Geert Wilders Speech in Berlin
October 2, 2010
Dear Friends,
I am very happy to be here in Berlin today. As you know, the invitation which my friend René Stadtkewitz extended to me, has cost him his membership of the CDU group in the Berlin Parliament. René, however, did not give in to the pressure. He did not betray his convictions. His dismissal prompted René to start a new political party. I wish him all the best. As you may have heard, the past weeks were extremely busy for me. Earlier this week we succeeded in forging a minority government of the Liberals and the Christian-Democrats which will be supported by my party. This is an historic event for the Netherlands. I am very proud of having helped to achieve this. At this very moment the Christian-Democrat Party conference is deciding whether or not to approves this coalition. If they do, we will be able to rebuild our country, preserve our national identity and offer our children a better future.
Despite my busy schedule at home, however, I insisted on coming to Berlin, because Germany, too, needs a political movement to defend German identity and to oppose the Islamization of Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel says that the Islamization of Germany is inevitable. She conveys the message that citizens have to be prepared for more changes as a result of immigration. She wants the Germans to adapt to this situation. The Christian-Democrat leader said: "More than before mosques will be an integral part of our cities."
My friends, we should not accept the unacceptable as inevitable without trying to turn the tide. It is our duty as politicians to preserve our nations for our children. I hope that René's movement will be as successful as my own Partij voor de Vrijheid, as Oskar Freysinger's Schweizerische Volkspartei in Switzerland, as Pia Kjaersgaard's Dansk Folkeparti in Denmark, and similar movements elsewhere.
My good friend Pia recently spoke in Sweden at the invitation of the Sverigedemokraterna. She said: "I have not come to mingle in Swedish domestic politics because that is for the Swedish people to be concerned with. No, I have come because in spite of certain differences the Swedish debate in many ways reminds me of the Danish debate 10-15 years ago. And I have come to Sweden because it is also a concern to Denmark. We cannot sit with our hands in our lap and be silent witnesses to the political development in Sweden."
The same applies for me as a Dutchman with respect to Germany. I am here because Germany matters to the Netherlands and the rest of the world, and because we cannot establish an International Freedom Alliance without a strong German partner.
Dear friends, tomorrow is the Day of German Unity. Tomorrow exactly twenty years ago, your great nation was reunified after the collapse of the totalitarian Communist ideology. The Day of German Unity is an important day for the whole of Europe. Germany is the largest democracy in Europe. Germany is Europe's economic powerhouse. The wellbeing and prosperity of Germany is a benefit to all of us, because the wellbeing and prosperity of Germany is a prerequisite for the wellbeing and prosperity of Europe.
Today I am here, however, to warn you for looming disunity. Germany's national identity, its democracy and economic prosperity, is being threatened by the political ideology of Islam. In 1848, Karl Marx began his Communist Manifesto with the famous words: "A specter is haunting Europe - the specter of communism." Today, another specter is haunting Europe. It is the specter of Islam. This danger, too, is political. Islam is not merely a religion, as many people seem to think: Islam is mainly a political ideology.
This insight is not new.
I quote from the bestselling book and BBC television series The Triumph of the West which the renowned Oxford historian J.M. Roberts wrote in 1985: "Although we carelessly speak of Islam as a 'religion'; that word carries many overtones of the special history of western Europe. The Muslim is primarily a member of a community, the follower of a certain way, an adherent to a system of law, rather than someone holding particular theological views." The Flemish Professor Urbain Vermeulen, the former president of the European Union of Arabists and Islamicists, too, points out that "Islam is primarily a legal system, a law," rather than a religion.
The American political scientist Mark Alexander writes that "One of our greatest mistakes is to think of Islam as just another one of the world's great religions. We shouldn't. Islam is politics or it is nothing at all, but, of course, it is politics with a spiritual dimension, ... which will stop at nothing until the West is no more, until the West has ... been well and truly Islamized."
These are not just statements by opponents of Islam. Islamic scholars say the same thing. There cannot be any doubt about the nature of Islam to those who have read the Koran, the Sira and the Hadith. Abul Ala Maududi, the influential 20th century Pakistani Islamic thinker, wrote - I quote, emphasizing that these are not my words but those of a leading Islamic scholar - "Islam is not merely a religious creed [but] a revolutionary ideology and jihad refers to that revolutionary struggle ... to destroy all states and governments anywhere on the face of the earth, which are opposed to the ideology and program of Islam."
Ali Sina, an Iranian Islamic apostate who lives in Canada, points out that there is one golden rule that lies at the heart of every religion - that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. In Islam, this rule only applies to fellow believers, but not to Infidels. Ali Sina says "The reason I am against Islam is not because it is a religion, but because it is a political ideology of imperialism and domination in the guise of religion. Because Islam does not follow the Golden Rule, it attracts violent people."
A dispassionate study of the beginnings of Islamic history reveals clearly that Muhammad's objective was first to conquer his own people, the Arabs, and to unify them under his rule, and then to conquer and rule the world. That was the original cause; it was obviously political and was backed by military force. "I was ordered to fight all men until they say 'There is no god but Allah,'" Muhammad said in his final address. He did so in accordance with the Koranic command in sura 8:39: "Fight them until there is no more dissension and the religion is entirely Allah's."
According to the mythology, Muhammad founded Islam in Mecca after the Angel Gabriel visited him for the first time in the year 610. The first twelve years of Islam, when Islam was religious rather than political, were not a success. In 622, Muhammad emigrated to Yathrib, a predominantly Jewish oasis, with his small band of 150 followers. There he established the first mosque in history, took over political power, gave Yathrib the name of Medina, which means the "City of the Prophet," and began his career as a military and a political leader who conquered all of Arabia. Tellingly, the Islamic calendar starts with the hijra, the migration to Medina - the moment when Islam became a political movement.
