We'll never join up with the fascists and Mussolinis
of Italy
. I'm very afraid of being linked with the wrong rightist fascist groups", saying instead his drive is issues such as freedom of expression and Dutch iconoclasm
. Wilders views British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
as his greatest political role model. People's Party for Freedom and Democracy figure Frits Bolkestein
also heavily influenced his beliefs.
Wilders strongly opposes the Dutch political system
in general. He believes that there is a ruling elite
of parliamentarians who only care about their own personal careers and disregard the will of the people. He also blames the Dutch system of multi-party coalition governments for a lack of clear and effective policies. In his view, Dutch society advocates rule by consensus and cultural relativism
, while he believes that this should change so as to "not tolerate the intolerant".
On foreign relations, Wilders has largely supported Israel and has criticized countries he perceives as enemies of Israel. Furthermore, he has made some proposals in the Dutch Parliament inspired by Israeli policies. For example, he supports implementing Israel's administrative detention
in the Netherlands, a practice heavily criticized by human rights groups, which he calls "common sense".
Wilders often mentions Henk and Ingrid
in his speeches, fictitious common Dutch subjects who he claims to work for.
Furthermore, Wilders has revived the ancient idea of reuniting Flanders
and the Netherlands.
Wilders published the version of his political manifesto called Klare Wijn ("Clear Wine") in March 2006. The program proposed ten key points to be implemented:
, summing up his views by saying, "I don't hate Muslims, I hate Islam". Although identifying Islamic extremists as 5–15% of Muslims, he argues that "there is no such thing as 'moderate Islam and that the "Koran also states that Muslims who believe in only part of the Koran are in fact apostates". He suggests that Muslims should "tear out half of the Koran if they wished to stay in the Netherlands" because it contains "terrible things" and that Muhammad
would "... in these days be hunted down as a terrorist".
On 8 August 2007, Wilders opined in an open letter
to the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant
that the Koran, which he called a "fascist book", should be outlawed in the Netherlands, like Adolf Hitler
's Mein Kampf
. He has stated that "The book incites hatred and killing and therefore has no place in our legal order". He has also referred to Mohammed as "the devil". In Sept 2009 Wilders proposed to put a tax on Hijab
wearing by Muslim women. He suggested women could purchase a license at a cost of €1000 and that the money raised could be used in projects beneficial to women's emancipation.
He believes that all Muslim immigration to the Netherlands should be halted and all settled immigrants should be paid to leave. Referring to the increased population of Muslims in the Netherlands, he has said:
In a speech before the Dutch Parliament, he stated:
Nonetheless, Wilders has traveled widely in the Arab world and Der Spiegel
has stated that Wilders will "wax poetic" over those "magnificent countries". Wilders has also said that "It's a real shame that these places are so chaotic."
Wilders argues that Islam is not a religion, but rather a totalitarian political ideology such as communism and fascism.
Wilders stated about Israel: "I have visited many interesting countries in the Middle East – from Syria
to Egypt
, from Tunisia
to Turkey
, from Cyprus
to Iran
– but nowhere did I have the special feeling of solidarity that I always get when I land at Ben Gurion International Airport
." Dutch public TV channel Nederland 2
's daily news programme Netwerk
reported that numerous American supporters of Israel financially supported Wilders' Party for Freedom
(PVV) and openly approved of his message towards Islam and Islamic terrorism. Wilders told an audience during the report that "We [in the West] are all Israel". He has also said "Israel is the West's first line of defence" against what he perceives to be a threat posed by Islam.
Following the Dutch general election, 2010
, in which the PVV were the third biggest party, Wilders said Jordan should be renamed Palestine. The Jordanian government responded saying Wilders' speech was reminiscent of the Israeli right wing. His speech said "Jordan is Palestine. Changing its name to Palestine will end the conflict in the Middle East and provide the Palestinians with an alternate homeland." He also said Israel deserves a special status in the Dutch government because it was fighting for "Jerusalem" in its name.
He called on the Dutch government to refer to Jordan as Palestine and move its embassy to Jerusalem.
Fitna is a 2008 short film
written and commissioned by Wilders that explores Koranic-inspired motivations for terrorism, Islamic universalism
, and Islam in the Netherlands
. Its title comes from the Arabic word
fitna, which describes "disagreement and division among people" or a "test of faith in times of trial".
It is the subject of an international controversy and debate on free speech. Despite the legal troubles surrounding the film, Wilders insists that before he released it, he consulted numerous lawyers in the field, who found nothing worth prosecution. Jordan
has summoned Wilders to court, with the film deemed to "incite hatred". Militant Sunni Islamist group Al-Qaeda
issued a call to murder Wilders after its release.
In the spring of 2009, Wilders launched the "Facing Jihad World Tour", a series of screenings of Fitna to public officials and influential organizations around the globe, starting in Rome. In the United States, Wilders showed the film to the United States Congress
on 26 February having been invited by Arizona
Republican Senator
Jon Kyl
. Around 40 people attended the screening. American Muslims protested, but the groups said that they supported his right of free speech while still condemning his opinions. Wilders spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference
on 28 February. He appeared before the National Press Club and the Republican Jewish Coalition
that week as well. Similar attempts in Britain led to a travel ban, and legislative blocks have prevented an appearance in Denmark.
and Baroness Cox
, members of the House of Lords
(the upper chamber of the British Parliament), invited Wilders to a 12 February 2009 showing of Fitna in the Palace of Westminster
. Two days before the showing, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith
banned Wilders
from entering the territory of the United Kingdom, labelling him an "undesirable person". Entry was denied under EU law, and reportedly supported under regulation 19 of the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006, an EU law which allows a member state to refuse entry to individuals if they are regarded as constituting a threat to public policy, security or health. A Home Office spokesperson elaborated that "The Government opposes extremism in all its forms ... and that was the driving force behind tighter rules on exclusions for unacceptable behaviour that the Home Secretary announced in October last year".
Wilders defied the ban and entered via London Heathrow Airport
on 12 February, trailed by television crews. He was quickly detained by Border Patrol officials and sent back on one of the next flights to the Netherlands. He called Prime Minister Gordon Brown
"the biggest coward in Europe" and remarked, "Of course I will come back". Wilders had visited the United Kingdom in December 2008 without any problem. Lord Pearson
did not support Wilders' decision to defy the government. But in response to the ban, both Pearson and Cox accused the government of "appeasing" militant Islam.
The International Herald Tribune
stated that the ban was broadly condemned in the British news media. The Dutch Foreign Secretary, Maxime Verhagen
, called the decision "highly regrettable" and complained to his British counterpart
. Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende
complained to Gordon Brown about the "disappointing" decision. The Quilliam Foundation
, a British think tank
, criticised the ban, as did National Secular Society
president Terry Sanderson
. The Muslim Labour
peer Lord Ahmed
expressed support for Smith's ban on Wilders entering the country; the Ramadhan Foundation and the Muslim Council of Britain
also did so, the council labeling Wilders "an open and relentless preacher of hate".
by Jacqui Smith, then the Home Secretary, in February 2009, Wilders appealed the decision to Britain's Asylum and Immigration Tribunal
. In October 2009, the tribunal overturned the ban. Wilders subsequently praised the ruling as "a triumph for freedom of speech" and stated that he plans to visit the United Kingdom in the near future.
The ruling was criticized by the British Home Office
, which stated that an appeal of the tribunal's ruling is being considered. A spokesman stated:
on 14 January 2010. Though the Home Office had asserted that his entry into the country would not be blocked, a spokesman said his "statements and behaviour during a visit will inevitably impact on any future decisions to admit him." His visit to the UK met with protest, but Wilders called it "a victory" in a press conference. On his outspoken views on Islam, he said: "I have a problem with the Islamic ideology, the Islamic culture, because I feel that the more Islam that we get in our societies the less freedom we get." He opened the press conference with a quote from George Orwell
's preface to Animal Farm
: "If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they don't want to hear". Lord Pearson
, who had invited him, said his arrival was
In January 2010, Wilders was invited again to show his anti-Quran movie Fitna in the British House of Lords
by Lord Pearson UK Independence Party (UKIP), and Baroness Cox cross-bencher
. Wilders accepted the invitation and was present for a presentation of the movie in the House of Lords on 5 March. In his speech he quoted ominous words from Winston Churchill
's book The River War
from 1899:
At the ensuing press conferences, he called the prophet Muhammad a "barbarian, a mass murderer, and a pedophile" and referring to Islam as a "fascist ideology" which was "violent, dangerous, and retarded". Wilders also reportedly called Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan
a "total freak". Dutch Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende called these comments "irresponsible", and Maxime Verhagen
, Dutch caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs
, publicly condemned Wilders's remarks and behaviour:
Bernard Wientjes, the president of the Dutch employers' organization Confederation of Netherlands Industry and Employers (VNO-NCW
), also accused Wilders of "seriously" damaging Dutch interests abroad. He called it outrageous that Wilders had presented himself in London as "the next Dutch prime minister" and then derided Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan
. Emphasizing that three quarters of the Dutch GDP comes from revenue earned abroad, according to Wientjes, Wilders poses "a serious threat to the Netherlands and the Dutch economy".
in the Eifel
area, after he spent a weekend there, along with several armed bodyguards. Mayor Margareta Ritter (CDU
) said she was concerned that his presence tainted her town with the suspicion that it was sympathetic to his views. As a result, Monschau was said to have been unfairly connected with "extremism" in the European press.
She was unable to say whether Wilders was merely enjoying a short vacation in her town or had been meeting with like-minded people. A demonstration to support Wilders was announced to take place in Berlin on 17 April.
, a network of groups and individuals who "are fighting for freedom against Islam".
Wilders plans IFA branches in the United States, Canada, Britain, France and Germany by late 2010. "The message, 'stop Islam, defend freedom', is a message that's not only important for the Netherlands but for the whole free Western world", Wilders stated in an address to reporters at the Dutch Parliament.
