GEERT Wilders the Dutch MP who defied a letter from the Home Office refusing him entry to the UK on Tuesday, arrived at Heathrow today to attend the House of Lords screening of his film, Fitna, but was promptly sent back to Holland.
Geert Wilders speaking to news media
In a text message to the AP news agency, Wilders said he had no regrets about the trip, attacked “the cowards in the UK government”, and accused Gordon Brown of having a servile attitude toward Islam.
Wilders had been invited to Westminster to show his 17-minute film, which criticises the Koran as a “fascist book”, but was not allowed into the country because his opinions
Would threaten community security and therefore public security.
UK Independence Party peer Lord Pearson, who invited Mr Wilders to Britain, said the screening of the film would go ahead today “with or without Mr Wilders”.
In a joint statement he and cross-bench peer Baroness Cox said they were “promoting freedom of speech” and accused the Government of “appeasing” militant Islam.
Lord Pearson asked Home Office Minister Lord West of Spithead:
Do you think this situation would occur if Mr Wilders had said ban the Bible?
Lord West replied:
I certainly don’t think we are guilty of appeasement in any way whatsoever. I don’t want to go down the route of discussing a hypothetical case of what if he talked about this, what if he talked about that.
The film sparked violent protests around the Muslim world last year for linking verses in the religious text with footage of terrorist attacks.
A spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain said:
Geert Wilders has been an open and relentless preacher of hate – there is little difference between his views and those of the far right.
The BBC has a fuller report here, and there is an excellent piece in the Telegraph entitled Whatever Happened to Free Speech.
Geert Wilders has been an open and relentless preacher of hate – there is little difference between his views and those of the far right.
Hypocrisy just called, it says “sup”…….
Foreign Secretary David Minibrain puts the boot into free speech by claiming no-one has the freedom to cry ‘fire’ in a theatre!
Sorry Dave me ol’ chum but you’re talking bollocks. If the smell of smoke is overpowering and the flames are licking the orchestra pit then one has the right, even the moral obligation, to shout ‘fire’ as loud as possible.
Fitna isn’t fiction. It cannott be equated with Ben Stein’s recent attempt to blame the Holocaust on Darwins On the Origin of Species.
Fitna uses actual footage of actual atrocities committed by actual muslims along side the actual koranic quotes that actually inspired them.
FIRE!
I agree with the Freethinker on this one. All Jackboot Jacquie has done is to give Mr Wilders a massive propoganda victory and an enormous amount of publicity. Free speech is precious but it is rapidly dying out in this country.
I would’ve said that this makes me feel utterly ashamed to be English; But seeing as how these days that seems to primarily involve catching the fast train to dhimmitown, sadness and unfortunately, anger, are my prevailing emotions right now.
I keep getting an image of dozens of Neville Chamberlins waving bits of paper. The phrase Don’t shoot the messanger also springs to mind. Oh and Remigius is absolutely right, the theatre is ablaze but the Nevilles choose to look the other way and pretend not to notice.
Earlier this evening, I went into my usual news web site (newsnow.com) and placed a search for Wilders. This brought me to the Daily Mail column on the subject. After reading the item, I, of course, read the follow-up comments of which there were over 150 at the time. Nearly all said that they abhored the way that Wilders had been barred, and what a sad day it was for free speech. Cowardice amongst our elected leaders, warning that an election was coming, was also plentiful. Very nearly none (perhaps 5%) said that it was a good thing. With the Mail voting system, the comments against the ban received a high approval rating and of those for the ban, not one received a positive rating. OK we are now talking Daily Mail and its readers, so there is a certain amount of bias there. However, I agreed with the anti government comments, so what does that say about me? Remarks on a postcard please. Can’t wait for question time tonight. Pity it’s run by the (lying) BBC, who are bound to stuff the audience with people who approve of stonings and headscarves.
Dear Newspaniard,
It says you have too much time on your hands.
Wish you were here.
Wurble
Wilders is a shallow self-publicist of the Kilroy type (IMHO), but banning an elected politician from a friendly, democratic state is dodgy by any standard. The impression most people now have is of a government schizophrenically obsessed with giving in to militant Islam on a range of issues while depriving non-Muslims, i.e. most of us, of long-established rights in the name of ‘fighting terrorism’. We are being conned, lied to, bullied and short-changed far too often, even by the shoddy standards of recent British governments.
Postcard to newspaniard;
What it says about you is that you are one of a huge silent majority of otherwise reasonable and law-abiding citizens who are being systematically marginalised by the insane cultural policies of the current so-called Government.