After Muhammad's death, based upon his words and deeds, Islam developed Sharia, an elaborate legal system which justified the repressive governance of the world by divine right - including rules for jihad and for the absolute control of believers and non-believers. Sharia is the law of Saudi Arabia and Iran, among other Islamic states. It is also central to the Organization of the Islamic Conference, which in article 24 of its Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam, proclaims that "all rights and freedoms are subject to the Islamic Sharia." The OIC is not a religious institution; it is a political body. It constitutes the largest voting block in the United Nations and writes reports on so-called "Islamophobia" in Western Countries which accuse us of human rights violations. To speak in biblical terms: They look for a speck in our eye, but deny the beam in their own.
Under Sharia law people in the conquered territories have no legal rights, not even the right to life and to own property, unless they convert to Islam.
Before I continue, and in order to avoid any misunderstandings, I want to emphasize that I am talking about Islam, not about Muslims. I always make a clear distinction between the people and the ideology, between Muslims and Islam. There are many moderate Muslims, but the political ideology of Islam is not moderate and has global ambitions. It aims to impose Islamic law or Sharia upon the whole world. The way to achieve this is through jihad. The good news is that millions of Muslims around the world - including many in Germany and the Netherlands - do not follow the directives of Sharia, let alone engage in jihad. The bad news, however, is that those who do are prepared to use all available means to achieve their ideological, revolutionary goal.
In 1954, in his essay Communism and Islam, Professor Bernard Lewis spoke of "the totalitarianism, of the Islamic political tradition." Professor Lewis said that "The traditional Islamic division of the world into the House of Islam and the House of War, ... has obvious parallels in the Communist view of world affairs. ... The aggressive fanaticism of the believer is the same."
The American political scientist Mark Alexander states that the nature of Islam differs very little - and only in detail rather than style - from despicable and totalitarian political ideologies such as National-Socialism and Communism. He lists the following characteristics for these three ideologies.
* They use political purges to "cleanse" society of what they considere undesirable;
* They tolerate only a single political party. Where Islam allows more parties, it insists that all parties be Islamic ones;
* They coerce the people along the road that it must follow;
* They obliterate the liberal distinction between areas of private judgment and of public control;
* They turn the educational system into an apparatus for the purpose of universal indoctrination;
* They lay down rules for art, for literature, for science and for religion;
* They subdue people who are given second class status;
* They induce a frame of mind akin to fanaticism. Adjustment takes place by struggle and dominance;
* They are abusive to their opponents and regard any concession on their own part as a temporary expedient and on a rival's part as a sign of weakness;
* They regard politics as an expression of power;
* They are anti-Semitic.
There is one more striking parallel, but this is not a characteristic of the three political ideologies, but one of the West. It is the apparent inability of the West to see the danger. The prerequisite to understanding political danger, is a willingness to see the truth, even if it is unpleasant. Unfortunately, modern Western politicians seem to have lost this capacity. Our inability leads us to reject the logical and historical conclusions to be drawn from the facts, though we could, and should know better. What is wrong with modern Western man that we make the same mistake over and over again?
There is no better place to ponder this question than here in Berlin, the former capital of the evil empire of Nazi Germany and a city which was held captive by the so-called German "Democratic" Republic for over forty years.
When the citizens of Eastern Europe rejected Communism in 1989, they were inspired by dissidents such as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Václav Havel, Vladimir Bukovsky, and others, who told them that people have a right, but also an obligation, to "live within the truth." Freedom requires eternal vigilance; so it is with truth. Solzhenitsyn added, however, that "truth is seldom sweet; it is almost invariably bitter." Let us face the bitter truth: We have lost our capacity to see the danger and understand the truth because we no longer value freedom.
Politicians from almost all establishment politicians today are facilitating Islamization. They are cheering for every new Islamic school, Islamic bank, Islamic court. They regard Islam as being equal to our own culture. Islam or freedom? It does not really matter to them. But it does matter to us. The entire establisment elite - universities, churches, trade unions, the media, politicians - are putting our hard-earned liberties at risk. They talk about equality, but amazingly fail to see how in Islam women have fewer rights than men and infidels have fewer rights than adherents of Islam.
Are we about to repeat the fatal mistake of the Weimar Republic? Are we succumbing to Islam because our commitment to freedom is already dead? No, it will not happen. We are not like Frau Merkel. We do not accept Islamization as inevitable. We have to keep freedom alive. And, to the extent that we have already lost it, we must reclaim it in our democratic elections. That is why we need political parties that defend freedom. To support such parties I have established the International Freedom Alliance.
As you know, I am standing trial in the Netherlands. On Monday, I have to go to court again and I will have to spend most of the coming month there. I have been brought to court because of my opinions on Islam and because I have voiced these opinions in speeches, articles and in my documentary film Fitna. I live under constant police protection because Islamic extremists want to assassinate me, and I am in court because the Dutch establishment - most of them non-Muslims - wants to silence me.
I have been dragged to court because in my country freedom can no longer be fully enjoyed. Unlike America, we do not have a First Amendment which guarantees people the freedom to express their opinions and foster public debate by doing so. Unlike America, in Europe the national state, and increasingly the European Union, prescribes how citizens - including democratically elected politicians such as myself - should think and what we are allowed to say.
One of the things we are no longer allowed to say is that our culture is superior to certain other cultures. This is seen as a discriminatory statement - a statement of hatred even. We are indoctrinated on a daily basis, in the schools and through the media, with the message that all cultures are equal and that, if one culture is worse than all the rest, it is our own. We are inundated with feelings of guilt and shame about our own identity and what we stand for. We are exhorted to respect everyone and everything, except ourselves. That is the message of the Left and the politically-correct ruling establishment. They want us to feel so ashamed about our own identity that we refuse to fight for it.