On 6 August 2010, Wilders, who had become a regular guest with American conservatives and libertarians, announced that he would speak at a rally on 11 September in New York to protest the plans for Park51, a Muslim community center with a prayer space to be built near the World Trade Center site
. The rally, to be held on the ten-year anniversary of the 11 September 2001 attacks, was organised by Stop Islamization of America
, which is supported by a number of conservative US politicians including former House speaker
Newt Gingrich
and 2008 vice-presidential candidate
Sarah Palin
. According to SIOA's website world leaders, prominent politicians and 9/11 family members would be speaking at the rally, but Wilders was not mentioned by name, though he did attend as he had announced.
In political circles in The Netherlands, the announcement caused widespread irritation about his plan. Christian Democrat senator Hans Hillen
remarked that Wilders' words could endanger Dutch interests. Former NATO General Secretary Jaap de Hoop Scheffer
advised Wilders not to make a speech, arguing that the international public does not know who is in the Dutch cabinet and who is in parliament and thus Wilders' speech could be mistaken as an official statement of the Dutch government. Also Christian Democrat party leader and acting Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Verhagen
issued a warning.
Also, the Dutch Foreign Ministry allegedly would have issued guidelines to its embassies on how to react to questions about the role being played by the PVV and Wilders in the formation of a new government. On 10 August 2010, the website of Dutch daily newspaper NRC Handelsblad
published the ministry memo. The ministry itself however had declined "to confirm or deny" the authenticity of these guidelines. One question posed is how Wilders could be taking part in negotiations on forming a government coalition when he has been indicted for inciting hatred and discrimination, and for insulting a group of persons. Other questions covered possible bans on the building of new mosques, on the Quran and on Islamic schools in the Netherlands. The memo stressed that such bans would breach the Dutch constitution.
Wilders spoke on Thursday, 12 May 2011, at Cornerstone Church in Madison, Tennessee
, at the Tennessee Freedom Coalition inaugural Signature Series event.
in Amsterdam declared that dozens of reports against Wilders had been filed, and that they were all being considered. Attempts to prosecute Wilders under Dutch anti-hate speech
laws in June 2008 failed, with the public prosecutor's office stating that Wilders' comments contributed to the debate on Islam in Dutch society and also had been made outside parliament, The office released a statement reading: "That comments are hurtful and offensive for a large number of Muslims does not mean that they are punishable. Freedom of expression fulfils an essential role in public debate in a democratic society. That means that offensive comments can be made in a political debate".
On 21 January 2009, a three-judge court ordered prosecutors to try him.
The Middle East Forum
has established a Legal Defence Fund for Wilders's defence. The New York Times ran an op-ed
criticizing his views and arguing that "for a man who calls for a ban on the Koran to act as the champion of free speech is a bit rich", concluding, however that the lawsuit against Wilders might not be "a good thing for democracy", because it made him "look more important than he should be."
A survey by Angus Reid Global Monitor has found that public opinion is deeply split on the prosecution, with 50% supporting Wilders and 43% opposed. However, public support for the Party for Freedom
has greatly increased since Wilders' legal troubles began, with the Party for Freedom virtually tied with the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
to be the third most popular party. According to Radio Netherlands, "Dutch politicians themselves seem to be keeping quiet on the issue; they are probably worried that media attention will only serve to make the controversial politician more popular".
In late October 2010, the Dutch court approved a request from Geert Wilders to have new judges appointed forcing the court to retry the case. On 7 February 2011, Wilders returned to the court room in order that his legal team can present evidence from Islamic experts which the court rejected in 2010, including Mohammed Bouyeri
, who murdered film-maker Theo van Gogh
, and Dutch academic Hans Jansen.
On 23 June 2011, Wilders was acquitted of all charges. A Dutch court noted that his speech was legitimate political debate, but on the edge. Because both the public prosecutor and the defense requested complete acquittal, the verdict will most likely not be appealed.
(VVD) Frits Bolkestein
, who is sometime called the 'mentor' of Geert Wilders, "does not share his views". He reportedly said that “Wilders says things that are just not right and I think he totally exaggerates.” While giving his opinion on Burqa ban Mr Bolkestein said that he "disagrees with the recent introduction of a burqa ban, an idea championed by Geert Wilders." The Netherlands, he said, is the third European country to introduce such a ban after France
and Belgium
. “A ban makes martyrs of the few burqa wearers there are in the Netherlands" he said.
Venlo
Venlo is a municipality and a city in the southeastern Netherlands, next to the German border. It is situated in the province of Limburg.In 2001, the municipalities of Belfeld and Tegelen were merged into the municipality of Venlo. Tegelen was originally part of the Duchy of Jülich centuries ago,...
) is a Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
right-wing politician and leader of the Party for Freedom
Party for Freedom
The Party for Freedom is a Dutch right-wing political party. Founded in 2005 as the successor to Geert Wilders' one-man party in the House of Representatives, it won nine seats in the 2006 general election, making it the fifth largest party in parliament, and third largest opposition party. It...
(Partij voor de Vrijheid – PVV), the third-largest political party in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. He is the Parliamentary group leader
Parliamentary group leader
The leader or chairman of a parliamentary group holds an influential political post in a parliamentary system with strong party discipline...
of his party in the Dutch House of Representatives. In the formation in 2010
2010 Dutch cabinet formation
Following the Dutch general election of 2010, held on June 9, a process of cabinet formation started, which typically involves 3 phases:# exploring with which parties to form a coalition,# negotiating to draft a coalition agreement ,...
of the current Rutte cabinet, a minority cabinet
Minority government
A minority government or a minority cabinet is a cabinet of a parliamentary system formed when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in the parliament but is sworn into government to break a Hung Parliament election result. It is also known as a...
of VVD and CDA, he actively participated in the negotiations, resulting in a "support agreement" (gedoogakkoord) between the PVV and these parties. Wilders is best known for his criticism of Islam
Criticism of Islam
Criticism of Islam has existed since Islam's formative stages. Early written criticism came from Christians, prior to the ninth century, many of whom viewed Islam as a radical Christian heresy...
, summing up his views by saying, "I don't hate Muslims, I hate Islam".
Raised a Roman Catholic, Wilders left the church
Religious disaffiliation
Religious disaffiliation means leaving a faith, or a religious group or community. It is in many respects the reverse of religious conversion...
at his coming of age. His travels to Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
as a young adult, as well as to neighbouring Arab countries, helped form his political views. Wilders worked as a speechwriter for the conservative-liberal
Conservative liberalism
Conservative liberalism is a variant of liberalism, combining liberal values and policies with conservative stances, or, more simply, representing the right-wing of the liberal movement....
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy is a conservative-liberal political party located in the Netherlands. The VVD supports private enterprise in the Netherlands and is often perceived as an economic liberal party in contrast to the social-liberal Democrats 66 alongside which it sits in...
(Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie – VVD), and later served as parliamentary assistant to party leader Frits Bolkestein
Frits Bolkestein
Frederik "Frits" Bolkestein is a retired Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy . He served as a Member of the House of Representatives from 16 January 1978, until 5 November 1982, when he became State Secretary for Economic Affairs from 5 November 1982, until 14 July...
from 1990 to 1998. He was elected to the Utrecht
Utrecht
Utrecht is a city in the Netherlands.The name may also refer to:* Utrecht , of which Utrecht is the capital* Utrecht , including the city of Utrecht* Bishopric of Utrecht* Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Utrecht...
city council in 1996, and later to the House of Representatives. Citing irreconcilable differences over the party's position on the accession of Turkey to the European Union
Accession of Turkey to the European Union
Turkey's application to accede to the European Union was made on 14 April 1987. Turkey has been an associate member of the European Union and its predecessors since 1963...
, he left the VVD in 2004 to form his own party, the Party for Freedom
Party for Freedom
The Party for Freedom is a Dutch right-wing political party. Founded in 2005 as the successor to Geert Wilders' one-man party in the House of Representatives, it won nine seats in the 2006 general election, making it the fifth largest party in parliament, and third largest opposition party. It...
.
Wilders has campaigned to stop what he views as the "Islamisation of the Netherlands". He compares the Quran with Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf is a book written by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. It combines elements of autobiography with an exposition of Hitler's political ideology. Volume 1 of Mein Kampf was published in 1925 and Volume 2 in 1926...
and has campaigned to have the book banned in the Netherlands. He advocates ending immigration from Muslim countries, and supports banning the construction of new mosques. Wilders was a speaker at the Facing Jihad Conference
Facing Jihad Conference
The Facing Jihad conference was a two-day conference about the dangers of Jihad, held in Jerusalem on December 14, 2008. The speakers included Aryeh Eldad, Geert Wilders, Itamar Marcus, David Bukay and Daniel Pipes. Ayaan Hirsi Ali also received an invitation. During the conference Wilders showed...
held in Jerusalem in 2008, which discussed the dangers of jihad
Jihad
Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
, and has called for a hard line against what he called the "street terror" exerted by minorities in Dutch cities. His controversial 2008 film about his views on Islam, Fitna
Fitna (film)
Fitna is a 2008 short political, propaganda film by Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders with his view on the religion of the Islam. Approximately 17 minutes in length, the movie shows selected excerpts from Suras of the Qur'an, interspersed with media clips and newspaper cuttings showing or...
, received international attention
International reaction to Fitna
The International reaction to Fitna consisted of condemnation within the international community, several fatawā against Geert Wilders, and attempts by many Islamic countries to censor the film. The Dutch government immediately distanced itself from the film...
. He has been described in the media as populist
Populism
Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...
and labeled far right, though this is disputed by other observers. Wilders, who has refused to align himself with other European far-right leaders such as Jean-Marie Le Pen
Jean-Marie Le Pen
Jean-Marie Le Pen is a French far right-wing and nationalist politician who is founder and former president of the Front National party. Le Pen has run for the French presidency five times, most notably in 2002, when in a surprise upset he came second, polling more votes in the first round than...
and Jörg Haider
Jörg Haider
Jörg Haider was an Austrian politician. He was Governor of Carinthia on two occasions, the long-time leader of the Austrian Freedom Party and later Chairman of the Alliance for the Future of Austria , a breakaway party from the FPÖ.Haider was controversial within Austria and abroad for comments...
