Way back in February I suggested that Geert Wilders should have been allowed to show his wee film Fitna in Britain and that it was a mistake to deny him entry to the United Kingdom. But I also suggested that he was no sort of champion of freedom or free speech or any liberal sense of decency. Not to put too fine a point on it, I argued, he’s a boor and a bigot. Many commenters took issue with this and that, for sure, is their prerogative. I rather think, however, that Mr Wilders is helping make my case for me.
Here is his Ten Point Plan To Save The West:
In other words, the only way to save the western liberal tradition is to kill it. I think one may safely say that if Mr Wilders were voting in Britain, the most logical home for his ballot would be the British National Party.1. Stop cultural relativism. We need an article in our constitutions that lays down that we have a Jewish-Christian and humanism culture. 2. Stop pretending that Islam is a religion. Islam is a totalitarian ideology. In other words, the right to religious freedom should not apply to Islam. 3. Stop mass immigration by people from Muslim countries. We have to end Al-Hijra. 4. Encourage voluntary repatriation. 5. Expel criminal foreigners and criminals with dual nationality, after denationalization, and send them back to their Arab countries. Likewise, expel all those who incite to a ‘violent jihad’. 6. We need an European First Amendment to strengthen free speech. 7. Have every member of a non-Western minority sign a legally binding contract of assimilation. 8. We need a binding pledge of allegiance in all Western countries. 9. Stop the building of new mosques. As long as no churches or synagogues are allowed to be build in countries like Saudi-Arabia we will not allow one more new mosque in our western countries. Close all mosques where incitement to violence is taking place. Close all Islamic schools, for they are fascist institutions and young children should not be educated an ideology of hate and violence. 10. Get rid of the current weak leaders. We have the privilege of living in a democracy. Let’s use that privilege and exchange cowards for heroes. We need more Churchills and less [sic] Chamberlains.
To be fair to him, I also think we need more robust protections for the freedom of expression – though I rather suspect my view of free speech is considerably broader than that of Mr Wilders or his foaming-at-the-mouth supporters.
On the other hand, I suppose we should be grateful that Mr Wilders’ desire for, one presumes, the suppression of Islam and the “repatriation” of muslims (voluntarily, of course!) is a matter of record. Perhaps that will help persuade some folk to reconsider their enthusiasm for a delusional bigot who, in another time and another country, would seem likely to have been quite at home writing editorials for Der Sturmer.
[Hat-tips to Pickled Politics, Harry’s Place, Back Towards the Locus and Cabalamat at the Britblog Roundup]
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