Dutch politician, Muslim critic plans new film, but after elections

Amsterdam - A leading Dutch politician and critic of Islam said Wednesday he plans to release a second movie about the spread of Islam, but not until after Dutch elections in June, local media reported. Fitna, released in March 2008 by Geert Wilders, was the source of much controversy, focusing as it did on the politician's concerns about the spread of radical Islam and the alleged "Islamization" of the Netherlands.

Now he plans to do the same again.

"Fitna 2 will be spectacular, but we do not manage to release it as planned before the elections," the leader of the Freedom Party PVV said.

Wilders said the sequel to his 2008 film focuses on the consequences of mass migration from Muslim countries, freedom of expression and the Sharia or Muslim law.

The lawmaker previously indicated he received help from professionals in the US to make his film.

Remarks Wilders made about Islam in Fitna are used in the trial currently brought against the lawmaker for alleged discrimination and incitement to hatred.

An Amsterdam court is deciding whether Wilders violated Dutch law by calling the Koran a "fascist book" and Islam a "backward culture," expressions he did among others in his film.

Wilders' Freedom Party, first established in 2006, entered parliament with 9 seats following general elections that year.

Opinion polls indicate the PVV would receive at least 24 seats in parliament if a general election were held today.

On February 20, the ruling Dutch coalition of Christian Democrats, Labor and Christian Union collapsed over the extension of the country's mission to Afghanistan, resulting in early elections on June 9.

Last week, the PVV achieved a breakthrough in two local elections. In The Hague, the party became the second largest party, while in Almere, a city east of Amsterdam, the PVV became the biggest party.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/313353,dutch-politician-muslim-critic-plans-new-film-but-after-elections.html.

Brits protest anti-Islam Dutch lawmaker visit

Hundreds of people have gathered outside the British parliament to protest Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders' visit, aimed at spreading Islamophobia.

The protest erupted after Wilders, who is visiting Britain upon an invitation by far-right UK Independence Party leader Lord Pearson, screened his anti-Islamic film 'Fitna' in the House of Lords.

The far-right filmmaker sent shockwaves through both secular and faith-based communities when his defamatory film linking Islam to extremism was first posted on the internet in 2008.

In 2009, British officials refused the 46-year-old politician entry into the county denouncing him as a "genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat to one of the fundamental interests of society."

But the ban was overturned in October after he appealed the decision.

Fitna, which means ordeal, also drew strong criticism from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who called the 17-minute movie "offensively anti-Islamic."

Infamous for his anti-Islamic ideas, Wilders has also calls for a ban on the Holy Qur'an.

Last year, also a court appeal in Amsterdam ordered prosecution against Wilder for "the incitement to hatred and discrimination."

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120181§ionid=351020601.

'Tomorrow the whole country' - Wilders on the rise - Feature

Amsterdam - At least the Dutch are as animal-friendly as ever: The Party for Animals (PvdD), which lobbies for humane treatment for all creatures great and small, managed to boost their number of seats in the Dutch communal elections on Wednesday to 26. "We are getting stronger," PvdD leader Marianne Thieme rejoices. Such joy cannot be said to prevail among of the Dutch Muslim Party (NMP), which seeks to promote trust and understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims. The NMP did not gain a single seat in the elections, whose clear winner is the Muslim-hater Geert Wilders.

Wilders, a 46-year-old insurance agent and qualified lawyer, declared a historic victory at the election celebrations of his Freedom Party (PVV) in the city of Almere.

It was in this city, not far from Amsterdam, that the PVV managed to emerge from scratch as the strongest party in the town council, overtaking the social-democratic Dutch Labour Party (PvdA).

And in The Hague's city council the PVV were again hot-on-the- heels of the PVdA, who have governed the city for decades, becoming the second biggest party.

Wilders can hardly wait until June 9, when the Netherlands is due to hold elections to the "Tweede Kamer," the lower house of parliament.

"This success is our springboard to victory on June 9," Wilders shouted to his supporters, who have nicknamed their blond leader Mozart, at the party in Almere.

His supporters are, however, not suspected of listening to classical music.

The political science institute at the University of Tilburg considers Wilders' party, founded in 2006, a "non-democratic, neo- right-wing extremist organisation with an authoritarian leadership."