The detrimental obsession of our cultural and political elites with Western guilt reinforces the view which Islam has of us. The Koran says that non-Muslims are kuffar (the plural of kafir), which literally means "rejecters" or "ingrates." Hence, infidels are "guilty." Islam teaches that in our natural state we have all been born as believers. Islam teaches that if we are not believers today this is by our own or by our forefathers' fault. Subsequently, we are always kafir - guilty - because either we or our fathers are apostates. And, hence, according to some, we deserve subjugation.
Our contemporary leftist intellectuals are blind to the dangers of Islam.
Former Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky argues that after the fall of communism, the West failed to expose those who had collaborated with the Communists by advocating policies of détente, improved relations, relaxation of international tension, peaceful coexistence. He points out that the Cold War was "a war we never won. We never even fought it. ... Most of the time the West engaged in a policy of appeasement toward the Soviet bloc - and appeasers don't win wars."
Islam is the Communism of today. But, because of our failure to come clean with Communism, we are unable to deal with it, trapped as we are in the old Communist habit of deceit and double-speak that used to haunt the countries in the East and that now haunts all of us. Because of this failure, the same leftist people who turned a blind eye to Communism then, turn a blind eye to Islam today. They are using exactly the same arguments in favor of détente, improved relations, and appeasement as before. They argue that our enemy is as peace-loving as we are, that if we meet him half-way he will do the same, that he only asks respect and that if we respect him he will respect us. We even hear a repetition of the old moral equivalence mantra. They used to say that Western "imperialism" was as bad as Soviet imperialism; they are now saying that Western "imperialism" is as bad as Islamic terrorism.
In my speech near Ground Zero in New York on September 11, I emphasized that we must stop the "Blame the West, Blame America"-game which Islamic spokesmen are playing with us. And we must stop playing this game ourselves. I have the same message for you. It is an insult to tell us that we are guilty and deserve what is happening to us. We do not deserve becoming strangers in our own land. We should not accept such insults. First of all, Western civilization is the freest and most prosperous on earth, which is why so many immigrants are moving here, instead of Westerners moving there. And secondly, there is no such thing as collective guilt. Free individuals are free moral agents who are responsible for their own deeds only.
I am very happy to be here in Berlin today to give this message which is extremely important, especially in Germany. Whatever happened in your country in the past, the present generation is not responsible for it. Whatever happened in the past, it is no excuse for punishing the Germans today. But it is also no excuse for you to refuse to fight for your own identity. Your only responsibility is to avoid the mistakes of the past. It is your duty to stand with those threatened by the ideology of Islam, such as the State of Israel and your Jewish compatriots. The Weimar Republic refused to fight for freedom and was overrun by a totalitarian ideology, with catastrophic consequences for Germany, the rest of Europe and the world. Do not fail to fight for your freedom today.
I am happy to be in your midst today because it seems that twenty years after German reunification, a new generation no longer feels guilty for being German. The current and very intense debate about Thilo Sarrazin's recent book is an indication of the fact that Germany is coming to terms with itself.
I have not yet read Dr. Sarrazin's book myself, but I understand that while the ruling politically-correct establishment is almost unanimously critical of his thesis and he lost his job, a large majority of Germans acknowledges that Dr. Sarrazin is addressing important and pressing issues. "Germany is abolishing itself," warns Sarrazin, and he calls on the Germans to halt this process. The enormous impact of his book indicates that many Germans feel the same way. The people of Germany do not want Germany to be abolished, despite all the political indoctrination they have been subjected to. Germany is no longer ashamed to assert its national pride.
In these difficult times, where our national identity is under threat, we must stop feeling guilty about who we are. We are not "kafir," we are not guilty. Like other peoples, Germans have the right to remain who they are. Germans must not become French, nor Dutch, nor Americans, nor Turks. They should remain Germans. When the Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan visited your country in 2008, he told the Turks living here that they had to remain Turks. He literally said that "assimilation is a crime against humanity." Erdogan would have been right if he had been addressing the Turks in Turkey. However, Germany is the land of the Germans. Hence, the Germans have a right to demand that those who come to live in Germany assimilate; they have the right - no they have a duty to their children - to demand that newcomers respect the German identity of the German nation and Germany's right to preserve its identity.
We must realize that Islam expands in two ways. Since it is not a religion, conversion is only a marginal phenomenon. Historically, Islam expanded either by military conquest or by using the weapon of hijra, immigration. Muhammad conquered Medina through immigration. Hijra is also what we are experiencing today. The Islamization of Europe continues all the time. But the West has no strategy for dealing with the Islamic ideology, because our elites say that we must adapt to them rather than the other way round.
There is a lesson which we can learn in this regard from America, the freest nation on earth. Americans are proud of their nation, its achievements and its flag. We, too, should be proud of our nation. The United States has always been a nation of immigrants. U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt was very clear about the duty of immigrants. Here is what he said: "We should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else ... But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American. ... There can be no divided allegiance here. ... We have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."
It is not up to me to define what Germany's national identity consists of. That is entirely up to you. I do know, however, that German culture, like that of neighboring countries, such as my own, is rooted in judeo-christian and humanist values. Every responsible politician has a political obligation to preserve these values against ideologies which threaten them. A Germany full of mosques and veiled women is no longer the Germany of Goethe, Schiller and Heine, Bach and Mendelssohn. It will be a loss to us all. It is important that you cherish and preserve your roots as a nation. Otherwise you will not be able to safeguard your identity; you will be abolished as a people, and you will lose your freedom. And the rest of Europe will lose its freedom with you.
