‘I Have No Regrets’: An Interview with Geert Wilders
“That might be true,” says Geert Wilders about the possibility that he has lost his freedom for the rest of his life, “and if so is a very sad conclusion. I wouldn’t wish my worst political enemy not to be free. But I have no regrets. I have to pay a high price for the fight for freedom, but it’s worth it because if I and others in the world don’t fight against the ideology of hate and submission, we will all lose our freedom.” His remarks came on the day before the man who may become the Netherlands’ next prime minister goes to trial for criticizing Islam.
Wilders has lately been spending his days and nights with his lawyer preparing for a courtroom battle in the homeland of Spinoza. Human Rights Service asked him if he would be willing to conduct an interview by email, and he replied in the affirmative. But he added that because of the time pressures he is under, “it would help if it’s not too long” and asked that we send “just a few questions.”
The whole world will have its eyes on Amsterdam when Wilders, Europe’s most persecuted man, goes to trial this week. The trial will make world history, since no leading politician in modern European history, as far as we know, has been prosecuted for hateful and insulting remarks about a religion, its allegedly holy book, and its adherents.
There are five charges against Wilders in all. Wilders has caused religious offense by (among other things) describing Islam as a fascist religion and by proposing a ban on the Koran, which he has compared to Mein Kampf. He has incited hatred and discrimination by claiming that Moroccan youth are violent, and by calling for the Netherlands to close its borders to all non-Western immigrants and for a halt to the “Islamic invasion.” Wilders, whose political party — the Freedom Party — was declared yesterday to be on the verge of becoming the country’s largest, risks being sentenced to as much as a year in prison.
In the last couple of days, Wilders has of course been very busy preparing his defense. But he was kind enough to take time out to answer some questions for Human Rights Service:
HRS: Like Robert Redeker and Kurt Westergaard, it may be that you will not be able to live in freedom for the rest of your life. What do you think of this situation?
Wilders: That might be true, and if so is a very sad conclusion. I wouldn’t wish my worst political enemy not to be free. But I have no regrets. I have to pay a high price for the fight for freedom but it’s worth it because if I and others in the world don’t fight against the ideology of hate and submission, we will all lose our freedom.
HRS: Do you, as a living symbol of freedom, really believe that the Koran should be prohibited, or was that proposal a conscious provocation? Do you really hope for book burnings of the sort that would remind us of some of the darker hours of Europe’s history?
Wilders: You have to see this proposal in the Dutch context. In the Netherlands Mein Kampf is outlawed. When it was outlawed, the politically correct leftist and liberal parties applauded it. My point was that for the same reason and (legal) arguments that Mein Kampf was outlawed in the Netherlands, the Koran could and should be outlawed since both books are full of incitement of violence. Of course the left were angered by my proposal to outlaw the Koran, and this was inconsistent, at least. So I did introduce a parliamentary resolution to outlaw the Koran in the Netherlands, but that resolution was rejected by the majority.
HRS: How do you envision Europe in 10-20 years? Will Europe have rediscovered its identity and pushed back the dark forces of Islamism, or will the old Europe have collapsed in fear? How can the dark forces of Islamism be forced into retreat, neutralized? If fear wins out, what will Europe look like in 2025?
Wilders: Europe is weak. European leaders are weak. We currently have more appeasers like Chamberlain leading European countries today than fighters like Churchill. If we stay weak, we lose our identity; our culture based on Christianity, Judaism, and humanism will lose ground and Islam will grow even stronger in Europe today. We will face a Eurabia, as my dear friend Bat Yeor has so rightfully described it. There will be no freedom, no room for anything but Islam, no tolerance, and more sharia. It will be hell. However, more and more people are becoming aware of the Islamic threat, unlike the politically correct political elite that is still pampering the multicultural society and cultural relativism. There is a growing gap between the awakening vox populi and sleeping political elite. That’s why my Party for Freedom (PVV) in the latest poll from yesterday is (virtually) the biggest party in the Netherlands. That is encouraging. But we have a long way to go and we should fight, since liberty is at stake.
