Geert Wilders continues to be in trouble with the politically correct crowd. Big trouble. Muslims and illiberal liberals of Europe want to make an example of him.
         Who is Geert Wilders? He is a flamboyant-looking statesman from the Netherlands. He is a Member of their Parliament. He is the founder of an upstart political party in that country (Freedom Party), which is less than four years old and yet is on its way to becoming the leading party of the Netherlands. He is likely the future Prime Minister of Holland.
He is also a potential prisoner.
         Geert Wilders is also a courageous man who is warning the West about the Islamization of the same and the freedoms lost in its wake.
         In 2008, Geert Wilders made an Internet movie about radical Islam, called Fitna (Arabic for upheaval, chaos), and for that he is on trial in his own country for allegedly violating hate crimes laws. The European Union also wants him tried for hate crimes. The country of Jordan wants to extradite him to have him stand trial there. This is not to mention all the death threats against him.
        Mohammed Rabbae of the National Council for Moroccans said of Wilders, "He divides, he creates hate, he creates conflicts between people. Some people can't accept this. Other people can."
         His short film simply makes the point that the Jihadists---who attacked on 9/11, at the Madrid train bombing, in London in 2005, etc.---did what they did because they were obeying what the Qu’ran tells them to do. That’s the essence of his film. Ideas have consequences. Tell the faithful followers of Allah that they should slay the infidel wherever you find them (Surah 9:29 from the Qu’ran), and 9/11 happens. That’s the point Wilders makes in his movie.
         Of course, most Muslims, including Qu’ran-readers, do not engage in these Jihadist activities. Wilders admits as much. But those who do get their inspiration from the book, which he calls a "fascist" book, and which he thinks should be banned.
         I sat down in early 2009 and had a television interview with Geert Wilders about all the controversy. (He had multiple body guards.)
         I asked him why he made the movie. He answered: "I’ve nothing against Muslims, but I fear the Islamization of our societies."
         Many demographers have noted the increase in the Islamic population in many nations of Europe. Some are predicting that, if the present trends continue, Europe will be Islamic in about one or two generations.
         Geert Wilders is warning about this. He said, "Libyan leader, Moammar Ghadafi, said not so long ago that, we have 50 million Muslims in Europe. We don’t need one gun; we don’t need one bullet; we will rule this continent in 10, 20, 30 years time, by the Al-Hijra [Arabic for the notion of conquest via immigration]. Europe will be ours, in the near future." So says Ghadafi.
         Not if I can help it, says Geert Wilders, who has been accused of being xenophobic and even opposed to Muslim immigrants. What he actually says is that they are welcome in the West, provided they don’t want to kill us and take away our freedoms. If they accommodate themselves, like other immigrants, fine. But if they have designs to practice their violence so as to impose their religion, that’s not fine.
         Wilders notes that Muslim men in Europe are overrepresented when it comes to committing crimes. He cites the case of Copenhagen, where about 70% of the crimes are committed by Muslim men (a slight minority compared to the total population).
         Wilders has little respect for those European leaders who are constantly caving in to Muslim demands. He notes, "we are, unfortunately, led by appeasers. We have no Churchills anymore in Europe, just a lot of Chamberlains, politicians who are looking in the other direction, singing Kumbaya, all year long."
        Wilders is paying a high price to make such politically incorrect warnings to the West. Since October 2004 when he started speaking out about the issue, he and his wife have had to have 24-hour armed protection for him everywhere he goes. He is in prison every night or army barracks or some sort of safe house. (Often different places in different nights, so as to avoid assassination). He told me in reference to this lifestyle: "it’s something you don’t wish your worst enemy, but still, if you have a mission…I always say that if I would moderate my voice, or if I would go out of politics and do something else, then, the people who use non-democratic means, that use violence, that threaten violence, they would win, and I will never let them win….If you don’t like what I’m saying, go and do a debate.  If you don’t like my movie, make your own movie….But never use violence."
         Geert Wilders’ trial began on Monday (10/4/10), and he sent a message on Twitter, that he was having a "terrible day." While he can’t go to jail any more than he’s already in jail (in one sense), there can be a dangerous precedent set, should he lose his case. Speak out against radical Islam, and you will be punished.
        The moral of the story? Watch Geert Wilders and what happens to him. He is the proverbial canary in the coal mine. I believe he is fighting the West’s battle for freedom. If he loses, freedom loses.