My friends, when Ronald Reagan came to a divided Berlin 23 years ago he uttered the historic words „Mister Gorbachev, tear down this wall." President Reagan was not an appeaser, but a man who spoke the truth because he loved freedom. Today, we, too, must tear down a wall. It is not a wall of concrete, but of denial and ignorance about the real nature of Islam. The International Freedom Alliance aims to coordinate and stimulate these efforts.
Because we speak the truth, voters have given my party, the Partij voor de Vrijheid, and other parties, such as the Dansk Folkeparti and the Schweizerische Volkspartei, the power to influence the political decision process, whether that be in opposition or in government or by supporting a minority government - as we want to do in the Netherlands. President Reagan showed that by speaking the truth one can change the course of history. He showed that there is no need to despair. Never! Just do your duty. Be not afraid. Speak the truth. Defend Freedom. Together we can preserve freedom, together we must preserve freedom, and together, my friends, we will be able to preserve freedom.
Thank you.
This was great and quite comprehensive speech by the Churchill of our time Geert Wilders, I'm keeping it in my files.
If only the elites and the politicians could understand that the act of appeasement does not work when dealing with political Islam.
Geert Wilder's has an amazing understanding of the threat that is Islam. Yes the wall of denial is our Achilles Tendon to the Islamic world.
Even in America today we are in trouble with the destructive and over reaching thinking known as political correctness coupled with the perversion of multiculturalism. Our efforts to end racism,and the introduction of hate crimes has become our albatross when dealing with Islam, and they know it. Americans are almost afraid to speak out (remember our first amendment) for fear of offending someone or being accuse of a hate crime for doing so. The term racial discrimination has warped into all kinds of groups over the past 25 years and it is trial lawyers who are the greatest threat to free speech in America today.
Our own President Obama reflects the leftwing behavior that Geert Wilders Speaks about as he has pummeled the country he was sworn to defend by insulting it in front of the most tyrannical regimes on the planet in his early on Cairo Speech.
That is an amazing and wonderful speech, and I've saved it and printed it. It is so forthright and logical; it totally amazes me that leftist/liberal/pc/multicultural politicians fail to see it. When Mr. Wilders talks of the abolition of identity and loss of freedom, that is a process which is well underway in the UK. And there is not one member of our pathetic coalition government that is prepared to defend the identity and freedoms of Great Britain. The EDL as a group are the only ones prepared to say or do anything in defence of non-muslims, and Cameron calls them 'awful people.'
My Hero.....We cannot allow our children to become what so many non-muslims have become in their own homelands, subjucated - "sagheroon" Quran 9:29 - by Islam.
Wilder's call for solidarity among all civilized societies to fight the Nazis of our times is a reminder of Churchill's comment about working together.
"If we don't all hang together, we'll 'hang' separately."
Defeating Islam is the last great battle of western civilization. Its outcome will determine whether we survive or not.
This is quite a speech. I wonder how it sounded in German. Germany is the lynchpin in Europe - and to be reminded of Merkel's comment that their growing Islamisation is 'inevitable' is an indictment on the whole, mainstream political establisment in her country, the West, as well as the myriad other nations around the world in Africa, Asia and even South America that are under this same threat.
More power to Wilders and to the growing numbers of politicians willing to speak out in the defense of freedom, including your own such as Bolton, Gingrich and Tancredo etc.
Hopefully, here in Australia, we'll have similar.
@Mackie, I may also file your comment in my files for the same reasons. A dash of plain speaking commonsense.
I've seen John Bolton speaking out on a myriad of issues but he seems to be the only one forthright in speaking out against the Islamisation going on in the US. As a former Ambassador I'm sure he's seen first hand the true nature of what we are dealing with.
Newt Gingrich has also but he's been so demonized by the MSM in the past he doesn't get much of a platform in the news.
Ultimately, if the West prevails in its defence against this insidious ideology, it will owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Geert Wilders. His extraordinary courage in the cause of truth and freedom is truly Churchillian.
Geert Wilders, some may need to be reminded, believes that Dutch troops should be recalled from Afghanistan. And that attitude is shared by many in Western Europe who are most aware of the Muslim threat within Europe. They do not believe that this is a "war against terrorism" but a war of self-defense against Islam and those who take Islam to heart, and that the American campaigns in Iraq and in Afghanistan will have no effect on the threat in Western Europe, and constitute a squandering of Western money, men, materiel, morale, and above all, of attention. Attention must be focussed not on countries already full of Musliims who should, as in Somalia, be left to stew in whatever they already stew in, but Islam itself be kept bottled up as much as possible, and that means making Western lands far less open and naively friendly to Muslims and to islam. It is not Western propaganda -- Westeern governments and elites continue to fall all over themselves to insist that there is nothing wrong, essentially wrong, or threatening, to Infidels in Islam itself, only in those who are "violent extremists" or who apparently "misunderstand" what is in Qur'an, Hadith, and Sira -- that is turning intelligent people in the West against Islam. It is the behavior of Muslims themselves, not only their physical violence and aggression toward non-Muslims in lands where Muslims dominate, and even now in Western lands, in locales where Muslims dominate,, but their demands, direct or oblique, for changes in the social arrangements, in the legal and political institutions, in the freedoms guaranteed and in those Muslims work to abolishy -- such as freedom of speech (when it comes to any criticism of Islam) and freedom of conscience (when it comes to allowing people to leave Islam if they so wish, without harm coming to them), that is changing the minds of non-Muslims, and sending them to the texts of Islam, and to the great Western scholars of Islam, and to the defectors from the Army of Islam, so that they begin to make sense of what otherwise remains incomprehensible.
Great Speech indeed!