A direct result of this, is that more and more people feel that the only way to combat this is to resort to adopting the stance of the Daily Mail, and in the more extreme cases, the BNP, where they would normally not even have considered it.
A very sorry state of affairs.
Multiculturalism = Division
Social cohesion = Division
Cultural Diversity = Division
Respect for other cultures and faths = Division
…. Not what these phrases should mean, but what they actually do mean in the Britain of 2009
I have now seen the fitna film and it is very frightening. My take on the subject of free speech has always been, let everyone have their say and if anyone is wrong then let us say so and state why we disagree. As far as I can see, the film contains nothing that is untrue. I challenge every one of the Nevilles to find anything in the film that is false or misleading. If they succeed let them present their findings and let us consider them. I, as a truth-seeker pledge to change my opinion if I find their arguments convincing. In the meantime let us consider why the Islamists are attempting to limit freedom of speech, only those who have no argument need to do so.
They say you get more right wing as you get older….
I would suggest that people watch the film first and then think about what is happening. There is a link to the film in my blog post. ( linked form my name above) I dont support Wilders views on banning the Koran etc but the film makes a very fair point about how the Koran is used to foment hatred and violnce against the west and jews.
So Geert Wilders gets sent packing becourse lord Ahmed screams loudly. This is the same lord Ahmed who in 2005 hosted the Swedish-domiciled anti-Semite Jöran Jermasat (Israel Shamir) at house of lords for a book launch.
newspaniard
I read the daily mail a *lot*. I do it to laugh, and also to work myself up. It actually makes me physically angry, and sometimes I need that extra stimulus to get my work done. So I consider myself to have a knowledge of how the daily mail, and it’s readers/commenters work.
In this particular case, you agree with them. I agree with them. But the only reason they are against the decision is because the man is attacking islam. If it was christianity he was attacking, the daily mail and most of the commenters would support banning him from the country. They are simply using the “free speech” angle because it suits them at this point. Do not assume that they are actually making a stand for free speech.
I am very much against him being barred from the country (or sent back, or whatever happened; it’s clear that he was not wanted here by the people in charge). It is, however, a choice I can understand.
The way I see it, they’re stuck between two choices; pissing off muslims by allowing him to come here, or pissing off a lot of others (free speech supporters, reactionary conservatives etc…). However, one of these groups has a documented history of causing severe property damage, as well as rioting and demonstrating, whenever their views are not bowed down to; the other group does not.
It’s a no brainer, unfortunately. To quote Lionel Shriver:
“After my 12 years in Northern Ireland, this is the primary lesson I learned about terrorism: it works.”
And it does. The western world is terrified of offending muslims in any way.
Watched the coverage on Channel 4 News, and was amazed by the cowardace of the Lib Dem cowardace, and more amazed that the Muslim gent they had on said that Mr Wilders should have been allowed in. I am so ashamed that the British Government couldn’t distinguish between speech which advocates violence and hatred, and a film which points out where that violence and hatred comes from in some cases. Mr Wilders, as far as I know, has never advocated either violence or hatred, and I dont think Fitna, which I’ve seen, does so either. Like I said, it merely points us towards those Qu’ran passages which extemists use to justify their actions. It isn’t an anti islamic film, just an anti-jihadist film, in my view.
Ed Haz. I agree. Would the government have banned the 1997 documentary series ‘Nazi’s A Warning From History’ so as not to upset members of Combat 18?
Islam means submission. The British Government have done just that.
R.I.P Freedom of Speech.
Welcome to the United Kaliphate.
I am an englishman and I have lived abroad for 8 years now. I am proud to be English, and I have always pointed to the British tradition of liberal tolerance. Even though that tradition has been badly eroded in recent years, it still was something I could claim. But not any more now that the government surrenders to bullying and tantrums and runs away from taking any kind of stand.
I dislike Mr. Wilders and his politics – but he has a right to his views and he has a right to express them.
But I have also seen the film in question and it matters not who made the film, but does it stand up – and I believe that it does.
When Great Britain can expel the legally elected representative of another democracy well, where is that old tradition now?????
Ed Haz, you are completely correct, in my view.
One thing can be said about Geert Wilders, the guy’s got balls, it’s a pity the same can’t be said of our illustrious leaders.
The film Fitna was available for anybody to see as far back as last July, so why the big fuss now?
As has already been said, the film depicts real events, and real quotes from the koran, so what’s the problem?
Here is the text of the address that Wilders was prevented from giving to the House of Lords yesterday.
http://www.geertwilders.nl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1515&Itemid=1
Jacqui Smith and the rest of the cowards should hang their heads in shame.