Friday, March 05, 2010

Geert Wilders’ Speech in the House of Lords

Below is the text of the speech given by Geert Wilders today in the House of Lords. Many thanks to the PVV for sending it:

Speech House of Lords, London, Friday the 5th of March 2010

Thank you. It is great to be back in London. And it is great that this time, I got to see more of this wonderful city than just the detention centre at Heathrow Airport.

Today I stand before you, in this extraordinary place. Indeed, this is a sacred place. This is, as Malcolm always says, the mother of all Parliaments, I am deeply humbled to have the opportunity to speak before you.

Thank you Lord Pearson and Lady Cox for your invitation and showing my film Fitna. Thank you my friends for inviting me.

I first have great news. Last Wednesday city council elections were held in the Netherlands. And for the first time my party, the Freedom Party, took part in these local elections. We participated in two cities. In Almere, one of the largest Dutch cities. And in The Hague, the third largest city; home of the government, the parliament and the queen. And, we did great! In one fell swoop my party became the largest party in Almere and the second largest party in The Hague. Great news for the Freedom Party and even better news for the people of these two beautiful cities.

And I have more good news. Two weeks ago the Dutch government collapsed. In June we will have parliamentary elections. And the future for the Freedom Party looks great. According to some polls we will become the largest party in the Netherlands. I want to be modest, but who knows, I might even be Prime Minister in a few months time!

Ladies and gentlemen, not far from here stands a statue of the greatest Prime Minister your country ever had. And I would like to quote him here today: “Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. No stronger retrograde force exists in the World. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step (…) the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome.” These words are from none other than Winston Churchill wrote this in his book ‘The River War’ from 1899.

Churchill was right.

Ladies and gentlemen, I don’t have a problem and my party does not have a problem with Muslims as such. There are many moderate Muslims. The majority of Muslims are law-abiding citizens and want to live a peaceful life as you and I do. I know that. That is why I always make a clear distinction between the people, the Muslims, and the ideology, between Islam and Muslims. There are many moderate Muslims, but there is no such thing as a moderate Islam.
- - - - - - - - -
Islam strives for world domination. The Quran commands Muslims to exercise jihad. The Quran commands Muslims to establish shariah law. The Quran commands Muslims to impose Islam on the entire world.

As former Turkish Prime Minister Erbakan said: “The whole of Europe will become Islamic. We will conquer Rome”. End of quote.

Libyan dictator Gaddafi said: “There are tens of millions of Muslims in the European continent today and their number is on the increase. This is the clear indication that the European continent will be converted into Islam. Europe will one day soon be a Muslim continent”. End of quote. Indeed, for once in his life, Gaddafi was telling the truth. Because, remember: mass immigration and demographics is destiny!

Islam is merely not a religion, it is mainly a totalitarian ideology. Islam wants to dominate all aspects of life, from the cradle to the grave. Shariah law is a law that controls every detail of life in a Islamic society. >From civic- and family law to criminal law. It determines how one should eat, dress and even use the toilet. Oppression of women is good, drinking alcohol is bad.

I believe that Islam is not compatible with our Western way of life. Islam is a threat to Western values. The equality of men and women, the equality of homosexuals and heterosexuals, the separation of church and state, freedom of speech, they are all under pressure because of islamization. Ladies and gentlemen: Islam and freedom, Islam and democracy are not compatible. It are opposite values.

No wonder that Winston Churchill called Adolf Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’ “the new Quran of faith and war, turgid, verbose, shapeless, bur pregnant with its message”. As you know, Churchill made this comparison, between the Koran and Mein Kampf, in his book ‘The Second World War’, a master piece, for which, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature. Churchill’s comparison of the Quran and ‘Mein Kampf’ is absolutely spot on. The core of the Quran is the call to jihad. Jihad means a lot of things and is Arabic for battle. Kampf is German for battle. Jihad and kampf mean exactly the same.

Islam means submission, there cannot be any mistake about its goal. That’s a given. The question is whether we in Europe and you in Britain, with your glorious past, will submit or stand firm for your heritage.

We see Islam taking off in the West at an incredible pace. Europe is Islamizing rapidly. A lot of European cities have enormous Islamic concentrations. Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels and Berlin are just a few examples. In some parts of these cities, Islamic regulations are already being enforced. Women’s rights are being destroyed. Burqa’s, headscarves, polygamy, female genital mutilation, honour-killings. Women have to go to separate swimming-classes, don’t get a handshake. In many European cities there is already apartheid. Jews, in an increasing number, are leaving Europe.