We need more politicians like Geert Wilder here in Canada and USA who can see the truth and who are prepared to stand up for the future wellbeing of their children.If our politica leadership just interested in political correctness,we are surely going down all the way to slow death of our freedom and our way of life.
A sane voice in an insane world.
Wonderful job, Mr. Wilders!
Geerd Wilders is doing a great job. His speach was to the point. The media is still trying to silence him or make him look evil. But, these times are over. Hugh pretty much summed up how I feel about this.
Benjamin Franklin's reply in response to a John Hancock remark that the American revolutionaries should be unanimous in their action; made in the Continental Congress at the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776: "We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately."
Benjamin Franklin's reply in response to a John Hancock remark that the American revolutionaries should be unanimous in their action; made in the Continental Congress at the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776: "We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately."
Geert's speech was great, and he is such a brave man to confront islam's evil ideology; although I did find this part personally challenging:
"Before I continue, and in order to avoid any misunderstandings, I want to emphasize that I am talking about Islam, not about Muslims. I always make a clear distinction between the people and the ideology, between Muslims and Islam. There are many moderate Muslims, but the political ideology of Islam is not moderate and has global ambitions."
I personally have difficulty making this distinction since muslims are the agents of islam, and also due to the fact that there is such broad definition of the term "moderate muslim". Sadly, most of the so-called moderates are not people that I would even care to get close to, which is why I currently do not trust any muslims. This is a personal choice, and of course it's one that we all must make. And perhaps Geert is better equipped to make this distinction, but I must admit that I am NOT so well equipped. The day that I can safely tell the difference between a safe muslim and a dangerous one, is the day that I will step out and trust even one muslim. But as things stand right now, I cannot say that with any measure of comfort or assurance.
I admire Geert so very much, and wholly support his brave efforts as a freedom fighter ...
And notice how many of us consider Geert a "Brave" man? Could it be because muslims are so dangerous? I mean why must he be "Brave" if muslims are not the issue? Yes, the ideology of islam is without question, dangerous - but it's islam's agents whom we fear the most.
@ Denise
Just as with the Communists when everyone had to be a member of the party, Islam works the same way. And, like during the Communism period, there are many Muslims who are deeply cynical about Islam because they are forced to remain in its grip.
I lived in Saudi in the 1990s and I met many Muslims who privately told me that they would happily give up Islam if they could. But their businesses, their social life and everything else depended on muttering 'Inshallah' and all the other pseudo-religious guff.
Muslims are leaving Islam in droves. They just need the opportunity. The inherent weaknesses in the ideology are no different from the inherent weaknesses that existed in Communism.
And remember that only 50 years ago, Communism seemed to be a powerful enemy. Now, it's gone.
The same will happen with Islam. It's inherent weaknesses will cause it to collapse with just a push from people who love freedom, not slavery.
Keep the faith!
When Fitna came out, there was, of course, the expected outrage by muslims about how it portrayed Islam, etc. But there was one comment, made by an Islamic scholar, to the effect that Fitna was so accurate that it could have been made by a muslim. I do not recall who the scholar was that said that, but I was wondering if anyone here has knowledge of what I am talking about and perhaps could share a link, or some other source? Thanks.
DSH
Bravo, Geert Wilders. This speech is one of the best, if not the best, public speeches on the subject I have ever read. "Politicians ... regard Islam as being equal to our own culture ... The entire establishment elite - universities, churches, trade unions, the media, politicians - are putting our hard-earned liberties at risk." Indeed.
Next week starts Geert Wilders' "trial" in The Netherlands. It will be interesting to see if/how the judges and prosecution try to stifle and undercut his testimony, and how the European MSM and politicians report on the trial proceedings. If everything goes according to expected form Leftists will work in concert with Islamicists to demonize and vilify Wilders as a racist, bigot, Islamophobe, Nazi, and other terms of abuse used to enforce silence. By now we know the pattern. But no matter how it goes, Wilders' trial will be a bellwether event for the future of Europe.
Geert Wilders is a man of principle and great courage, a rarity among leaders and politicians today. He deserves the strong and unwavering support of every person of conscience who values Western concepts of freedom and liberal democracy.
What to do? Is it possible for a documentary be done. A special on Geert Wilders and others who are clarions to those willfully blind. They are now calling the terrorists who are involved with the Mumbai style plot in the works, Germans and Brits. Hello!! I would like to see a program with Robert, Ayaan, Pamela, that ex-marine who was running for N. Caroline senate seat, and all the others who are demonized by the usual suspects. A fair, in your face show. Something that will get the attention of the press. I don't have much but I would donate to such a program.
Wilders is truly one of the great Lions of the West!
Wilders delivered the speech to end all speeches. Outstanding. Recently, I was equally impressed with Lt. Colonel Allen West's January 2010, bare-bones definition of Western Civilization's long-standing enemy.
Great speech by Geert Wilders on the eve of the political show trial against him. Its is akin to Martin Luther nailing his manifesto on a wall in Germany against the prevailing establishment and thought control. May this speech, this thesis, have the same reverberations.
Its expresses succinctly that the threat of the political ideology of Islam in the West is abetted by Leftist ideology that for the last 40 years has indoctrinated us to hate ourselves.
The trial isn't just a trial against Wilders, it's a trial against the right to criticize a religion, or ideology if you will. If Wilders loses, we will only be allowed to say what islam approves. Any new criticism could be easily surpressed as this trial would set a precedent.
"Muslims are leaving Islam in droves."
That is very encouraging news, Buraq ...thank you for writing.
Geert,
We stand with you. You have expressed the common ground of all of us here and many more who are not. We must not let the liberal left lead us to commit national suicide and rather must take the reins of government in order to save our civilization.