Hege Storhaug is the author of the Norwegian bestseller But the Greatest of These Is Freedom: On the Consequences of Immigration (2006).
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It’s a good thing that he is on trial, show trial or not. It gives the people a chance to react against the govt apparatchik’s stupidity. I dare them convict him. There’ll be protests and worse if that should happen. If not, I feel sorry for the Dutch, and thank the lucky stars that I’m an American.
p.s. neither Mein Kampf nor the Koran nor whatever-manifesto should be banned in a free society.
The man is a hero, persecuted for telling the truth. The Leftist collaborators, the multi-culturalist morons, are afraid of losing power as more & more people realize the truth of what Wilders says.
The guy is a bozo. I don’t think he should be persecuted, though – I think he should be widely described as an ass and left to obscurity.
I’m all for free speech, but when you pick a fight, don’t bitch because the other guy swings at you.
Geert Wilders on trial?? This man should be awarded a medal!!
The man and men who should be on trial for ‘hate crimes’ is the ‘holy prophet’ of Islam, MUHAMMED, and the clerics that keep his murderous ideology alive.
Do your research on Muhammed. You will find that far from being a holy man Muhammed was a barbarian murderer, a mutilator, a decapitator, a torturer, an amputator, a slaver, a human trafficker, a looting thief and bandit, a rapist, a sex trafficker, a child rapist, a segregationist, a genocidist and a self proclaimed terrorist.
Don’t take my word for it – this can all be discovered in Islams ‘holy’ books, the Koran and Ahadith. See for yourself.
Compare the actions and teachings of MUHAMMED with Jesus, and you will understand the real meaning of ‘anti-Christ’.
MUHAMMED, the ‘prophet’ of hate.
MUHAMMED, the ‘prophet’ of terror.
MUHAMMED, the literal ‘anti-Christ’.
~ The Infidel Alliance
Well, if they convict Wilders, I suspect he will die in prison at the hands of Muslims.
I think that the Europeans are headed for one of two fates. Mark Steyn and the “Eurabia”-ists predict that they will fall to Islam and sharia. Ralph Peters suggests that they will revive their long dormant monotheism (if not literally becoming religious again, at least re-embracing an decidedly non-multicultural, exclusionary ideology), and violently purge the continent.
Either scenario sounds plausible to me. However, doesn’t the latter sound familiar?
The only hope for America may be to succumb to self-hating relativism more slowly, so that Europe’s fate has some chance of shaking us out of our stupor.
Don’t worry Europe. We’ll save you again. If there is any spark left in us by then.
God bless Geert Wilders.
But the 2nd Caliphate is already over Europe and coming here soon, only for lack of teachers who taught and citizens that faught.
When governments decide what speech is acceptable and what speech is not, there is no free speech. Muslims in Europe, especially in the Netherlands, can make all the inflammatory, violence inducing comments they like with impunity. Criticize them for it, and you go to jail. That double standard is corroding the European culture from within. Geert Wilders did not throw the first punch by any twisted standard. He’s the only one with enough huevos to punch back. Courage is much harder than anonymously calling someone a bozo from the safety of your mama’s basement.
GW is a hero.
The Koran is the moral equivalent of mien kampf. How anyone could live through the last 30-40 years and still thinks Islam is anything but hate, intolerance and violence? Wake up. Or do you think adapting the 1st Amendment in the Netherlands is evil and ultra-right wing.
Matthew:
The guy is a bozo. I don’t think he should be persecuted, though – I think he should be widely described as an ass and left to obscurity.
I’m all for free speech, but when you pick a fight, don’t bitch because the other guy swings at you.
You are all for free speech except when it offends your uninformed mind. You are the bozo, totally ignorant about Islam. It is a fascist ideology posing as a religion.