, views himself as a right-wing liberal and has expressed concern of being "linked with the wrong rightist fascist groups."
Wilders was banned from entering the United Kingdom between 12 February 2009 and 13 October 2009 by the Labour government
Brown Ministry
Gordon Brown took office as Prime Minister on 27 June 2007 and formed his Government. It ended, upon his resignation, on 11 May 2010. In his inaugural cabinet Brown appointed the UKs first female Home Secretary Jacqui Smith....
, the Home Office
Home Office
The Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...
saying his presence would be a "threat to one of the fundamental interests of society". The ban was overturned after Wilders appealed and he visited the UK in October 2009, and again in March 2010 to show his film. In January 2009, the Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
Court of Appeal ordered Wilders' prosecution
Trial of Geert Wilders
A trial of Dutch politician Geert Wilders took place in the Netherlands in 2010–2011. Wilders was accused of criminally insulting religious and ethnic groups and inciting hatred and discrimination...
for "incitement to hatred and discrimination". Wilders was acquitted of these charges on 23 June 2011.
Early life and career
Wilders was born in the city of VenloVenlo
Venlo is a municipality and a city in the southeastern Netherlands, next to the German border. It is situated in the province of Limburg.In 2001, the municipalities of Belfeld and Tegelen were merged into the municipality of Venlo. Tegelen was originally part of the Duchy of Jülich centuries ago,...
, in the northern part of the Dutch Province of Limburg
Limburg (Netherlands)
Limburg is the southernmost of the twelve provinces of the Netherlands. It is located in the southeastern part of the country and bordered by the province of Gelderland to the north, Germany to the east, Belgium to the south and part of the west, andthe Dutch province of North Brabant partly to...
on the southeastern border with Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. He is the youngest of four children, and was raised Catholic. He was born to a Dutch
Dutch people
The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...
father and a Dutch mother born in the Dutch East Indies
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
, of Dutch and Dutch-Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
n descent or Indo heritage through her mother's side. His father worked as a manager for the printing and copying manufacturing company Océ
Océ
Océ N.V. is a Netherlands-based company that develops, manufactures and sells printing and copying hardware and related software. The offering includes office printing and copying systems; production printers and wide format printing systems for both technical documentation and color display...
. His father fled the area to escape the Nazis
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
and became so traumatised from the experience that he refused to physically enter Germany even forty years later.
Wilders received his secondary education at the Mavo and Havo
Education in the Netherlands
Education in the Netherlands is characterized by division: education is orientated toward the needs and background of the pupil. Education is divided over schools for different age groups, some of which are divided in streams for different educational levels...
middle school and high school in Venlo. Reflecting passions that came to the fore later in his career, Wilders took a course in health insurance
Health insurance
Health insurance is insurance against the risk of incurring medical expenses among individuals. By estimating the overall risk of health care expenses among a targeted group, an insurer can develop a routine finance structure, such as a monthly premium or payroll tax, to ensure that money is...
at the Stichting Opleiding Sociale Verzekeringen in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
and earned several law certificates at the Dutch Open University
Open University (Netherlands)
The Open Universiteit Nederland is a Dutch university or institution for distance learning for higher education at university level . This means that students do not attend classes but study at home...
.
Wilders' goal after he graduated from secondary school was to see the world. Because he did not have enough money to travel to Australia, his preferred destination, he went to Israel instead. For several years he volunteered in a moshav
Moshav
Moshav is a type of Israeli town or settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists during the second aliyah...
and worked for several firms, becoming in his own words "a true friend of Israel". With the money he saved, he travelled to the neighbouring Arab
Arab world
The Arab world refers to Arabic-speaking states, territories and populations in North Africa, Western Asia and elsewhere.The standard definition of the Arab world comprises the 22 states and territories of the Arab League stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the...
countries, and was moved by the lack of democracy in the region. When he returned to the Netherlands, he retained Israeli ideas about counter-terrorism
Counter-terrorism
Counter-terrorism is the practices, tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, militaries, police departments and corporations adopt to prevent or in response to terrorist threats and/or acts, both real and imputed.The tactic of terrorism is available to insurgents and governments...
and a "special feeling of solidarity" for the country.
Living in Utrecht, Wilders initially worked in the health insurance industry. His interest in the subject led him into politics as a speech-writer for the Netherlands' People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy is a conservative-liberal political party located in the Netherlands. The VVD supports private enterprise in the Netherlands and is often perceived as an economic liberal party in contrast to the social-liberal Democrats 66 alongside which it sits in...
. He started his formal political career as a parliamentary assistant to Liberal party leader Frits Bolkestein
Frits Bolkestein
Frederik "Frits" Bolkestein is a retired Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy . He served as a Member of the House of Representatives from 16 January 1978, until 5 November 1982, when he became State Secretary for Economic Affairs from 5 November 1982, until 14 July...
, specialising in foreign policy
Foreign policy
A country's foreign policy, also called the foreign relations policy, consists of self-interest strategies chosen by the state to safeguard its national interests and to achieve its goals within international relations milieu. The approaches are strategically employed to interact with other countries...
. He held this job from 1990 to 1998. During this time Geert Wilders travelled extensively, visiting countries all across the Middle East, including Iran, Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Israel. Conservative Liberal Party leader Bolkestein was the first Dutch politician to address the consequences of mass immigration for Dutch society, including a sharp criticism of Muslim immigrants. He set an example for Wilders not only in his ideas but also in his confrontational speaking style.
Personal life
On 10 November 2004, two suspected attackers were captured after an hour-long siege of a building in The HagueThe Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
. They were in possession of three grenades
Hand grenade
A hand grenade is any small bomb that can be thrown by hand. Hand grenades are classified into three categories, explosive grenades, chemical and gas grenades. Explosive grenades are the most commonly used in modern warfare, and are designed to detonate after impact or after a set amount of time...
and were accused of planning to murder Wilders as well as a fellow MP, Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Ayaan Hirsi Magan Ali is a Somali-Dutch feminist and atheist activist, writer, politician who strongly opposes circumcision and female genital cutting. She is the daughter of the Somali politician and opposition leader Hirsi Magan Isse and is a founder of the women's rights organisation the AHA...
. The suspects were presumed to be members of what the Dutch intelligence agency, the General Intelligence and Security Service
General Intelligence and Security Service
Algemene Inlichtingen- en Veiligheidsdienst , formerly known as the BVD is the General Intelligence and Security Service or The Secret service of the Netherlands. The office is in Zoetermeer...
, has termed the Hofstadgroep
Hofstad Network
The Hofstad Network is an Islamist group of mostly young Dutch Muslims of mainly Moroccan ancestry.The name "Hofstad" was originally the codename the Dutch secret service AIVD used for a set of individuals and leaked to the media...
. Since this incident Wilders has been under constant security protection because of frequent threats to his life. In September 2007, a Dutch woman was sentenced to a one-year prison term for sending more than 100 threatening emails to Wilders. Wilders remained the most threatened politician in the Netherlands in 2008.
On 18 December 2009, the Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
rap
Rap
Rap may refer to:*Rapping, performance in which rhyming lyrics are used, with or without musical accompaniment ; while an MC performs spoken verses in time to a beat/ melody**Hip hop subculture**Hip hop music...
per Mo$heb was sentenced to 80 hours community service and a two-month suspended jail term for threatening Wilders in a rap titled "Wie is de volgende" ("Who's next"), which included that if he met Wilders, it would be "bam bam". The rapper also called on Wilders to take back his words if he wanted to stay alive and said "This is no joke. Last night I dreamed I chopped your head off". The public prosecutor said the threat could reasonably lead to Wilders fearing for his life or that he would be subjected to violence. The court agreed with this conclusion and said the rap was threatening. "A politician must be able to do his work", the judges said.
Wilders is said to have been "deprived... of a personal life for his... hatred of Islam". He is moved by his state-provided bodyguard
Bodyguard
A bodyguard is a type of security operative or government agent who protects a person—usually a famous, wealthy, or politically important figure—from assault, kidnapping, assassination, stalking, loss of confidential information, terrorist attack or other threats.Most important public figures such...
s to a different location every night, and does not receive visitors unless they are carefully screened and escorted at all times. He is married to a former diplomat of Hungarian origin, with whom he can only meet about once every week because of security concerns. The restrictions on his life because of this, he said, are "a situation that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy".
In January 2010, Karen Geurtsen, a Dutch journalist from the magazine HP-De Tijd, revealed a painful breach of security. She spent four months working undercover, posing as an intern, for the PVV party. She claimed that she had had unchecked access to Wilders. "I could have killed him", were the first words of the article that she published about this operation. According to her, she had "dozens" of opportunities to take his life.
Wilders has acquired nicknames such as "Mozart" and "Captain Peroxide" because of his flamboyant platinum blond
Blond
Blond or blonde or fair-hair is a hair color characterized by low levels of the dark pigment eumelanin. The resultant visible hue depends on various factors, but always has some sort of yellowish color...
hairstyle. Radio Netherlands calls him "the most famous bleach-blond since Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
".
Wilders is an agnostic
Agnosticism
Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable....
, but he has stated that he thinks Dutch Christians "are my allies" and that they fundamentally should want the same thing.
Public reception
Wilders has become a controversial figure with polarized opinions on him from the world news media. In 2005, the Dutch public expressed mixed reactions to Wilders' general agenda, with 53% calling it "implausible" and 47% more supportive.He has been described as populist, labelled as both "extreme right" and far right, and defended by others as a mainstream politician with legitimate concerns saying that such labels are shallow smear attempts. Wilders himself rejects the labels and has called the new description "scandalous".