As you undoubtedly all know, better then I do, also in your country the mass immigration and islamization has rapidly increased. This has put an enormous pressure on your British society. Look what is happening in for example Birmingham, Leeds, Bradford and here in London. British politicians who have forgotten about Winston Churchill have now taken the path of least resistance. They have given up. They have given in.

Last year, my party has requested the Dutch government to make a cost-benefit analysis of the mass immigration. But the government refused to give us an answer. Why? Because it is afraid of the truth. The signs are not good. A Dutch weekly magazine - Elsevier - calculated costs to exceed 200 billion Euros. Last year alone, they came with an amount of 13 billion Euros. More calculations have been made in Europe: According to the Danish national bank, every Danish immigrant from an Islamic country is costing the Danish state more than 300 thousand Euros. You see the same in Norway and France. The conclusion that can be drawn from this: Europe is getting more impoverished by the day. More impoverished thanks to mass immigration. More impoverished thanks to demographics. And the leftists are thrilled.

I don’t know whether it is true, but in several British newspapers I read that Labour opened the door to mass immigration in a deliberate policy to change the social structures of the UK. Andrew Neather, a former government advisor and speech writer for Tony Blair and Jack Straw, said the aim of Labour’s immigration strategy was, and I quote, to “rub the Right’s nose in diversity and render their arguments out of date”. If this is true, this is symptomatic of the Left.

Ladies and gentlemen, make no mistake: The left is facilitating islamization. Leftists, liberals, are cheering for every new shariah bank being created, for every new shariah mortgage, for every new islamic school, for every new shariah court. Leftists consider Islam as being equal to our own culture. Shariah law or democracy? Islam or freedom? It doesn’t really matter to them. But it does matter to us. The entire leftist elite is guilty of practising cultural relativism. Universities, churches, trade unions, the media, politicians. They are all betraying our hard-won liberties.

Why I ask myself, why have the Leftists and liberals stopped to fight for them? Once the Leftists stood on the barricades for women’s rights. But where are they today? Where are they in 2010? They are looking the other way. Because they are addicted to cultural relativism and dependent on the Muslim vote. They are dependent on mass-immigration.

Thank heavens Jacqui Smith isn’t in office anymore. It was a victory for free speech that a UK judge brushed aside her decision to refuse me entry to your country last year. I hope that the judges in my home country are at least as wise and will acquit me of all charges, later this year in the Netherlands.

Unfortunately, so far they have not done so well. For they do not want to hear the truth about Islam, nor are they interested to hear the opinion of top class legal experts in the field of freedom of expression. Last month in a preliminary session the Court refused fifteen of the eighteen expert-witnesses I had requested to be summoned.

Only three expert witnesses are allowed to be heard. Fortunately, my dear friend and heroic American psychiatrist dr. Wafa Sultan is one of them. But their testimony will be heard behind closed doors. Apparently the truth about Islam must not be told in public, the truth about Islam must remain secret.

Ladies and gentlemen, I’m being prosecuted for my political beliefs. We know political prosecution to exist in countries in the Middle East, like Iran and Saudi-Arabia, but never in Europe, never in the Netherlands.

I’m being prosecuted for comparing the Quran to ‘Mein Kampf’. Ridiculous. I wonder if Britain will ever put the beliefs of Winston Churchill on trial… Ladies and gentlemen, the political trial that is held against me has to stop.

But it is not all about me, not about Geert Wilders. Free speech is under attack. Let me give you a few other examples. As you perhaps know, one of my heroes, the Italian author Oriana Fallaci had to live in fear of extradition to Switzerland because of her anti-Islam book ‘The Rage and the Pride’. The Dutch cartoonist Nekschot was arrested in his home in Amsterdam by 10 police men because of his anti-Islam drawings. Here in Britain, the American author Rachel Ehrenfeld was sued by a Saudi businessman for defamation. In the Netherlands Ayaan Hirsi Ali and in Australia two Christian pastors were sued. I could go on and on. Ladies and gentlemen, all throughout the West freedom loving people are facing this ongoing ‘legal jihad’. This is Islamic ‘lawfare’. And, ladies and gentlemen, not long ago the Danish cartoonist Westergaard was almost assassinated for his cartoons.

Ladies and gentlemen, we should defend the right to freedom of speech. With all our strength. With all our might. Free speech is the most important of our many liberties. Free speech is the cornerstone of our modern societies. Freedom of speech is the breath of our democracy, without freedom of speech our way of life our freedom will be gone.