Today, the PVV has nine of the 150 seats in the Dutch parliament. Recent surveys suggest that it might win 24 to 27 seats on June 9.

"We will be the strongest party," Wilders prophesied to the cheering crowd in Almere. "We will reconquer the Netherlands!"

Wilders' speeches have something of the tone of an earlier era of political rhetoric, which might be recognized from Nazi propaganda films. Wilders could be imagined in one of these films, shouting "Today Almere and The Hague, tomorrow the whole of the Netherlands!"

While Wilders is planning his route into parliament, the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats are still licking their wounds after their coalition government broke down two weeks ago. They had been in government for three years until they split after a fight over the Dutch military mission in Afghanistan.

Wilders enjoys slamming the parties in power.

"The leftist elite still believes in a multicultural society, in cosying up to criminals, in development aid and in a European superstate with high taxes," he said. "But the rest of the Netherlands has a completely different opinion."

According to political scientist Meindert Fennema, who has just written a biography of Wilders called De Tovenaarsleerling, (The Sorcerer's Apprentice), lambasting the "elite" is a well-proven strategy of Wilders to attract voters.

"The PVV's strength lies in its self-representation as an uncouth, uncultivated political outcast," Fennema says.

PVV supporters are mainly "hard working people with a relatively low education," he adds.

According to Fennema, this is why Wilders successfully focused on three issues in his campaign: Railing against Muslim immigrants, exaggerating security problems and promising to prevent the raising of the retirement age from 65 to 67.

It is without doubt not just the dramatic loss of trust in the political establishment amid the economic crisis that has benefited Wilders.

It is hard to ignore the failure of the state's soft stance on Muslim immigrants who have been presented with countless integration schemes.

Public funding for mosques and Muslim schools has happily been accepted by the beneficiaries. However, advocates of a strict dissociation from western life-style often have the biggest say in such places.

Wilders' alternative proposal to current integration policy sounds like a call to civil war. Mosques should be shut down, the "fascist" Koran and headscarfs in public places banned. "Decent" citizens should form vigilante groups to fight against rampaging Muslim youths, whom Wilders calls "Moroccan street terrorists."

Since January 20, Wilders has been on trial for charges of fomenting racial hatred.

But a criminal process might be the wrong approach to tackle the populist's upsurge, critics say. And they might be right: Since the beginning of the trial, public approval of Wilders has surged.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/312490,tomorrow-the-whole-country--wilders-on-the-rise--feature.html.

Dutch Freedom Party ready to govern, claims Wilders

Amsterdam - The hard-right Dutch Freedom Party is ready to govern the Netherlands, party leader Geert Wilders said Sunday, in the wake of the collapse of the country's coalition government. Wilders, speaking to local media, welcomed the fall of Jan Peter Balkenende's government.

"I had hoped for this day for a long time and it arrived after all. We can now wave the flags to celebrate. The worst Dutch government ever did not deserve to govern one more day," Wilders said.

The leader of the Freedom Party, known for its harsh stance on Islam and migrants, said the outgoing government had excelled only in "breaking mass immigration records."

"This government damaged the economy, raised taxes and supported Islam. Cabinet members fought openly with each other on the street," Wilders said...

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/310422,dutch-freedom-party-ready-to-govern-claims-wilders.html.

Dutch MP cries foul as court rejects his witnesses

Thu, 04 Feb 2010

The Dutch lawmaker and producer of the anti-Islamic 'Fitna' movie, Geert Wilders, claims he has been denied the right to a fair trial.

He made the remark after the Amsterdam District Court rejected most of his requested defense witnesses, saying that he could only call three witnesses out of the 18 he had sought.

He said that he was "angry and disappointed" with Wednesday's hearing, arguing that the ruling placed the right of the Europeans to speak what they wish about Islam in jeopardy.

"I know that I spoke the truth and didn't say anything punishable," he claimed, vowing to "fight like a lion."

“This court is not interested in the truth. This court doesn't want me to have a fair trial. I can't have any respect for this. This court would not be out of place in a dictatorship,” said the far-right politician in a statement, following the hearing.

Prosecutors had initially declined to charge Wilders, but an appeals court ordered prosecutors to put the MP on trial, insisting that politicians could not make "statements which create hate and grief."