He has been accused of building his popularity on fear and resentment and vociferously defended for having the courage to talk openly about the problems unfettered immigration brings with it and the incompatibility of fundamentalist Islam with western values.
On 15 December 2007, Wilders was declared "Politician of the Year" by NOS-radio
Nederlandse Omroep Stichting
The Nederlandse Omroep Stichting , English: Netherlands Broadcasting Foundation, is one of the broadcasters in the Netherlands Public Broadcasting system...
, a mainstream Dutch radio station. The parliamentary press praised his ability to dominate political discussion and to attract the debate and to get into publicity with his well-timed one-liners. The editors eventually gave the title to Wilders because he was the only one who scored high amongst both the press and the general public.
In December 2009, Wilders came in second in two polls in the Netherlands for Politician of the Year. A panel of Dutch television viewers praised him as "the second best" politician this year (after his outspoken critic Alexander Pechtold
Alexander Pechtold
Alexander Pechtold is a Dutch politician of the Democrats 66 party. He has been a member of the House of Representatives since 30 November 2006 as well as Parliamentary group leader since 23 November 2006...
), while his colleagues in parliament named him "the second worst" (after Rita Verdonk
Rita Verdonk
Maria Cornelia Frederika "Rita" Verdonk is a retired Dutch politician initially of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy until she was expelled in October 2007, she later formed her own party Proud of the Netherlands . She served as Minister for Integration and Immigration in Cabinets...
). After the last elections on 9 June 2010, Wilders holds 24 out of 150 seats in the Dutch parliamentary government.
Some Muslim critics of Wilders accuse him of using Koranic verses out of context. Because of Wilders' perceived positions on Islam, the Dutch–Moroccan
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
rapper Appa
Appa (rapper)
Rachid El Ghazoui a.k.a Appa is a Dutch rapper whose roots lie in the mountainous regions of North-Morocco. In 2002, he joined rap formation Tuindorp Hustler Click , but decided to go solo. He is known for the political content of his lyrics and criticism of nationalist MP Geert Wilders...
, when interviewed about Wilders for a newspaper, said "if someone were to put a bullet in his head, I wouldn't mind".
Wilders' views on Islam prompted the Muslim Mayor of Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
, Ahmed Aboutaleb
Ahmed Aboutaleb
Ahmed Aboutaleb is a Dutch politician of the Labour Party . He has been the Mayor of Rotterdam since January 5, 2009...
, to reprimand him.
Editorials by AlterNet
AlterNet
AlterNet, a project of the non-profit Independent Media Institute, is a progressive/liberal activist news service. Launched in 1998, AlterNet now claims a readership of over 3 million visitors per month .AlterNet publishes original content as well as journalism from a wide variety of other sources...
, The Montreal Gazette, The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
, The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, and The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
have accused Wilders of hypocrisy
Hypocrisy
Hypocrisy is the state of pretending to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that one does not actually have. Hypocrisy involves the deception of others and is thus a kind of lie....
given that, in their view, Wilders has called for the ban of the sale of the Quran while simultaneously arguing for his own personal freedom of speech
Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
. In a speech during a Dutch parliamentary debate, Wilders elaborated that he calls for the consistent application of Dutch laws restricting any act of expression that incites violence
Incitement
In English criminal law, incitement was an anticipatory common law offence and was the act of persuading, encouraging, instigating, pressuring, or threatening so as to cause another to commit a crime....
. Ideally, he would prefer to see nearly all such laws abolished. As such, he supports a European-wide constitutional protection of freedom of speech like that which exists in the United States
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
.
Wilders has also been compared to the assassinated fellow critic of Islam and filmmaker Theo van Gogh
Theo van Gogh (film director)
Theodoor "Theo" van Gogh was a Dutch film director, film producer, columnist, author and actor.Van Gogh worked with the Somali-born writer Ayaan Hirsi Ali to produce the film Submission, which criticized the treatment of women in Islam and aroused controversy among Muslims...
, but he does not see himself as taking on van Gogh's mantle. Wilders has stated that he supports the free speech
Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
rights of his critics, saying that "An Imam who wants a politician dead is—however reprehensible—allowed to say so". He has responded to charges of racism and Islamophobia
Islamophobia
Islamophobia describes prejudice against, hatred or irrational fear of Islam or MuslimsThe term dates back to the late 1980s or early 1990s, but came into common usage after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States....
by stating, "I don't hate Muslims. I hate their book and their ideology".
In February 2010, the trailer of a newly published online satirical video on the website of the Dutch radio station FunX, which targets a young urban audience, spoofed a murder attempt on Wilders.
In July 2010, the magazine Inspire
Inspire (magazine)
Inspire is an English language online magazine reported to be published by the organization al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula . The use of the magazine is to increase the availability of their message without challenges to their value system. The magazine is one of the many ways AQAP uses the...
announced that Wilders, as well as Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Ayaan Hirsi Magan Ali is a Somali-Dutch feminist and atheist activist, writer, politician who strongly opposes circumcision and female genital cutting. She is the daughter of the Somali politician and opposition leader Hirsi Magan Isse and is a founder of the women's rights organisation the AHA...
, Kurt Westergaard
Kurt Westergaard
Kurt Westergaard is a Danish cartoonist who created the controversial cartoon of the Islamic prophet Muhammad wearing a bomb in his turban. This cartoon was the most contentious of the 12 Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons, which met with strong and sometimes violent reactions from Muslims worldwide...
and Salman Rushdie, were mentioned on a "death list" of an international islamist terrorist network.
Shortly before this publication it was revealed in The Hague that Dutch law enforcement officers succeeded twice in smuggling a firearm into the parliament buildings and into the guarded headquarter of Wilders' party. This check was carried out by the Special Security Assignments Brigade BSB
Brigade Speciale Beveiligingsopdrachten
The Brigade Speciale Beveiligingsopdrachten or BSB is a special forces/special operations unit of the Koninklijke Marechaussee, the Dutch gendarmerie corps...
, a special unit of the Dutch Military Police. The test was carried out following a complaint from Wilders about his security being inadequate.
In July 2011, Anders Behring Breivik
Anders Behring Breivik
Anders Behring Breivik is a Norwegian terrorist, paranoid schizophrenic and the confessed perpetrator of the Norway attacks on 22 July 2011: the bombing of government buildings in Oslo that resulted in eight deaths, and the mass shooting at a camp of the Workers' Youth League of the Labour Party...
declared to be a great admirer of Geert Wilders and the Party for Freedom. However, Wilders immediately distanced himself strongly from Breivik.
On 11 September 2010, 2,000 people gathered close by the site of a planned Muslim community center near the site of the World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
attacks, on 11 September 2001, where they were addressed by Wilders who flew from The Netherlands to urge the crowd: "This is where we have draw the line. We must never give a free hand to those who want to subjugate us," Wilders added. "Draw this line so that New York... will never become New Mecca."
Wilders was extensively discussed in American diplomatic cables, released by WikiLeaks
Wikileaks
WikiLeaks is an international self-described not-for-profit organisation that publishes submissions of private, secret, and classified media from anonymous news sources, news leaks, and whistleblowers. Its website, launched in 2006 under The Sunshine Press organisation, claimed a database of more...
in December 2010. In a briefing to President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
, he was described as "no friend of the US: he opposes Dutch military involvement in Afghanistan; he believes development assistance is money wasted; he opposes NATO missions outside 'allied' territory; he is against most EU initiatives; and, most troubling, he foments fear and hatred of immigrants."
Political career
In 1997, Wilders was elected for the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) to the municipal council of Utrecht, the fourth largest city of the Netherlands. He lived in KanaleneilandKanaleneiland
Kanaleneiland is a district within the Southwest section of the Dutch city of Utrecht. It was created in the massive expansion of the city in the 1960s. Today it is listed as one of 40 "problem neighborhoods" that require extra attention by the Dutch Ministry of Housing.Kanaleneiland's residents...
, a suburb with cheap social housing and high apartment blocks, and which has a relatively high number of immigrants. While a city councilor, Wilders was mugged in his own neighbourhood; some have speculated that this may have catalysed his political transformation. He was not rewarded for his time on the municipal council of Utrecht, for in the following elections he would score well below the national average in the University city.
A year later, he was elected to the Netherlands' national parliament, but his first four years in parliament drew little attention. However, his appointment in 2002 as a public spokesman for the VVD led Wilders to become more well known for his outspoken criticism of Islamic extremism. Tensions immediately developed within the party, as Wilders found himself to be to the right
Right-wing politics
In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...
of most members, and challenged the party line in his public statements. He was expelled from the VVD parliamentary party, and in September 2004, Wilders left the VVD, having been a member since 1989, to form his own political party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
, Groep Wilders, later renamed the Party for Freedom
Party for Freedom
The Party for Freedom is a Dutch right-wing political party. Founded in 2005 as the successor to Geert Wilders' one-man party in the House of Representatives, it won nine seats in the 2006 general election, making it the fifth largest party in parliament, and third largest opposition party. It...
. The crunch issue with the VVD party line was about his refusal to endorse the party's position that European Union accession negotiations must be started with Turkey.
The Party for Freedom's political platform often overlaps those of the assassinated Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
politician Pim Fortuyn
Pim Fortuyn
Wilhelmus Simon Petrus Fortuijn, known as Pim Fortuyn was a Dutch politician, civil servant, sociologist, author and professor who formed his own party, Pim Fortuyn List ....
and his Pim Fortuyn List. After his death, Fortuyn's impact remained, as more and more politicians sought to gain political mileage by directly confronting topics such as a ban on immigration that were, from a politically correct
Political correctness
Political correctness is a term which denotes language, ideas, policies, and behavior seen as seeking to minimize social and institutional offense in occupational, gender, racial, cultural, sexual orientation, certain other religions, beliefs or ideologies, disability, and age-related contexts,...
point of view, considered unmentionable in the Netherlands until Fortuyn came on the scene and upended the Dutch tradition of consensus politics with an anti-immigration stance. Wilders would position himself to inherit Fortuyn's constituency. He bases his ideas on an ideological framework
Ideology
An ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies , or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to...
of small government
Small government
A Small government is one which minimizes its own activities. It is a concept important to classical liberalism and libertarianism.-In Hong Kong:...
