THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XI, Issue # 27, January 22, 2009
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
DEATH TO FREE SPEECH IN THE NETHERLANDS
By Brooke M. Goldstein & Aaron Meyer
THE THREAT TO FREEDOM OF SPEECH IN EUROPE: LEGAL ACTION AGAINST THOSE WHO SEEK TO EXPOSE RADICAL
ISLAM -- LABELING AS "HATE SPEECH" & ANTI-MUSLIM "DISCRIMINATION" PUBLIC CRITICISM OF ISLAMISTS WHO SEEK
TO INCITE VIOLENCE AGAINST "INFIDELS" & WHO CALL FOR THE DEATH OF ALL JEWS & OTHER NON-MUSLIMS --
PUNISHING EUROPEANS FOR SPEAKING OUT AGAINST ISLAMISM, ISLAMIST TERRORISM, & ITS SOURCES OF FINANCING --
ABSURD & DANGEROUS MISREPRESENTATIONS OF THE VERY CONCEPT OF FREE SPEECH -- EUROPEAN GOVERNMENTS
SHOWING SIGNS OF BEHAVING MORE & MORE LIKE AUTHORITARIAN MIDDLE EASTERN REGIMES THAT ROUTINELY
ARREST & PUNISH DISSIDENTS FOR "THOUGHT CRIMES," THAT IS, FOR HOLDING OPPOSING POLITICAL VIEWS
FULL STORY:
On Wednesday, January 21, 2009, freedom of speech in Europe took a new and devastating turn, as a Dutch appellate
court ordered the prosecution of Geert Wilders, parliamentarian and filmmaker, charging him with "inciting hatred and
discrimination" against Muslims for his film exposing the threat of radical Islam.
This ruling comes a mere six months after the public prosecutor's office found Wilders' dialogue contributed to the
debate on Islam and that he had not committed any criminal offense. Now, curiously, the court has done an about-face
and decreed that charges may be brought against the politician, and that prosecuting him is somehow in "the public
interest."
After releasing a ten-minute self-produced film entitled Fitna, Wilders found himself wound up in a litany of
"hate speech" litigation, one such suit filed by a radical Imam asking for 55,000 Euros in compensation for his hurt
feelings.
Ironically, the film's narrative is primarily comprised of quotes from the Koran which incite violence and death
to "infidels," as well as scenes of an Imam preaching death to the Jews. Akin to something out of the Twilight Zone,
the Imams who routinely spout hate speech from the pulpit and who are instigating these suits are never themselves
charged with incitement to immediate violence. Moreover, if the film Fitna," which merely quotes the
Koran and depicts angry Imams, is "hate speech," then what is the Koran itself?
Suspiciously, the wording of the appellate court's ruling strongly echoes public criticism made by the 57-nation
Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) when the earlier prosecution was dropped, where the OIC censured
prosecutors for ignoring the "thin line separating freedom of speech and the instigation of hatred, animosity, and
discrimination."
Even more disturbing is that the State of Jordan, most likely acting as a stalking horse for the OIC, has issued a
request for Wilders' extradition to stand trial in Jordan for blasphemy of Islam, a crime for which Shari'a law declares
the penalty to be death. The Dutch Parliament has taken the extradition request very seriously, and has shut out
Wilders from all multi-lateral negotiations. As a precaution, Wilders no longer travels abroad unless he can obtain a
diplomatic letter from the destination state promising he won't be extradited. For years now, Wilders has lived under
looming death threats complemented by the threat that any day, Interpol might issue a warrant for his arrest at
Jordan's behest.
Mistakenly, Wilders had thought that his own country remained true to constitutional democratic ideals, despite
cases such as that of the cartoonist Gregorious Nekschot, who was arrested on May 13, 2008, by Dutch police for
the criminal offense of "publishing cartoons which are discriminating for Muslims and people with dark skin."
The very notion that a judge could weigh a man's freedom of speech against what the court construed as "one-sided
generalizations" is an absurd and dangerous misrepresentation of the very concept of free speech. However, that
pales in comparison to the fact that a democratically elected and sitting member of government is going to be
prosecuted for a thought crime for speaking to his constituents about matters of national security. In Iran dissdents
are routinely arrested for holding opposing political views. Now, we are seeing the same tactics being employed in
Europe, but, this time, enacted by Western governments, at the behest of Islamist groups and against their own
citizens.
WIlders' "crime" is what the OIC has been working to criminalize on a global level through the United Nations, while
advocating the punishment of Westerners who speak out against radical Islam, terrorism, and its sources of financing.
It is clear that the OIC's successes in the United Nations -- where the General Assembly passed its "Combating
Defamation of Religions" resolution last year -- are already resulting in direct action.
This is no victory for the Netherlands, or for anyone -- save the OIC and Islamo-fascists. The damage being done to
free speech, however, is a defeat that will be felt everywhere. When members of a democratic country's legislature can
be arrested and tried for expressing ideas that some find objectionable, that country's status as a free and fair
constitutional democracy is in serious doubt. But, while the Dutch will have to come to grips with their government's
abject failure to uphold basic principles of human rights, the leaders of other nations must take notice as well.
The OIC has power and influence, and "hate speech" laws provide an extremely malleable tool to silence critics of
radical Islam -- even if you are a member of a parliament, or indeed, perhaps, eventually, a member of the U.S. Congress.
Whatever pressure may be brought on the Netherlands to counteract the OIC's influence must be brought to bear. For,
if Geert Wilders is tried and sentenced, it will establish the precedent Islamists have been striving for -- and one day,
none of us will be free to speak out against them.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Europe, European States, Politics, & Public Policy
Lawfare -- The Use of Law as a Weapon in War & Politics:
Islamist Lawfare & the "Legal" Jihad Against America & the West
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
International Politics & World Disorder:
War, Peace, & Geopolitics in the Real World:
Foreign Affairs & U.S. National Security
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
Counterterrorism & U.S. National Security
U.S. National Security Strategy
Brooke M. Goldstein is a practicing attorney, the Director of the Legal Project at the Middle East Forum, and the
Director of the Children's Rights Institute. She is also an award-winning film producer of The Making of a Martyr,
an adjuct fellow at the Hudson Institute, and the 2007 recipient of the E. Nathaniel Gates Award for Outstanding Public
Advocacy.
Aaron Meyer is the Assistant Director of the Legal Project at the Middle East Forum and Legal Correspondent at the
Terror Finance Blog.
The foregoing article by Brooke M. Goldstein and Aaron Meyer was originally published in the American Spectator,
January 22, 2009, and can be found on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum, a foreign policy think
tank which seeks to
define and promote American interests in the Middle East, defining U.S. interests to include fighting radical Islam,
working for Palestinian Arab acceptance of the State of Israel, improving the management of U.S. efforts to promote
constitutional democracy in the Middle East, reducing America's energy dependence on the Middle East, more robustly
asserting U.S. interests vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia, and countering the Iranian threat.
(Article URL: http://www.meforum.org/article/2053)
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
January 22, 2009
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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