Wilders is on trial for his provocative short documentary film, Fitna, which features passages from the Koran along with footages of terror attacks. The film's screening in the Netherlands in 2008 provoked Muslim sentiments and prompted massive protests across the world.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=117861§ionid=351020605.

Islam critic Geert Wilders goes on trial in Netherlands

Amsterdam - The trial of Dutch member of parliament and Islam critic Geert Wilders for discrimination and incitement to hatred opened in an Amsterdam court on Wednesday. The court is to decide whether the leader of the liberal-rightist Freedom Party PVV violated Dutch law by calling the Koran a "fascist book" and Islam a "backward culture."

At the start of proceedings, the presiding judge said it had been "suggested" that the court had already convicted Wilders before its first hearings. He would therefore "like to emphasize that only after the last word in these hearings has been said, the court will deliberate about its decision."

In his opening statement, Wilders' lawyer Bram Moskowicz questioned why the trial was taking place in Amsterdam rather than in The Hague, where his client works.

Most of the complaints filed against Wilders since 2006 were related to remarks he made as a lawmaker in the Hague-based parliament, he said.

Moskowicz also argued that Wilders' remarks about Islam were made only in the context of his work as a lawmaker, and that he never spoke "a titre personnel," or in his personal capacity.

Prosecutors claim Wilders' 16-minute internet video Fitna, released in March 2008, incites people to hatred against Muslims. The film warns against the spread of radical Islam and the alleged "Islamization" of the Netherlands.

Wilders faces a maximum of 16 months imprisonment or a fine of 10,000 euros (14,000 dollars) if convicted on all the charges.

Almost 6 per cent of the Netherlands' 16.5 million inhabitants are Muslim.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/304773,islam-critic-geert-wilders-goes-on-trial-in-netherlands.html.

Dutch Freedom Party wants minaret ban in Netherlands

Amsterdam - The rightist Freedom Party PVV said Monday it would ask the Dutch government to hold a referendum on banning the construction of minarets, following a similar vote in Switzerland. On Sunday, a large majority of Swiss voters cast ballots in favor of banning construction of the slender towers attached to mosques, despite opposition to such a move by the government.

"We will call upon the government to make a similar referendum possible in the Netherlands," PVV leader Geert Wilders told Dutch daily Volkskrant.

Congratulating Switzerland on what he called the "great result of the minaret referendum," Wilders said: "If the government is unwilling to hold a referendum, the PVV will present its own bill to parliament. What is possible in Switzerland should also be possible here."

The PVV, known for its criticism on Islam and migrants, currently holds nine seats in the 150-member legislature.

Opinion polls show that if elections were held today, the party would win 27 seats, making it the second largest after the Christian Democrats on 35 seats.

Anti-Islamic Dutch politician cancels Prague visit - Summary

Prague - Anti-Islamic Dutch politician Geert Wilders canceled his planned visit to Prague after his hosts had problems booking a venue for his speech, organizers said Thursday. Wilders was invited to give a speech Monday and show his film Fitna by Eurosceptic Czech senator Jiri Oberfalzer and a Prague-based website critical of the purported Islamization of Europe, eurabia.cz.

Oberfalzer initially invited the 46-year-old Dutch lawmaker to give his talk at the Czech Senate, but the upper house banned the planned lecture.

The hosts then unsuccessfully attempted to secure a private venue. Wilders dropped the Prague talk after owners of two locations canceled reservations at the last minute, Oberfalzer said.

A Muslim group based in Brno, the Czech Republic's second largest city, offered to provide a place but the visit's organizers did not accept it.

The senator said that the hosts managed to book yet another place but Wilders "did not want to risk the fourth cancellation" and preferred to set a new date for his visit.

Wilders, leader of the far-right Party for Freedom, is known for his anti-Islamic views. His controversial film Fitna portrays the Koran as a book inciting violence against non-Muslims.

Earlier this week, a spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry said the lawmaker, who planned to take part in a Dutch parliamentary delegation to Turkey, was unwelcome in the largely Muslim country wishing to join the European Union.

In February, authorities barred Wilders from entering Britain, where he was to show his film. But he visited London on October 16 after a court overturned the ban.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/296508,anti-islamic-dutch-politician-cancels-prague-visit--summary.html.