You are one of the individuals with a strong will and understanding that stand out. This speech on top of the others you have given cements your position in the debate and in history. I was there on 911 at the rally and as at that time, am deeply impressed with your thinnking.
I see the TEA party reinvigorating the Republican party as a hope for America. Though I am not a member of the party, it does give us a vehicle to express our opposition to the direction we are being forced to move in against our will.
Either our politicians represent us, or they get booted. You are doing a good job for Holland.
Never Give Up! Never Surrender!
Shakespeare, writing about Islamic Turkey some time ago, summed up our current situation nicely, as does Wilders. We are the enemy. Our own are the enemy. Islam is rotten to the core. Our own keep it going.
Ulysses:
And 'tis this fever that keeps Troy on foot,
Not her own sinews. To end a tale of length,
Troy in our weakness stands, not in her strength.
William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida.
Act 1, Scene 3, L. 133-35
I'm with Wilders, but in addition to defending national identity, he needs to build up his country's economy without the help of immigrants. That means getting the population to reproduce again, which means getting them back into the pews. It also means cutting up the sprawling social safety net and overgenerous benefits that has stifled the European economy for 40 years.
I love the Troilus and Cressida lines. The Speech on Degree in the same play, a little earlier on, is one of the best things -- in what it says -- in Shakespeare. I recall that George Fitzhugh, who was on something like the same wavelength as William Walker, that grey-eyed man of destiny who, as I mentioned years ago, is possibly your relative also liked that speech and includes it in "Cannibals All" -- though he admired it for reasons different from mine.
But I don't think you can, Schliemann or no Schliemann, describe Troy (put into its proper time and place by Shakespeare's vivid imagination) as existing in a place you call "Islamic Turkey." Asia Minor, yes; "Islamic Turkey," no.
This anachronism shall not pass.
Some should not have full liberty, as you note in my "Troyan" placement. I stand embarrassed before a genuine master. But, as always, fascinated as well as humbled. Others, perhaps lacking the erudition above, might well take as given my Shakespearean reference. What a joy, though, to meet again a clear-eyed and clear-minded man whose destiny is now.
Heroism need not come solely from the Walkers of the world with rifles but from the pens of men such as yourself, Spencer, Carlyle, et al. It is indeed, to my mind, a heroism to cite Fitzhugh, a physical courage. I thank you very deeply for the high-point of my day.
Your servant, and distant relative of William,
Dag Walker.
It should not, perhaps, be forgotten that Johann Sebastien Bach, one of the greatest composers of the Christian West, and one of Germany's best and most enduring gifts not only to Europe but to the world (I am thinking of all those Japanese devotees of Bach who make the pilgrimage to Leipzig to sing his cantatas...of whom I am told, that one such went so far as to say, 'It is Bach who has taught me the meaning of 'Hope') was born only two years after the victory at Vienna.
1683: Victory over the Ottoman Turks at Vienna.
1685: Birth of Johann Sebastian Bach.
Had the Turkish Muslims won at Vienna, instead of being smashingly defeated and put to rout, it is likely that Bach would never have been born; and even if he had, he would most likely never have been able to compose as he did, for he would either have been seized and brutalised as a janissary, or crushed beneath the soul-destroying weight of dhimmitude.
We say NO to Islam/ Submission, we reject the Nothing that is Sharia, we defy and resist the Jihad, not only for the sake of what now is - the accumulated civilisational treasure of the past, which even if underappreciated by many today, may (so long as it is preserved) be rediscovered by another generation - but also, like Jan Sobieski's Winged Hussars at Vienna, for the sake of what may yet come to be; for the beauty that has not yet been born.
(Just as, in 1565, when the Knights of St John fought like lions to hold the gate of the western Mediterranean against the might of the Muslim Ottoman fleet, behind that gate in not-so-faraway Stratford-on-Avon the infant Shakespeare lay in his cradle, just one year old; everything that he would one day become still unknown to those who fought on his behalf and on the behalf of everyone else in High Renaissance Europe).
Above, I mentioned Bach.
There's this, too.
http://www.koelner-dom.de/17426.html
http://www.koelner-dom.de/17357.html
And this: Hildegard von Bingen's representation of 'the Trinity'.
http://historymedren.about.com/od/picturegalleries/ig/Hildegard-of-Bingen-Gallery/hild_trinity.htm
http://www.macalester.edu/~warren/courses/hildegard/art.html
I invite our German posters to add to this: to offer a list of, say, twenty or thirty things, historic or contemporary, that they love within their country, good things that they think of when they think of 'Germany'; things that could neither survive nor be created in a world ruled by Islam.
Magnificent! Simply magnificent! Geert Wilders just gets better and better!
Wilders:" Islam is the Communism of today"
In 2006, Robert Redeker, writing a trenchant little article that, published in Le Figaro, was met by Muslims with a barrage of death threats that drove Redeker from his job and into hiding, also compared Islam to Communism.
Le Figaro removed his article from their website, but in the comments to the following jihadwatch article about Redeker -
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2006/09/writer-of-anti-islam-article-gets-death-threats.html
you will find the French text, in full, kindly keyboarded in by a French contributor to this forum; and you will find, further down, a link to a site (still accessible) which offers a basic English translation.
Here are the key passages in which Redeker compares the situation vis a vis Islam in Europe today, with the situation vis a vis communism during the Cold War:
"Comme jadis avec le communisme, l’Occident se retrouve sous surveillance idéologique.
"L’islam se présente, à l’image du défunt communisme, comme une alternative au monde occidental.
"À l’instar du communisme d’autrefois, l’islam, pour conquérir les esprits, joue sur une corde sensible. Il se targue d’une légitimité qui trouble la conscience occidentale, attentive à autrui : être la voix des pauvres de la planète.