I believe it is our obligation to preserve the inheritance of the brave young soldiers that stormed the beaches of Normandy. That liberated Europe from tyranny. These heroes cannot have died for nothing. It is our obligation to defend freedom of speech. As George Orwell said: “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear”.

Ladies and gentlemen, I believe in another policy, it is time for change. We must make haste. We can’t wait any longer. Time is running out. If I may quote one of my favourite American presidents: Ronald Reagan once said: “We need to act today, to preserve tomorrow”. That is why I propose the following measures, I only mention a few, in order to preserve our freedom:

First, we will have to defend freedom of speech. It is the most important of our liberties. In Europe and certainly in the Netherlands, we need something like the American First Amendment.

Second, we will have to end and get rid of cultural relativism. To the cultural relativists, the shariah socialists, I proudly say: Our Western culture is far superior to the Islamic culture. Don’t be affraid to say it. You are not a racist when you say that our own culture is better.

Third, we will have to stop mass immigration from Islamic countries. Because more Islam means less freedom.

Fourth, we will have to expel criminal immigrants and, following denaturalisation, we will have to expel criminals with a dual nationality. And there are many of them in my country.

Fifth, we will have to forbid the construction of new mosques. There is enough Islam in Europe. Especially since Christians in Turkey, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Indonesia are mistreated, there should be a mosque building-stop in the West.

And last but not least, we will have to get rid of all those so-called leaders. I said it before: Fewer Chamberlains, more Churchills. Let’s elect real leaders.

Ladies and gentlemen. To the previous generation, that of my parents, the word ‘London’ is synonymous with hope and freedom. When my country was occupied by the national-socialists the BBC offered a daily glimpse of hope in my country, in the darkness of Nazi tyranny. Millions of my fellow country men listened to it, underground. The words ‘This is London’ were a symbol for a better world coming soon.

What will be broadcasted forty years from now? Will it still be “This is London”? Or will it be “This is Londonistan”? Will it bring us hope? Or will it signal the values of Mecca and Medina? Will Britain offer submission or perseverance? Freedom or slavery? The choice is yours. And in the Netherlands the choice is ours.

Ladies and gentlemen, we will never apologize for being free. We will and should never give in. And, indeed, as one of your former leaders said: We will never surrender.

Freedom must prevail, and freedom will prevail.

Thank you very much.

23 comments:

costin said...

off topic. Baron, there is a problem with the archive, i think. I cannot see all the posts from march when i go here: http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2010_03_01_archive.html

the same for february

Baron Bodissey said...

Costin --

Yes, it does the same when I try it. Presumably it's the same wonderful new feature that truncates the main page, "automated pagination".

I must learn how to insert the "next post" and "previous post" into the template. It's the only solution I can think of.

Anonymous said...

"Ladies and gentlemen, we will never apologize for being free. We will and should never give in. And, indeed, as one of your former leaders said: We will never surrender."

Now, that's the spirit!

Thank god for this man; Mr. Geert Wilders.

Dreadnaught said...

Wilders is a brave man and I am glad his party is doing well in the locals. The BBC grudgingly gave his presence in the UK the briefest of mentions on today's news.

I hope he goes from strength to strength Europe needs him, the UK needs him. You don't have to agree with all of his policies, that's for the Dutch to decide.

He is, if nothing else, like a latter day Churchill, a man for the hour.

Zenster said...

Ladies and gentlemen, not far from here stands a statue of the greatest Prime Minister your country ever had. And I would like to quote him here today: “Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. No stronger retrograde force exists in the World ... Churchill was right.

Gah! Now the Brits need to have Churchill quoted to them and by a foreigner no less. Can things get any worse? (Don't answer that.)

There are many moderate Muslims, but there is no such thing as a moderate Islam.

A very important distinction to make. However much I understand the political expedience that obliges Wilders to distinguish between Muslims and Islam, one still has to wonder about how badly this will turn out downstream when "moderate" Muslims are found to be MINOs (Muslims In Name Only), and that all genuinely practicing Muslims are finally determined to be the threat that they always have been.

In chemical terms, this is like a catalytic trigger that is the only way of initiating a subsequent and desirable reaction of greater importance but one where the instability of its eventual product poses a much larger hazard. Think nitroglycerine ...

Downplaying the significance of "moderate" Muslims may palliate the onerous task of passing restrictions on immigration and facilitating denaturalization but it inadvertantly conceals a looming crisis of dealing with the ummah at large.