, law and order
Law and order (politics)
In politics, law and order refers to demands for a strict criminal justice system, especially in relation to violent and property crime, through harsher criminal penalties...
and direct democracy
Direct democracy
Direct democracy is a form of government in which people vote on policy initiatives directly, as opposed to a representative democracy in which people vote for representatives who then vote on policy initiatives. Direct democracy is classically termed "pure democracy"...
. The Party for Freedom call for a €16 billion tax reduction, a far stricter policy toward recreational drug use
Recreational drug use
Recreational drug use is the use of a drug, usually psychoactive, with the intention of creating or enhancing recreational experience. Such use is controversial, however, often being considered to be also drug abuse, and it is often illegal...
, investing more in roads and other infrastructure, building nuclear power
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
plants and including animal rights
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
in the Dutch constitution
Constitution of the Netherlands
The Constitution of the Netherlands is the fundamental law of the European territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The present constitution is generally seen as directly derived from the one issued in 1815, constituting a constitutional monarchy. A revision in 1848 instituted a system of...
. In the 2006 Dutch parliamentary election
Dutch general election, 2006
The General Election to the House of Representatives of the States-General of the Netherlands was held in the Netherlands on November 22, 2006. And followed the call for new elections after the fall of the Second Balkenende cabinet....
, their first parliamentary election, the Party for Freedom won 9 out of the 150 open seats.
In March 2009, in a party meeting in Venlo, Wilders said "I want to be prime minister
Prime Minister of the Netherlands
The Prime Minister of the Netherlands is the chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Netherlands. He is the de facto head of government of the Netherlands and coordinates the policy of the government...
", believing the PVV will eventually become the Netherlands’ biggest party. "At some point it's going to happen and then it will be a big honour to fulfil the post of prime minister".
Polling conducted throughout March 2009 by Maurice de Hond
Maurice de Hond
Maurice de Hond is a Dutch pollster and entrepreneur.-Career:De Hond studied social geography at the University of Amsterdam, obtaining a degree in 1971. He worked for the university, as assistant with the Sociaal Geografisch Instituut, but became a project leader for Interview-NSS in 1973...
indicated the Party for Freedom was the most popular parliamentary party. The polls predicted that the party would take 21% of the national vote, winning 32 out of 150 seats in the Dutch parliament. If the polling results were replicated in an election, Wilders would be a major power broker. Under such circumstances, there would also be some likelihood of him becoming Prime Minister of the Netherlands. This has been partially attributed to timely prosecution attempts against him for hate speech and the travel ban imposed on him by the United Kingdom, as well as dissatisfaction with the Dutch government's response to the global financial crisis of 2008–2009.
On 3 March 2010, elections for the local councils were held in the municipalities of The Netherlands. The PVV only contested these local elections in the Dutch towns The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
and Almere
Almere
Almere is a planned city and municipality in the province of Flevoland, the Netherlands, bordering Lelystad and Zeewolde. The municipality of Almere comprises the districts Almere Stad, Almere Haven, Almere Buiten, Almere Hout, Almere Poort and Almere Pampus .Almere is the youngest city in the...
, because of a shortage of good candidates. The big gains that were scored indicated that the party and Wilders might dominate the political scene in the run-up to the parliamentary elections scheduled on 9 June 2010. The PVV won in Almere and came second to the Dutch Labour party in The Hague. In Almere, the PVV won 21 percent of the vote to Labour's 18 percent, preliminary results showed. In The Hague, the PVV had 8 seats—second to Labour with 10 seats.
On 8 March 2010, Wilders announced that he would take a seat on the Hague city council, after it became clear he won 13,000 preference votes. Earlier he had said he would not take up a seat if he won.
In the parliamentary elections on 9 June 2010, the PVV went from 9 to 24 seats (out of 150) resulting from over 15% of the vote. This made the PVV the third party in size. With a fragmented parliament, at least three parties were required for an absolute majority. A coalition of VVD and Christian Democratic Appeal
Christian Democratic Appeal
The Christian Democratic Appeal is a centre-right Dutch Christian democratic political party. It suffered severe losses in the 2010 elections and fell from the first to the fourth place...
(CDA) was negotiated with parliamentary support by the PVV. The PVV did not become part of the government formed by VVD and CDA but actively participated in the negotiations and thus policy decisions and – as part of the outcome agreed that they would not support any motion to dismiss ministers concerning topics listed in a so-called "support agreement" – much like the Danish model where the Danish People's Party
Danish People's Party
The Danish People's Party is a political party in Denmark which is frequently described as right-wing populist by political scientists and commentators. The party is led by Pia Kjærsgaard...
plays a similar role. The very fact of the participation of Wilder's party in these negotiations caused fierce discussions in political circles.
Political principles
Wilders generally considers himself to be a right-wingRight-wing politics
In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...
liberal, with a specific mix of positions independent of the European political spectrum
Political spectrum
A political spectrum is a way of modeling different political positions by placing them upon one or more geometric axes symbolizing independent political dimensions....
and particular to iconoclastic Dutch society. He has stated that "My allies are not Le Pen
Jean-Marie Le Pen
Jean-Marie Le Pen is a French far right-wing and nationalist politician who is founder and former president of the Front National party. Le Pen has run for the French presidency five times, most notably in 2002, when in a surprise upset he came second, polling more votes in the first round than...
or Haider
Jörg Haider
Jörg Haider was an Austrian politician. He was Governor of Carinthia on two occasions, the long-time leader of the Austrian Freedom Party and later Chairman of the Alliance for the Future of Austria , a breakaway party from the FPÖ.Haider was controversial within Austria and abroad for comments...
... We'll never join up with the fascists and Mussolinis
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
of Italy
Italian Fascism
Italian Fascism also known as Fascism with a capital "F" refers to the original fascist ideology in Italy. This ideology is associated with the National Fascist Party which under Benito Mussolini ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 until 1943, the Republican Fascist Party which ruled the Italian...
. I'm very afraid of being linked with the wrong rightist fascist groups", saying instead his drive is issues such as freedom of expression and Dutch iconoclasm
Iconoclasm
Iconoclasm is the deliberate destruction of religious icons and other symbols or monuments, usually with religious or political motives. It is a frequent component of major political or religious changes...
. Wilders views British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
as his greatest political role model. People's Party for Freedom and Democracy figure Frits Bolkestein
Frits Bolkestein
Frederik "Frits" Bolkestein is a retired Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy . He served as a Member of the House of Representatives from 16 January 1978, until 5 November 1982, when he became State Secretary for Economic Affairs from 5 November 1982, until 14 July...
also heavily influenced his beliefs.
Wilders strongly opposes the Dutch political system
Politics of the Netherlands
The politics of the Netherlands take place within the framework of a parliamentary representative democracy, a constitutional monarchy and a decentralised unitary state. The Netherlands is described as a consociational state...
in general. He believes that there is a ruling elite
Elite
Elite refers to an exceptional or privileged group that wields considerable power within its sphere of influence...
of parliamentarians who only care about their own personal careers and disregard the will of the people. He also blames the Dutch system of multi-party coalition governments for a lack of clear and effective policies. In his view, Dutch society advocates rule by consensus and cultural relativism
Cultural relativism
Cultural relativism is the principle that an individual human's beliefs and activities should be understood by others in terms of that individual's own culture. This principle was established as axiomatic in anthropological research by Franz Boas in the first few decades of the 20th century and...
, while he believes that this should change so as to "not tolerate the intolerant".
On foreign relations, Wilders has largely supported Israel and has criticized countries he perceives as enemies of Israel. Furthermore, he has made some proposals in the Dutch Parliament inspired by Israeli policies. For example, he supports implementing Israel's administrative detention
Administrative detention
Administrative detention is arrest and detention of individuals by the state without trial, usually for security reasons. A large number of countries, both democratic and undemocratic, resort to administrative detention as a means to combat terrorism, control illegal immigration, or to protect the...
in the Netherlands, a practice heavily criticized by human rights groups, which he calls "common sense".
Wilders often mentions Henk and Ingrid
Henk and Ingrid
Henk and Ingrid are a fictitious Dutch couple who are often mentioned in speeches by Geert Wilders as the people he claims to represent. They are also mentioned by other Dutch politicians, usually when they counter Wilders in parliament....
in his speeches, fictitious common Dutch subjects who he claims to work for.
Furthermore, Wilders has revived the ancient idea of reuniting Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
and the Netherlands.
Wilders published the version of his political manifesto called Klare Wijn ("Clear Wine") in March 2006. The program proposed ten key points to be implemented:
- Considerable reduction of taxes and state regulations.
- Replacement of the present Article 1 of the Dutch constitution, guaranteeing equality under the law, by a clause stating the cultural dominance of the Christian, Jewish and humanist traditions.
- Reduction of the influence of the European Union, which may no longer be expanded with new member states, especially Turkey; the European ParliamentEuropean ParliamentThe European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
will be abolished. Dutch financial contributions to the European Union should be reduced by billions of euros. - A five year moratorium on the immigration of non-Western foreigners who intend to stay in the Netherlands. Foreign residents will no longer have the right to vote in municipal elections.
- A five-year moratorium on the founding of new mosques and Islamic schools; a permanent ban on preaching in any language other than Dutch. Foreign imams will not be allowed to preach. Radical mosques will be closed and radical Muslims will be expelled.
- Restoration of educational standards, with an emphasis on the educational value of the family.
- Introduction of binding referenda and elected mayors, chiefs of police and prime ministers.
- Introduction of minimum penalties, and higher maximum penalties; introduction of administrative detention for terrorist suspects. Street terrorism will be punished by boot camps and denaturalisation and deportation of immigrant offenders.