"Hier, la voix des pauvres prétendait venir de Moscou, aujourd’hui elle viendrait de La Mecque !
"Aujourd’hui à nouveau, des intellectuels incarnent cet oeil du Coran, comme ils incarnaient l’oeil de Moscou hier.
"Ils excommunient pour islamophobie, comme hier pour anticommunisme.
"Dans l’ouverture à autrui, propre à l’Occident, se manifeste une sécularisation du christianisme, dont le fond se résume ainsi : l’autre doit toujours passer avant moi. L’Occidental, héritier du christianisme, est l’être qui met son âme à découvert. Il prend le risque de passer pour faible.
"À l’identique de feu le communisme, l’islam tient la générosité, l’ouverture d’esprit, la tolérance, la douceur, la liberté de la femme et des moeurs, les valeurs démocratiques, pour des marques de décadence.
"Ce sont des faiblesses qu’il veut exploiter au moyen «d’idiots utiles», les bonnes consciences imbues de bons sentiments, afin d’imposer l’ordre coranique au monde occidental lui-même...
"Comme aux temps de la guerre froide, violence et intimidation sont les voies utilisées par une idéologie à vocation hégémonique, l’islam, pour poser sa chape de plomb sur le monde.
"Benoît XVI en souffre la cruelle expérience.
"Comme en ces temps-là, il faut appeler l’Occident «le monde libre» par rapport à au monde musulman, et comme en ces temps-là les adversaires de ce «monde libre», fonctionnaires zélés de l’oeil du Coran, pullulent en son sein.”
"As in the past with Communism, the West finds itself under ideological watch (sic: perhaps this should have been 'finds itself attacked by ideological vigilantism'.
" Islam presents itself, like defunct Communism, as an alternative to the Western world.
"In the way of Communism before it, Islam, to conquer spirits, plays on a sensitive chord.
"It prides itself on a legitimacy which troubles Western conscience, which is attentive to others: it claims to be the voice of the oppressed of the planet.
"Yesterday, the voice of the poor supposedly came from Moscow, today it originates in Mecca!
"Again, today, western intellectuals incarnate the eye of the Koran, as they have incarnated the eye of Moscow.
"They now excommunicate people for Islamophobia, as they once did for anti-communism."
"This openness to others, specific to the West, is a secularization of Christianity that can be summarized thus: the other person must come before myself. The Westerner, heir to Christianity, is the one that bares his soul. He runs the risk of being seen as weak.
"With the same ardor as Communism, Islam treats generosity, broadmindedness, tolerance, gentleness, freedom of women and of manners, democratic values, as marks of decadence.
"They are weaknesses that it seeks to exploit, by means of useful idiots, self-righteous consciences drowning in nice feelings, in order to impose the Koranic order on the Western world itself.
"...As in the Cold War, where violence and intimidation were the methods used by an ideology hell bent on hegemony, so today Islam tries to put its leaden mantel all over the world.
"Benedict XVI’s cruel experience bears witness to this.
"Nowadays, the West has to be called the “free world” in comparison to the Muslim world; likewise, the enemies of the “free world”, the zealous bureaucrats of the Koran’s vision, swarm in the very center of the free World.”
"that ex-marine "
Perhaps you mean Lt Col Allen West? There are a number of his talks on youtube. Like Geert Wilders he knows the score visavis Islam and tells it like it is. A man with a backbone.
I hope this talk was videod.
Non-Muslims are either being attacked by or attacks are being advocated by:
1) Iran's government
2) Pakistan's government
3) Iraqi "insurgents"
4) Afghanistan's Taliban
5) Al Qaeda operatives in Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Holland, Sweden and other European countries.
Q: What is the underlying thread amongst all these sources of threats to the world?
A: Islam
The non-Muslim world needs to wake up to the fact that it is at war with an evil, totalitarian ideology, an ideology as evil as the fascism of Nazis, and this ideology goes by the name of Islam.
This from The Guardian (UK) today, 10/04/2010
"Prosecutors were initially reluctant to bring Wilders's case to court, saying his remarks appeared directed toward Islam as an ideology rather than intended to insult Muslims as a group. But they were eventually ordered to do so by a judge.
Mohamed Rabbae, chairman of the moderate National Moroccan Council, said outside the court that he hoped judges would force Wilders to issue an apology for his past remarks.
"We are not for getting Wilders in prison. We are for correcting him," he said."
So, the Medina Mafia want an apology because Wilders is telling the truth about Islam. I doubt if Wilders will oblige.
"Mohamed Rabbae, chairman of the moderate National Moroccan Council, said outside the court that he hoped judges would force Wilders to issue an apology for his past remarks."
!?!?!?!
You are the ones that owe the rest of Humanity an apology for 14 centuries of your ignorant, vicious and repressive ideology!
First you need to apologise to Geert Wilders for this farcical "trial". Then you need to apologise to him for the death threats he has received from your friends.
You are the ones who should be on trial.
Your time will come you whitewashed sepulchres!
I can only think of Heinrich Heine's poems, which are much better than Goethe's poetry and Albert Einstein's theory of relativity.
We were really honoured by Geert Wilders, it was a great event and a wonderful speech. The hall was crowded and so many people from abroad were present, I enthused. For all those who want the footage, here it is:
http://www.pi-news.net/2010/10/erste-videos-der-wilders-veranstaltung-in-berlin/#more-157977
Enjoy! But it's a shame that chancellor Merkel didn't approve of Wilders being part of the Dutch government - none of her business - that Guttenberg, the secretary of defence calls him a quacksalver and that Leutheuser-Schnarrenberger, the secretary of justice says that he as a Dutchman shouldn't interfere with German politics. That's racism, Ms LS, Geert is an elected member of parliament of an EU country. These politicians are a disgrace!