The first step the West needs to take is to stop legitimizing Islam by referring to it as a religion. It is not. It is a political philosophy that is still rooted in a 7th century moral mindset. It has not progressed or reformed in the past 13 centuries. I know of no other “religion” that can say that.
This man is a brave hero. The fact that he is on trial for free speech remarks is evidence of the erosion of European culture.
“Don’t worry Europe. We’ll save you again”
stop dreaming of the ol good time,
besides we can look after us, now that Germany behaves
Matthew,
I recommend visiting Northern Europe before commenting on a subject you, and me are aloof to.
Now Geert Wilders approach may seem overreaching, I don’t know. I haven’t been to the area.
Though I do recall in Sweden an Islamic leaning teacher encouraging elementary aged children to wear the hijab ‘for fun’, to ‘blend in with the other children’ this past Fall.
Of the tens of thousands of terrorist activities carried out against westerners, Western countries (not including the wars in the Middle East mind you) through the decades.. I truly hope you have an ‘Oh duh..’ moment.
You don’t have to go anywhere to understand the essence of Islam and the threat it represents to our way of life. You only need to read and think.
http://chuckhustmyre.blogspot.com/2009/03/right-side-news-picked-up-my-article-on.html
Hege: what is your point? enticing riots is a crime and that is exactly what he is doing. when you insult someone’s religion you then crossed the line. you play yuo pay…
I really can’t support Geert Wilders – he has what I view as the typical European “Free speech for me, but not for thee” attitude that I suspect results from not having the tradition of our centuries under the Bill of Rights.
Either you allow all speech, even speech you personally find disagreeable, or you don’t have free speech. Either you allow all private practice of religion, even those that you feel are politically unacceptable, or you don’t have freedom of religion.
While I can sympathize with some of the man’s positions, I don’t think anything good results in enabling ‘fellow travellers’. I wish him the best in court, because it’s painful to read that someone in this day and age in a theoretically civilized country is being put on trial for saying the wrong things; but for the sake of the Netherlands I really hope he doesn’t end up in power there.
A house that can’t weather a storm is a house that will fall. This is the very reason why Islam can’t stand under scrutiny. Taking a critic of Islam to court only emphasizes this, and that is the very reason why so many Muslim countries forbid what they call insulting Islam, but is in reality fear of uncovering it’s teachings and hatred toward other humans, and goal of an worldwide Islamic Caliphate where freedom in speech and religious practice is punished not cherished.
A belief system that can’t stand up under criticism deserves to crumble, it’s foundation never strong in the first place.
Try me too!
Everytime I call for the Koran to be banned, or Muslims not allowed into this country, my comments get deleted.
First they came for Geert, than they came for the rest of us. The New World Order types in Europe and America are fools.
Long live freedom of speech! I profile every Marine Corp day.
And as for reciprocity: Try to build a synagogue or Christian church in Saudi Arabia or Iran. You will be prosecuted and sentenced. We should stay tolerant to the tolerant, but also learn to be intolerant to the intolerant.
I like this part more, more power to you Mr Geert Wilder may our Christian God will bless you. Am with you all the way.
Matthew:
Except that this isn’t a case of the other guy taking a swing at you, is it? It is a case of the full weight of the state coming down on someone for saying something they don’t want to hear.
Marie Claude:
read that with a bit more sarcasm. The U.S. is on the same path as Europe, just resisting for a bit longer. A few more years of debt and moral decay like this, and we’re not going to be up to saving anyone.
Convicting Gilders in Holland is a disaster for the left. They are not prosecuting him, they are prosecuting over 50% of the Dutch (and other EU voters) and such a gestapo/inquisition conviction will guarantee Freedom Party victories throughout the EU. The fact that the ruling parties are so committed to subjugating their own people says all there is to know of socialist evil.
Go Geert!
There are parameters even for Freedom of Speech, but Geert Wilders has not corrupted them. He is not obscene, or an anarchist, but has made a case for what he thinks true. An extreme resolution, it seems, for an extreme problem. If Islam is not an ideology of war and hate then where is the refutation? Where are the Koran verses that teach living at peace with your neighbor, or to love your enemy?