Aside from that not-so-minor detail, Wilders' speech in Parliament was as rousing and stirring a bit of oratory as one could ever hope for in this age of Moral and Cultural Relativism. His repeated citing of Winston Churchill resonates with the most basic of British values and norms.

Let us all hope that his words will not have been in vain and that they will galvanize whatever domestic resistance there is to the massive infection of Islam that Britain's liberal politicians have so treasonously instigated.

Unknown said...

A bit off topic, but leading polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza published an interview with someone called Alfred Pijpers.
Is it this guy?: http://www.clingendael.nl/staff/?id=60

He stated following openly:

Poza tym w Hadze panuje powszechne przekonanie, że za kilka lat jego partia zniknie, tak jak znikały poprzednie populistyczne ugrupowania, np. partia Pima Fortuyna [zamordowanego w 2002 roku]. Po tamtych doświadczeniach wiemy, jak sobie radzić z populistami.

Which means:

Anyway it is broadly recognized here in Hague, that his party (Geert Wilders') will disappear in few years. Exactly as preavious populist parties have disappeared. For example party of Pim Fortuyn [ murdered in 2002 A.D.]. After this experiences we know how to tackle populists.

Arius said...

This Alfred Pijpers blockhead should stop and think of the consequences of an establishment that makes subtle comments about killing the opposition. It is only a matter of time before their opposition will do the same to them.

Unknown said...

In the midst of all the positive reaction to Wilders' speech, I can only say that I feel ashamed to be dutch when I read it.
Sure, the man knows how to giftwrap his ideology.

But this is the same man who has suggested that young muslims should be shot in the knee if they misbehave. This is the same man who wants to get rid of the dutch First Amendment (which prohibits discrimination) as soon as he is part of the government. This is the man who runs his political movement as a totalitary leader. His movement is NOT a party, to make sure nobody can get in his way.

This is a dangerous man. History has shown us what happens if these kind of men are allowed to lead.

crystalclear said...

Incidentally, Geert Wilders should be allowed to have as witness the son of Sheikh Hassan Youssef, one of Hamas founders. In his interview aired yesterday on CNN and Fox channels (http://www.shoebat.com/videos/sonHamas.php) speaking about his book just released 'Son of Hamas' -where he reveals to have been a double agent for ten years, spying for Israel- Mosab Hassan Youssef says exactly the same words as Wilders : there is no moderate Islam -addíng that there can be no moderate Muslims either, because violence comes from the Qran, therefore no TRUE Muslim can renounce violence. In his own words: 'the Qran is the terrorist'
(and Israel is just defending itself). He's a Christian now.

Unknown said...

@ j
Thank you very much for your tip and translation! It has been passed on to the Dutch blog Het Vrije Volk (and just been published there).

christian soldier said...

I have an idea - to wake up the Socialist Europeans -
Let them feed their multi -mouthed Muslim population and maintain their own military at the same time!! using their OWN $$$ --We bring our BEST home from all European countries - thus saving our $$$...
In other words-let the socialist - anti-US Eutros defend themselves...

and --Good on Wilders!!!Brave man!
C-CS

Profitsbeard said...

Those who hate Wilders hate freedom of thought.

Those who fear him. fear losing power.

And these fearful hateful folks tend to turn the patented, all-purpose tool~ "DEMONIZE"~ to try to paint this defender of Western Civilization as what Islam's true believers actually are:

tyrannical, intolerant and violent.


It won't flush.

People recognize the motive for trying to silence him.

And for trotting out the same-old hysterical slanders:

To deflect attention from Islam, and its totalitairan aims.

GO GEERT!

Anonymous said...

To "A said" above: As a Westerner, am I supposed to be more afraid of Geert Wilders or the 20% of the world's population who believe that Islam gives Muslims a free pass to convert, rape, rob, enslave, and/or kill all non-human infidels so that Islam can claim its worldwide caliphate?

Just to be clear, have Geert Wilders or his followers blown up any buildings or burned down any churches lately? Beheaded any Christians or Sikhs lately? Gang-raped any girls lately? Shot any gays lately? Molested any kids lately? Enforced any arranged marriages with child brides lately? Arranged any female genital mutilations lately?

Now, what about the Muslims?

So, I guess you can see why we infidels are getting concerned about the spread of Islam?

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

@A

In the midst of all the positive reaction to Wilders' speech, I can only say that I feel ashamed to be dutch when I read it.
Sure, the man knows how to giftwrap his ideology.

But this is the same man who has suggested that young muslims should be shot in the knee if they misbehave.