- Restoration of respect and better rewards for teachers, policemen, health care workers and military personnel.
- Instead of complicated reorganisation, a more accessible and humane health care system, especially for elderly citizens.
Views on Islam
Wilders is best known for his criticism of IslamCriticism of Islam
Criticism of Islam has existed since Islam's formative stages. Early written criticism came from Christians, prior to the ninth century, many of whom viewed Islam as a radical Christian heresy...
, summing up his views by saying, "I don't hate Muslims, I hate Islam". Although identifying Islamic extremists as 5–15% of Muslims, he argues that "there is no such thing as 'moderate Islam and that the "Koran also states that Muslims who believe in only part of the Koran are in fact apostates". He suggests that Muslims should "tear out half of the Koran if they wished to stay in the Netherlands" because it contains "terrible things" and that Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
would "... in these days be hunted down as a terrorist".
On 8 August 2007, Wilders opined in an open letter
Open letter
An open letter is a letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally....
to the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant
De Volkskrant
de Volkskrant is a national daily Dutch morning newspaper, the leading centre-left broadsheet, although now in tabloid size.-History:...
that the Koran, which he called a "fascist book", should be outlawed in the Netherlands, like Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
's Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf is a book written by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. It combines elements of autobiography with an exposition of Hitler's political ideology. Volume 1 of Mein Kampf was published in 1925 and Volume 2 in 1926...
. He has stated that "The book incites hatred and killing and therefore has no place in our legal order". He has also referred to Mohammed as "the devil". In Sept 2009 Wilders proposed to put a tax on Hijab
Hijab
The word "hijab" or "'" refers to both the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women and modest Muslim styles of dress in general....
wearing by Muslim women. He suggested women could purchase a license at a cost of €1000 and that the money raised could be used in projects beneficial to women's emancipation.
He believes that all Muslim immigration to the Netherlands should be halted and all settled immigrants should be paid to leave. Referring to the increased population of Muslims in the Netherlands, he has said:
In a speech before the Dutch Parliament, he stated:
Nonetheless, Wilders has traveled widely in the Arab world and Der Spiegel
Der Spiegel
Der Spiegel is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. It is one of Europe's largest publications of its kind, with a weekly circulation of more than one million.-Overview:...
has stated that Wilders will "wax poetic" over those "magnificent countries". Wilders has also said that "It's a real shame that these places are so chaotic."
Wilders argues that Islam is not a religion, but rather a totalitarian political ideology such as communism and fascism.
Wilders and Israel
Wilders lived in Israel for two years during his youth and has visited the country 40 times in the last 25 years.Wilders stated about Israel: "I have visited many interesting countries in the Middle East – from Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
to Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, from Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
to Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, from Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
to Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
– but nowhere did I have the special feeling of solidarity that I always get when I land at Ben Gurion International Airport
Ben Gurion International Airport
Ben Gurion International Airport , also referred to by its Hebrew acronym Natbag , is the largest and busiest international airport in Israel, handling 12,160,339 passengers in 2010...
." Dutch public TV channel Nederland 2
Nederland 2
Nederland 2 is a Dutch television channel, one of three alongside Nederland 1 and Nederland 3. It was established in October 1964 and tends to broadcast sports, light entertainment, news and current affairs programming....
's daily news programme Netwerk
Netwerk
Netwerk is a Dutch 'behind the news' television show on Nederland 2....
reported that numerous American supporters of Israel financially supported Wilders' Party for Freedom
Party for Freedom
The Party for Freedom is a Dutch right-wing political party. Founded in 2005 as the successor to Geert Wilders' one-man party in the House of Representatives, it won nine seats in the 2006 general election, making it the fifth largest party in parliament, and third largest opposition party. It...
(PVV) and openly approved of his message towards Islam and Islamic terrorism. Wilders told an audience during the report that "We [in the West] are all Israel". He has also said "Israel is the West's first line of defence" against what he perceives to be a threat posed by Islam.
Following the Dutch general election, 2010
Dutch general election, 2010
The 2010 Dutch general election was held on Wednesday, 9 June 2010. After the fall of the cabinet Balkenende IV on 20 February, Queen Beatrix accepted the resignation of the Labour Party ministers on 23 February...
, in which the PVV were the third biggest party, Wilders said Jordan should be renamed Palestine. The Jordanian government responded saying Wilders' speech was reminiscent of the Israeli right wing. His speech said "Jordan is Palestine. Changing its name to Palestine will end the conflict in the Middle East and provide the Palestinians with an alternate homeland." He also said Israel deserves a special status in the Dutch government because it was fighting for "Jerusalem" in its name.
"If Jerusalem falls into the hands of the Muslims, Athens and Rome will be next. Thus, Jerusalem is the main front protecting the West. It is not a conflict over territory but rather an ideological battle, between the mentality of the liberated West and the ideology of Islamic barbarism. There has been an independent Palestinian state since 1946, and it is the kingdom of Jordan."
He called on the Dutch government to refer to Jordan as Palestine and move its embassy to Jerusalem.
Fitna
Short subject
A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. No consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all...
written and commissioned by Wilders that explores Koranic-inspired motivations for terrorism, Islamic universalism
Universalism
Universalism in its primary meaning refers to religious, theological, and philosophical concepts with universal application or applicability...
, and Islam in the Netherlands
Islam in the Netherlands
The history of Islam in the Netherlands started in the 19th century when the Netherlands experienced sporadic Muslim migration from the Dutch East Indies when it was a colony from the Netherlands...
. Its title comes from the Arabic word
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
fitna, which describes "disagreement and division among people" or a "test of faith in times of trial".
It is the subject of an international controversy and debate on free speech. Despite the legal troubles surrounding the film, Wilders insists that before he released it, he consulted numerous lawyers in the field, who found nothing worth prosecution. Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
has summoned Wilders to court, with the film deemed to "incite hatred". Militant Sunni Islamist group Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
issued a call to murder Wilders after its release.
In the spring of 2009, Wilders launched the "Facing Jihad World Tour", a series of screenings of Fitna to public officials and influential organizations around the globe, starting in Rome. In the United States, Wilders showed the film to the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
on 26 February having been invited by Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
Republican Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Jon Kyl
Jon Kyl
Jon Llewellyn Kyl is the junior U.S. Senator from Arizona and the Senate Minority Whip, the second-highest position in the Republican Senate leadership. In 2010 he was recognized by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world for his persuasive role in the Senate.The son...
. Around 40 people attended the screening. American Muslims protested, but the groups said that they supported his right of free speech while still condemning his opinions. Wilders spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference
Conservative Political Action Conference
The Conservative Political Action Conference is an annual political conference attended by conservative activists and elected officials from across the United States....
on 28 February. He appeared before the National Press Club and the Republican Jewish Coalition
Republican Jewish Coalition
The Republican Jewish Coalition , founded in 1985, is a political lobbying group in the United States that promotes Jewish Republicans. The RJC claims that it is the most important voice on conservative political issues for the Jewish-American community...
that week as well. Similar attempts in Britain led to a travel ban, and legislative blocks have prevented an appearance in Denmark.
Ban on entering the United Kingdom
Lord Pearson of RannochMalcolm Pearson, Baron Pearson of Rannoch
Malcolm Everard MacLaren Pearson, Baron Pearson of Rannoch is a British businessman and the former leader of the UK Independence Party . He is a member of the House of Lords.-Biography:...
and Baroness Cox
Caroline Cox, Baroness Cox
Caroline Cox, Baroness Cox FRCN; born 6 July 1937) is a cross-bench member of the British House of Lords. She also is the founder and CEO of an organisation called the Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust...
, members of the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
(the upper chamber of the British Parliament), invited Wilders to a 12 February 2009 showing of Fitna in the Palace of Westminster
Palace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, is the meeting place of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons...
. Two days before the showing, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith
Jacqui Smith
Jacqueline Jill "Jacqui" Smith is a member of the British Labour Party. She served as the Member of Parliament for Redditch from 1997 until 2010 and was the first ever female Home Secretary, thus making her the third woman to hold one of the Great Offices of State — after Margaret Thatcher and...
banned Wilders
Persona non grata
Persona non grata , literally meaning "an unwelcome person", is a legal term used in diplomacy that indicates a proscription against a person entering the country...
from entering the territory of the United Kingdom, labelling him an "undesirable person". Entry was denied under EU law, and reportedly supported under regulation 19 of the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006, an EU law which allows a member state to refuse entry to individuals if they are regarded as constituting a threat to public policy, security or health. A Home Office spokesperson elaborated that "The Government opposes extremism in all its forms ... and that was the driving force behind tighter rules on exclusions for unacceptable behaviour that the Home Secretary announced in October last year".
Wilders defied the ban and entered via London Heathrow Airport
London Heathrow Airport
London Heathrow Airport or Heathrow , in the London Borough of Hillingdon, is the busiest airport in the United Kingdom and the third busiest airport in the world in terms of total passenger traffic, handling more international passengers than any other airport around the globe...
on 12 February, trailed by television crews. He was quickly detained by Border Patrol officials and sent back on one of the next flights to the Netherlands. He called Prime Minister Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
"the biggest coward in Europe" and remarked, "Of course I will come back". Wilders had visited the United Kingdom in December 2008 without any problem. Lord Pearson
Malcolm Pearson, Baron Pearson of Rannoch
Malcolm Everard MacLaren Pearson, Baron Pearson of Rannoch is a British businessman and the former leader of the UK Independence Party . He is a member of the House of Lords.-Biography:...
did not support Wilders' decision to defy the government. But in response to the ban, both Pearson and Cox accused the government of "appeasing" militant Islam.