And I, sonofwalker, am a direct descendent of John Newton, the slave ship captain who repented and wrote "Amazing Grace". My heritage, of course, is more humbling than yours, but I try to teach my children the joys of admitting wrong, making amends and subsequently freeing oneself from the bonds of guilt.
Like we should do in the West, and survive to raise our families in freedom.
While above is indeed a great speech by Mr Wilders, his freedom to express such views is now under threat and he couold be jailed.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11464025
Ironically and hopefully Wilders trial will make him unmistakeably more visible to the world. I think the dutch court has produced a "watershed" event in Europe. Much more than Wilders is going to be on trial.
This is very frightening, if Angela Merkel and other German politicians are prepared to throw in the towel to Islam. Can they not see that immigration will force Sharia-compliant legislation, that the "violent people" are prepared to bring about one way or another? As far as Europe is concerned, I fear that Wilders is beginning to fill the role of Cassandra.
I suspect the irony of his trial will be lost on the masses. Perhaps it will raise a question for many Americans who do not realize that the rest of the world does not have a 'first amendment right.'
As Hugh points out, Geert is one of many who wish not to be involved in the middle eastern 'wars' of Ameica. Given the approach we are taking there, with Surge Lite, I doubt that the effect will be lasting. Unless we were to plan for a long-term occupation and total subjugation and re-education of the populace with an approach similar to "convert or die," we're wasting our blood and gold.
I wonder how it sounded in German.
I was there, it sounded fine, clear and relaxed.
Wilders has a bit of an accent (Dutch and German are closely related), some words sounded a bit more Dutch than German, and the overall impression was of insight and sincere personal interest in the subjects he covered.
Was glad to see so many people (540, by official count) present to show their support and hear some really good speeches.
MSM, as usual, is jumping all kinds of loops to avoid reporting anything sensible about what Wilders and the other speakers actually said! Of the few and short reports I've seen, many focused on the fact that 40 (MSM reported 100) left-wing extremists were freezing outside, so they'd not have to tell anything meaningful about what was being said inside. It was also mistakenly reported that the entrance fee was € 35 - the hard fact was € 15.
For accuracy in reporting, we need to go to the blogs.
Yes, the speech was videotaped, I believe the German is out already, and we are looking to get it subtitled in English. It will be a somewhat complicated task.
BTW, press presence at the event was massive! Tons (as in 100 x 75 kilos) of journalists were all over the place, trying to get that perfect picture, video clip or comment. I am surprised that so little of that footage made it into actual publishing.
"Dr. Kengor is a professor of political science at Grove City (Pennsylvania) College and the executive director its excellent Center for Vision and Values. His prolific pen has produced past bestsellers such as, The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism. Now, with Dupes, he has written the most exhaustive and definitive account of Communism’s 20th century assault on America to date. It is a story that flows with virtual seamlessness into the defining conflict of the new century and millennium—the threat of Islamism. Though the ideologies are vastly different and even the methodologies used in propagation don’t always resemble each other, the Communist threat of the Cold War and before, as well as the current conflict with Islamism, have one clear and sad thing in common.
Our enemies have been aided and abetted by liberal dupes."
Full article about this book "DUPES": http://townhall.com/columnists/DavidStokes/2010/10/03/useful_idiots_and_usual_suspects/page/full/
Complete Wilders video now up on LivingScoop.
Here, from my 'Penguin Book of German Verse', is a poem that seems to be rather appropriate, as we see - all over Europe - brave men and women from their various nations, standing up to encourag, assist and counsel one another in resistance to Jihad and Sharia. And in so doing they create not the artificial unity that the bureaucrats of the European Union have tried to force upon people, but a different kind of unity, a living fellowship, a real-life Order of the Phoenix.
Read it, and think of Dutchman Geert Wilders and German René Stadtkewitz standing side by side.
Simon Dach (1605-1659) -
'Der Mensch hat nichts so eigen/ so woh steht ihm nichts an/ als dass er Treu erzeigen/ und Freundschaft halten kann.
'Wenn er mit seinesgleichen / soll treten in ein Band/ verspricht sich nicht zu weichen/ mit Herzen, Mund und Hand.
'Die Red ist uns gegeben/ damit wir nicht allein/ vor uns nur sollen leben/ und fern von Leuten sein;/ wir sollen uns befragen/ und sehn auf guten Rat/ das Leid einander klagen/ so uns betreten hat.
'Was kann die Freude machen/ die Einsamkeit verhehlt?/ Das gibt ein duppelt Lachen/ was Freunden wird erzaehlt;/ Der kann sein Leid vergessen/ der es von Herzen sagt;/ der muss sich selbst auffressen/ der in geheim sich nagt.
'Gott stehet mir vor allen/ die meine Seele liebt/ dann soll mir auch gefallen/ der mir sich herzlich gibt;/ Mit diesen Bunds-Gesellen/ verlach ich Pein und Not,/ Geh auf dem Grund der Hellen/ und breche durch den Tod.
'Ich hab, ich habe Herzen/ so treue, wie gebuehrt,/ Die Heuchelei und Scherzen/ nie wissentlich beruehrt;/ ich bin auch ihnen wieder/ von Grund der Seele hold,/ Ich lieb euch mehr, ihr Brueder,/ Als aller Erden Gold."
Geert Wilders speaks in Berlin - English Subtitles Part 1/4
http://www.geertwilders.nl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1713&Itemid=1
I was "Denise" for a short time back in 2010, and once I changed my moniker back to my original name, then of course all of Denise's comments now show as champ ...