Well, actually, it was during the footballmatch Holland-Marocco that the Maroccan supportes started to invade the pitch and started rioting. The police decided to stand there and watch.

When asked about it, wilders said that the police must maintain order. If if this means shooting them in the knee-caps.

So its not about shooting misbehaving maroccans per se. Only when they are a threat to public order.

Furthermore, as you by now well know, it is an excisting police quideline, that if there are riots and the riotters refuse to stand down, the police is allowed to shoot them in the knee-caps.

So Wilders didnt think all this up himself. He was referring to the police quidelines, and more importantly, why the police did not follow them!!

anyway....you are deliberately distorting the facts on this one!

"This is the same man who wants to get rid of the dutch First Amendment (which prohibits discrimination) as soon as he is part of the government."

That is because this amandment is abused by the left wing to clamp down on free speech. Maybe its an idea if the loony left stops abusing the law. For then there would be no need to change it.

"This is the man who runs his political movement as a totalitary leader. His movement is NOT a party, to make sure nobody can get in his way."

So what?? The NDSAP (german nazi-party) was a party with members just like the PvdA nowadays. Does that make the PvdA (dutch socialist party) equal to the NDSAP?? Your logic seems flawed!

This is a dangerous man. History has shown us what happens if these kind of men are allowed to lead.

I beg to differ. History shows us, what happens if your kind of people are allowed to lead.

In fact, its people like you who make me ashamed to be dutch!

Anonymous said...

Finally this man has been let into the best room of politics. I hope he can stay on there for a good while in order to convert those scatterbrains who have forgotten about our own cultural heritage.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Baron Bodissey said...

j --

Please don't paste long URLs into the comments; they make the post page too wide and mess up the appearance of the permalink page.

Use link tags; the instructions are at the top of the full post's comment section.

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j said

VH
Here is a link to interview with Alfred Pijpers.

link

Of course the most European party in Holland was called antieuropean, as if European meant being proislamist, against European nation states etc.

Baron Bodissey said...

rebelliousvanilla --

Gates of Vienna's rules about comments require that they be civil, temperate, on-topic, and show decorum. Your comment violated the last of these rules. We keep a PG-13 blog, and exclude foul language, explicit descriptions, and epithets. This is why I deleted your comment.

Use of asterisks is an appropriate alternative.

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rebelliousvanilla said...

A, discrimination is good. If you think it's not, go marry a hooker in a brothel that is ugly as ****. If you don't, you are discriminating against hookers that are ugly. Discrimination is the way people are forced to integrate into a society or people who are harmful to that society are being expelled from it. Discrimination is also natural and healthy for a lot of other reasons that I'm too lazy to explain. The whole non-discrimination claptrap needs to be done away with.

Non-discrimination and making everything relative is the root problem of today's world. I won't even point to the stupidity of Morrocan people being considered Dutch. They're as Dutch as I am Chinese.

Andre (Canada) said...

It is sad to see that this speech can be found nowhere in the mainstream press. The fact that he spoke to the British Parliament was not even reported!
How sad and how cowardly from the press. The don't realize that Wilders is defending their freedom as well. He is defending their freedom to think, to publish and to be free. If Wilders fails, then the papers will eventually have to submit to Sharia law. Demographics make it only a matter of time. It is not a matter of politics any longer. Time is on Islam's side. As the proportion of Muslims in Europe steadily increases, they will eventually be looking for Muslim representation. Eventually, over time, the number of Muslim representatives will increase and laws will be changed. By then, it will be too late to turn back and the die will be cast.

Louie said...

Great speech. Europe definitely needs someone like Geert Wilders. Funny thing is, the British press ignores the fact that Churchill was the first one to publicly state the link between the Quran and Mein Kampf.
Keep the good work!
Scornful_Luigi

Henrik R Clausen said...

This is the same man who wants to get rid of the dutch First Amendment (which prohibits discrimination)

Actually, I believe that discrimination is sane and proper. Another word for it is 'differentiation', the skill to differentiate between useful and useless, proper and crappy, good and bad. This ability to discriminate between what makes sense and what does not is a fundamental of Western civilization. Banning it constitutes treason to same civilization.

As a Capitalist, for instance, one will discriminate between employees who support the company mission and those who do not. That has to do with due dilligence, hard word & loyalty, qualities that have no particular connection to skin colour, but might have to religion.

Socialists usually don't understand this, and historically, they have tended to discriminate on less meaningful properties, not least ethnicity. That cost millions of innocents their lives.

Unknown said...

This should put some perspective on things:

/do-they-even-know-what-islam-is/