The International Herald Tribune
International Herald Tribune
The International Herald Tribune is a widely read English language international newspaper. It combines the resources of its own correspondents with those of The New York Times and is printed at 38 sites throughout the world, for sale in more than 160 countries and territories...
stated that the ban was broadly condemned in the British news media. The Dutch Foreign Secretary, Maxime Verhagen
Maxime Verhagen
Maxime Jacques Marcel Verhagen is a Dutch politician in the Christian Democratic Appeal party. He is the Minister of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation and Deputy Prime Minister since October 14, 2010 in the Cabinet Rutte.He previously served as a Member of the European Parliament for...
, called the decision "highly regrettable" and complained to his British counterpart
David Miliband
David Wright Miliband is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for South Shields since 2001, and was the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs from 2007 to 2010. He is the elder son of the late Marxist theorist Ralph Miliband...
. Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende
Jan Peter Balkenende
Jan Pieter "Jan Peter" Balkenende is a Dutch politician of the party Christian Democratic Appeal .He was the Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 July 2002 until 14 October 2010, having led four coalition governments, cabinets Balkenende I, II, III and IV, none of which served a full...
complained to Gordon Brown about the "disappointing" decision. The Quilliam Foundation
Quilliam Foundation
The Quilliam is a London-based think tank that focuses on "counter-extremism", specifically Islamism, which they argue is the cause of Muslim terrorism. They lobby government and public institutions for more nuanced policies regarding Islam and the need for greater democracy in the Muslim world...
, a British think tank
Think tank
A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...
, criticised the ban, as did National Secular Society
National Secular Society
The National Secular Society is a British campaigning organisation that promotes secularism and the separation of church and state. It holds that no-one should gain advantage or disadvantage because of their religion or lack of religion. It was founded by Charles Bradlaugh in 1866...
president Terry Sanderson
Terry Sanderson (writer)
Terry Sanderson is a leading UK secularist and gay rights activist, author and journalist. He became president of the National Secular Society in 2006 and is a long-standing columnist for Gay Times.-Early life and career:...
. The Muslim Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
peer Lord Ahmed
Nazir Ahmed, Baron Ahmed
Nazir Ahmed, Baron Ahmed is a member of the House of Lords, having become the United Kingdom's first Muslim life peer in 1998. Many of his political activities relate to the Islamic community both in the UK and abroad, and he has often attracted controversy...
expressed support for Smith's ban on Wilders entering the country; the Ramadhan Foundation and the Muslim Council of Britain
Muslim Council of Britain
The Muslim Council of Britain is a self-appointed umbrella body for national, regional, local and specialist organisations and institutions from different ethnic and sectarian backgrounds within British Islamic society. It was established in 1997 to help Muslims, to increase education about the...
also did so, the council labeling Wilders "an open and relentless preacher of hate".
Ban overturned
After being declared persona non grataPersona non grata
Persona non grata , literally meaning "an unwelcome person", is a legal term used in diplomacy that indicates a proscription against a person entering the country...
by Jacqui Smith, then the Home Secretary, in February 2009, Wilders appealed the decision to Britain's Asylum and Immigration Tribunal
Asylum and Immigration Tribunal
The Asylum and Immigration Tribunal was a tribunal constituted in the United Kingdom with jurisdiction to hear appeals from many immigration and asylum decisions...
. In October 2009, the tribunal overturned the ban. Wilders subsequently praised the ruling as "a triumph for freedom of speech" and stated that he plans to visit the United Kingdom in the near future.
The ruling was criticized by the British Home Office
Home Office
The Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...
, which stated that an appeal of the tribunal's ruling is being considered. A spokesman stated:
"The Government opposes extremism in all its forms. The decision to refuse Wilders admission was taken on the basis that his presence could have inflamed tensions between our communities and have led to inter-faith violence. We still maintain this view."
Visits to the UK
On 16 October 2009, Wilders arrived in the United Kingdom and was quickly forced to move his press conference due to protests by about forty members of the organization Islam4UK, an organization that was later shut down under the UK's Terrorism Act 2000Terrorism Act 2000
The Terrorism Act 2000 is the first of a number of general Terrorism Acts passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It superseded and repealed the Prevention of Terrorism Act 1989 and the Northern Ireland Act 1996...
on 14 January 2010. Though the Home Office had asserted that his entry into the country would not be blocked, a spokesman said his "statements and behaviour during a visit will inevitably impact on any future decisions to admit him." His visit to the UK met with protest, but Wilders called it "a victory" in a press conference. On his outspoken views on Islam, he said: "I have a problem with the Islamic ideology, the Islamic culture, because I feel that the more Islam that we get in our societies the less freedom we get." He opened the press conference with a quote from George Orwell
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
's preface to Animal Farm
Animal Farm
Animal Farm is an allegorical novella by George Orwell published in England on 17 August 1945. According to Orwell, the book reflects events leading up to and during the Stalin era before World War II...
: "If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they don't want to hear". Lord Pearson
Malcolm Pearson, Baron Pearson of Rannoch
Malcolm Everard MacLaren Pearson, Baron Pearson of Rannoch is a British businessman and the former leader of the UK Independence Party . He is a member of the House of Lords.-Biography:...
, who had invited him, said his arrival was
"a celebration of the victory of freedom of speech over those who would prevent it in this country, particularly the Islamists, the violent JihadJihadJihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
ists who are on the march across the world and in the UK."
In January 2010, Wilders was invited again to show his anti-Quran movie Fitna in the British House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
by Lord Pearson UK Independence Party (UKIP), and Baroness Cox cross-bencher
Cross-bencher
A crossbencher is an independent or minor party member of some legislatures, such as the British House of Lords and Australian Senate. They take their name from the crossbenches, between and perpendicular to the government and opposition benches, where crossbenchers sit in the chamber; compare...
. Wilders accepted the invitation and was present for a presentation of the movie in the House of Lords on 5 March. In his speech he quoted ominous words from Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
's book The River War
The River War
The River War: An Historical Account of the Reconquest of the Soudan is an 1899 book by Winston Churchill, concerning his experiences as a British Army officer, during the Mahdist War in Sudan....
from 1899:
"Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. No stronger retrograde force exists in the World. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step ... the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome."
At the ensuing press conferences, he called the prophet Muhammad a "barbarian, a mass murderer, and a pedophile" and referring to Islam as a "fascist ideology" which was "violent, dangerous, and retarded". Wilders also reportedly called Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been Prime Minister of Turkey since 2003 and is chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party , which holds a majority of the seats in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Erdoğan served as Mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998. He graduated in 1981 from Marmara...
a "total freak". Dutch Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende called these comments "irresponsible", and Maxime Verhagen
Maxime Verhagen
Maxime Jacques Marcel Verhagen is a Dutch politician in the Christian Democratic Appeal party. He is the Minister of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation and Deputy Prime Minister since October 14, 2010 in the Cabinet Rutte.He previously served as a Member of the European Parliament for...
, Dutch caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Netherlands)
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the Dutch ministry of foreign affairs: it is occupied with the external relations of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, including European cooperation and International development...
, publicly condemned Wilders's remarks and behaviour:
"He incites discord among people in a distasteful manner. And in the meantime he damages the interests of the Dutch population and the reputation of the Netherlands in the world."
Bernard Wientjes, the president of the Dutch employers' organization Confederation of Netherlands Industry and Employers (VNO-NCW
VNO-NCW
VNO-NCW is a Dutch employers' federation.-History:VNO-NCW was founded in 1996 as fusion of the Christian-democratic Nederlands Christelijk Werkgeversverbond , which was founded as fusion of the Protestant PCW and the Catholic NKW, and the liberal Verbond van Nederlandse Ondernemingen...
), also accused Wilders of "seriously" damaging Dutch interests abroad. He called it outrageous that Wilders had presented himself in London as "the next Dutch prime minister" and then derided Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been Prime Minister of Turkey since 2003 and is chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party , which holds a majority of the seats in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Erdoğan served as Mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998. He graduated in 1981 from Marmara...
. Emphasizing that three quarters of the Dutch GDP comes from revenue earned abroad, according to Wientjes, Wilders poses "a serious threat to the Netherlands and the Dutch economy".
Wilders and Germany
In March 2010, Wilders was told he is "not welcome" in the western German tourist resort of MonschauMonschau
Monschau is a small resort town in the Eifel region of western Germany, located in the district Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia.-Geography:The town is located in the hills of the North Eifel, within the Hohes Venn – Eifel Nature Park in the narrow valley of the Rur river.The historic town center...
in the Eifel
Eifel
The Eifel is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the south of the German-speaking Community of Belgium....
area, after he spent a weekend there, along with several armed bodyguards. Mayor Margareta Ritter (CDU
Christian Democratic Union (Germany)
The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...
) said she was concerned that his presence tainted her town with the suspicion that it was sympathetic to his views. As a result, Monschau was said to have been unfairly connected with "extremism" in the European press.
"Anyone who pollutes the integration debate in the Netherlands with poisonous right-wing populism as Wilders has, and advocates prohibition of the Koran by a comparison with Hitler's Mein Kampf, is not welcome in Monschau. I wanted to distinguish Monschau from that."
She was unable to say whether Wilders was merely enjoying a short vacation in her town or had been meeting with like-minded people. A demonstration to support Wilders was announced to take place in Berlin on 17 April.
Other international aspirations
In July 2010, Wilders announced the International Freedom AllianceInternational Freedom Alliance
The International Freedom Alliance is a proposed group announced in July 2010 by Dutch politician Geert Wilders. Wilders revealed the IFA will be an umbrella organization for groups and individuals who "are fighting for freedom against Islam"...
, a network of groups and individuals who "are fighting for freedom against Islam".
Wilders plans IFA branches in the United States, Canada, Britain, France and Germany by late 2010. "The message, 'stop Islam, defend freedom', is a message that's not only important for the Netherlands but for the whole free Western world", Wilders stated in an address to reporters at the Dutch Parliament.
On 6 August 2010, Wilders, who had become a regular guest with American conservatives and libertarians, announced that he would speak at a rally on 11 September in New York to protest the plans for Park51, a Muslim community center with a prayer space to be built near the World Trade Center site
World Trade Center site
The World Trade Center site , also known as "Ground Zero" after the September 11 attacks, sits on in Lower Manhattan in New York City...