If he is convicted, I wish he could seek asylum in the US for political persecution.
Marie Claude:
“Don’t worry Europe. We’ll save you again”
stop dreaming of the ol good time,
besides we can look after us, now that Germany behaves
Only if you don’t have collaborators next time around. Oh, and tell your soldiers not to drop their rifles and keep their tanks in first geer.
This is Churchill Nostalgia …the last Mohegan of Europe. Geert Wilders is a real hero. We want him to become the Netherlands’ next prime minister and then we pray that other European countries will take the same path of leadership and rid Europe of its Islamification
9. Terry Gain:
>It is a fascist ideology posing as a religion.
All major religions are innately fascist. Put all the religious together in a fenced area, and allow only one to exit. Christians are no less a threat with their Hitlers, Himmlers, Castros, Stalins, Poll Potts and their desire to burn all heretics alive.
The prosecution of Geert Wilders will be a watershed moment in modern European history. The charges brought against him are serious and there is at least a prima facae case to answer (otherwise it is doubtful the Dutch prosecutors would have proceeded). Because there are three separate charges or breaches of law if you like, there is a corresponding liklihood that he will be convicted of one of them. But this need not be a bad thing. Any conviction will galvanise the present Dutch opposition – not just PVV supporters – like no issue since before WWII. If he is convicted AND incarcerated it will turn him into a European cause celebre like no other. The truth of what he says will resonate across Europe and in its wake the Europeans will find the political will to fight, as Geert has stated, intolerance with intolerance. Commentators have mistakenly labelled the PVV and Wilders are right-wing. Convict him and send him to prison and they will find out very quickly and unequivocally that Wilders and his supporters are overwhelmingly mainstream. This will be no Le Penn – like rightist flash in the pan but the start of a pan-European movement for freedom against the present EU leadership’s political-correctness-gone-mad and against the fascist depredations of the orthodox practice of Islam in Europe.
Cheers,
Doc
Time to put a flag in the ground
In Europe (and maybe Canada, too) the evolution of contemporary liberalism into fascism has continued to the point where true freedom of speech is no longer tolerated. You know that liberalism in the US is going in the same direction when the commission that investigated the Ft. Hood atrocity could not bring itself to mention the terrorist Major’s association with radical Islam.
kochevnik,
“All major religions are innately fascist. Put all the religious together in a fenced area, and allow only one to exit. Christians are no less a threat with their Hitlers, Himmlers, Castros, Stalins, Poll Potts and their desire to burn all heretics alive.”
Except that all these Hitlers, Himmlers, Castros, Stalins, Poll Potts, were not devout christians.
Christianity has struggled through its evil, oppressive past and modern majority christian countries and societies have become some of the most tolerant and progressive in the world, something that can not be said for muslim countries and societies.
More Islam for modern majority christian countries and societies will mean a setback to freedom and progress that has evolved through centuries of democratic struggle.
“I’m all for free speech, but when you pick a fight, don’t bitch because the other guy swings at you.”
Hey jerkoff where the f*** have you been living under all this time a rock? Geert Wilders is picking a fight in response to appeasers and Islamic terrorists like yourself who thought you could achieve your wet dreams of global domination becaus you et al. thought the Westerners didn’t have the spine to deal with people like you. But you’re mad now since somebody has finally taken a stand and called you disgusting criminals for the terrorists you are.
I know. Payback’s a real bitch isn’t it.
Um, people. Geert Wilders is an Atheist of the first order. He’s very open about that. So, if you do believe in the Christian God, in which he denies the existence of, you need to think twice about sending him blessings from the Christian God. Kinda makes no sense and makes your sentiment hypocritical. For in Scripture it says that non-believer will suffer in the fiery anguishes of hell. If you don’t believe that non-Christians aren’t going to Hell, then you need to rethink your relationship with Christ.