. The rally, to be held on the ten-year anniversary of the 11 September 2001 attacks, was organised by Stop Islamization of America
Stop Islamization of America
Stop Islamization of America, also called the American Freedom Defense Initiative, is an American anti-Islam organization. It is led by Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, and was founded in 2010 at the request of Anders Gravers Pedersen, the leader of Stop Islamisation of Europe, of which it is the...
, which is supported by a number of conservative US politicians including former House speaker
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, or Speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives...
Newt Gingrich
Newt Gingrich
Newton Leroy "Newt" Gingrich is a U.S. Republican Party politician who served as the House Minority Whip from 1989 to 1995 and as the 58th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999....
and 2008 vice-presidential candidate
United States presidential election, 2008
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...
Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...
. According to SIOA's website world leaders, prominent politicians and 9/11 family members would be speaking at the rally, but Wilders was not mentioned by name, though he did attend as he had announced.
In political circles in The Netherlands, the announcement caused widespread irritation about his plan. Christian Democrat senator Hans Hillen
Hans Hillen
Johannes Stefanus Joseph "Hans" Hillen is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal . He is the current Minister of Defence in the Rutte cabinet.-Early life:Hillen studied sociology at Utrecht University...
remarked that Wilders' words could endanger Dutch interests. Former NATO General Secretary Jaap de Hoop Scheffer
Jaap de Hoop Scheffer
Jakob Gijsbert "Jaap" de Hoop Scheffer is a retired Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal . He served as the 11th Secretary General of NATO from January 5, 2004 until August 1, 2009....
advised Wilders not to make a speech, arguing that the international public does not know who is in the Dutch cabinet and who is in parliament and thus Wilders' speech could be mistaken as an official statement of the Dutch government. Also Christian Democrat party leader and acting Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Verhagen
Maxime Verhagen
Maxime Jacques Marcel Verhagen is a Dutch politician in the Christian Democratic Appeal party. He is the Minister of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation and Deputy Prime Minister since October 14, 2010 in the Cabinet Rutte.He previously served as a Member of the European Parliament for...
issued a warning.
Also, the Dutch Foreign Ministry allegedly would have issued guidelines to its embassies on how to react to questions about the role being played by the PVV and Wilders in the formation of a new government. On 10 August 2010, the website of Dutch daily newspaper NRC Handelsblad
NRC Handelsblad
NRC Handelsblad, often abbreviated to NRC, is a daily evening newspaper published in the Netherlands by NRC Media. The newspaper was created on October 1, 1970, from merger of the Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant and Algemeen Handelsblad . In 2006 a morning newspaper, nrc•next, was launched...
published the ministry memo. The ministry itself however had declined "to confirm or deny" the authenticity of these guidelines. One question posed is how Wilders could be taking part in negotiations on forming a government coalition when he has been indicted for inciting hatred and discrimination, and for insulting a group of persons. Other questions covered possible bans on the building of new mosques, on the Quran and on Islamic schools in the Netherlands. The memo stressed that such bans would breach the Dutch constitution.
Wilders spoke on Thursday, 12 May 2011, at Cornerstone Church in Madison, Tennessee
Madison, Tennessee
Madison, Tennessee is a neighborhood in northeast Nashville, Tennessee in the United States. It is incorporated as part of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County....
, at the Tennessee Freedom Coalition inaugural Signature Series event.
Trial
Several groups and persons in the Netherlands have called for legal action against Wilders, while others have defended his right to free speech. On 15 August 2007, a representative of the Prosecutors' OfficeMinistry of Justice (Netherlands)
The Ministry of Security and Justice is the Dutch ministry of justice. Until 14 October 2010, the ministry was just called Ministry of Justice , but at the start of the Rutte cabinet, the name changed because it had taken over some public safety duties from the Ministry of the Interior...
in Amsterdam declared that dozens of reports against Wilders had been filed, and that they were all being considered. Attempts to prosecute Wilders under Dutch anti-hate speech
Hate speech
Hate speech is, outside the law, any communication that disparages a person or a group on the basis of some characteristic such as race, color, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, or other characteristic....
laws in June 2008 failed, with the public prosecutor's office stating that Wilders' comments contributed to the debate on Islam in Dutch society and also had been made outside parliament, The office released a statement reading: "That comments are hurtful and offensive for a large number of Muslims does not mean that they are punishable. Freedom of expression fulfils an essential role in public debate in a democratic society. That means that offensive comments can be made in a political debate".
On 21 January 2009, a three-judge court ordered prosecutors to try him.
The Middle East Forum
Middle East Forum
The Middle East Forum is an American conservative think tank founded in 1990 by Daniel Pipes, who also serves as its director. MEF became a 5013 non-profit organization in 1994...
has established a Legal Defence Fund for Wilders's defence. The New York Times ran an op-ed
Op-ed
An op-ed, abbreviated from opposite the editorial page , is a newspaper article that expresses the opinions of a named writer who is usually unaffiliated with the newspaper's editorial board...
criticizing his views and arguing that "for a man who calls for a ban on the Koran to act as the champion of free speech is a bit rich", concluding, however that the lawsuit against Wilders might not be "a good thing for democracy", because it made him "look more important than he should be."
A survey by Angus Reid Global Monitor has found that public opinion is deeply split on the prosecution, with 50% supporting Wilders and 43% opposed. However, public support for the Party for Freedom
Party for Freedom
The Party for Freedom is a Dutch right-wing political party. Founded in 2005 as the successor to Geert Wilders' one-man party in the House of Representatives, it won nine seats in the 2006 general election, making it the fifth largest party in parliament, and third largest opposition party. It...
has greatly increased since Wilders' legal troubles began, with the Party for Freedom virtually tied with the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy is a conservative-liberal political party located in the Netherlands. The VVD supports private enterprise in the Netherlands and is often perceived as an economic liberal party in contrast to the social-liberal Democrats 66 alongside which it sits in...
to be the third most popular party. According to Radio Netherlands, "Dutch politicians themselves seem to be keeping quiet on the issue; they are probably worried that media attention will only serve to make the controversial politician more popular".
In late October 2010, the Dutch court approved a request from Geert Wilders to have new judges appointed forcing the court to retry the case. On 7 February 2011, Wilders returned to the court room in order that his legal team can present evidence from Islamic experts which the court rejected in 2010, including Mohammed Bouyeri
Mohammed Bouyeri
Mohammed Bouyeri is an Islamist Dutch–Moroccan and convicted murderer. He is currently serving a life sentence without parole for the assassination of Dutch film director Theo van Gogh. He holds both Dutch and Moroccan citizenship...
, who murdered film-maker Theo van Gogh
Theo van Gogh (film director)
Theodoor "Theo" van Gogh was a Dutch film director, film producer, columnist, author and actor.Van Gogh worked with the Somali-born writer Ayaan Hirsi Ali to produce the film Submission, which criticized the treatment of women in Islam and aroused controversy among Muslims...
, and Dutch academic Hans Jansen.
On 23 June 2011, Wilders was acquitted of all charges. A Dutch court noted that his speech was legitimate political debate, but on the edge. Because both the public prosecutor and the defense requested complete acquittal, the verdict will most likely not be appealed.
Frits Bolkestein's views on Geert Wilders
On 2nd October 2011 Radio Netherlands Worldwide reported that a retired Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and DemocracyPeople's Party for Freedom and Democracy
The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy is a conservative-liberal political party located in the Netherlands. The VVD supports private enterprise in the Netherlands and is often perceived as an economic liberal party in contrast to the social-liberal Democrats 66 alongside which it sits in...
(VVD) Frits Bolkestein
Frits Bolkestein
Frederik "Frits" Bolkestein is a retired Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy . He served as a Member of the House of Representatives from 16 January 1978, until 5 November 1982, when he became State Secretary for Economic Affairs from 5 November 1982, until 14 July...
, who is sometime called the 'mentor' of Geert Wilders, "does not share his views". He reportedly said that “Wilders says things that are just not right and I think he totally exaggerates.” While giving his opinion on Burqa ban Mr Bolkestein said that he "disagrees with the recent introduction of a burqa ban, an idea championed by Geert Wilders." The Netherlands, he said, is the third European country to introduce such a ban after France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
. “A ban makes martyrs of the few burqa wearers there are in the Netherlands" he said.
See also
- List of Dutch politicians
- Criticism of IslamCriticism of IslamCriticism of Islam has existed since Islam's formative stages. Early written criticism came from Christians, prior to the ninth century, many of whom viewed Islam as a radical Christian heresy...
- Criticism of multiculturalismCriticism of multiculturalismCriticism of multiculturalism questions the multicultural ideal of the co-existence of distinct ethnic cultures within one nation-state. Multiculturalism is a particular subject of debate in certain European nations that were once associated with a single, homogeneous, national cultural identity...
- Multiculturalism in the NetherlandsMulticulturalism in the NetherlandsMulticulturalism in the Netherlands began with a major increases in immigration during the 1950s and 60s. As a consequence, an official national policy of multiculturalism was adopted in the early 1980s. This policy subsequently gave way to more assimilationist policies in the 1990s...
- Philo-SemitismPhilo-SemitismPhilo-Semitism or Judeophilia is an interest in, respect for, and appreciation of the Jewish people, their historical significance and the positive impacts of Judaism in the history of the western world, in particular, generally on the part of a gentile...
External links
Weblog Geertwilders Party for Freedom House of Representatives biography- Biography and writings of Geert Wilders at the Hudson InstituteHudson InstituteThe Hudson Institute is an American think tank founded in 1961, in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, by futurist, military strategist, and systems theorist Herman Kahn and his colleagues at the RAND Corporation...
- Collected news and coverage at The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
- Writings about Geert Wilders at The Legal Project
- 'Who is Geert Wilders?' Discussion on Press TV, 18 February 2010