A Review of Marked For Death. By Geert Wilders.
Regnery, 2012.
You have to be a rather unique individual to have been living under 24/7 police security and safe housing for ten years running: either very evil or very wonderful. His foes – which are many – see him as pure evil, but his many supporters see him as a hero – a champion of free speech, and a valiant defender of the West against a relentless Islamic assault.
I take the latter view, and the reason for his decade-long effective imprisonment is his willingness to speak out against Islam. This means you are targeted, you are hated, and you will be killed. Wilders should know – he has seen two of his fellow Dutchmen already assassinated because of their views on Islam, and another now exiled to America.
Islam is the new communism which is warring against the free West, and unless we stand against it, we will lose everything. That is why Wilders has had to go through all this misery, and that is why he has written this book. He has seen his own nation deteriorate rapidly, and he wants to see it – and the West – freed from the shackles of a seventh century political ideology.
And that is what Islam really is: “I am talking about the ideology of Islam, not about individual Muslim people. There are many moderate Muslims, but that does not change the fact that the political ideology of Islam is not moderate – it is a totalitarian cult with global ambitions. We should not treat Islam more leniently than other political ideologies like communism and fascism just because it claims to be a religion. We must treat Islam as we do every other despotic creed that calls for the submission of those who do not adhere to it.”
Despite the left’s portrayal of the Dutch politician and freedom fighter as a firebrand maverick and redneck, one certainly does not get that impression reading this important book. It is an intelligent, calm, well-argued and thoughtfully written volume, buttressed by over 700 endnotes.
Wilders is not an outside observer of what Islam actually does to a Western nation: he has experienced it firsthand. For example, during his 20 years living in a borough of Utrecht he saw it transformed from a peaceful, law-abiding and clean community to a much different place.
“As Islam exploded, crime spread throughout the district – cars were vandalized, people were robbed, and eventually Dutch women no longer felt safe in the streets. Marxists claim poverty causes crime, but I noticed the opposite: crime reduced the area to poverty. . . . As lawlessness spread, Dutch residents began moving out and Dutch shops closed down.” And that has been repeated throughout Europe and the UK.
Mass migrations of Muslims, a failed policy of multiculturalism, and naive appeasement policies by the Westerners have resulted in huge and growing problems. And this has not happened by accident: the goal of Islam is the establishment of a universal Caliphate, with everyone submitting to sharia law.
The Islamic doctrine of immigration is a political strategy of taking a nation over from within. The first step is to establish a mosque as a beachhead. While we may see these as mere religious symbols, Muslims see them differently: as the beginning steps of taking over the kafirs’ (unbelievers’) lands.
He quotes Turkey’s prime minister: “The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers”. Muslim immigration, following the example of the Prophet, is the mandatory means by which a non-Muslim culture can be captured. It stops only after total submission. As Muhammad said, “There is no Hijra [migration] after the Conquest”.
Europe now has well over 10,000 mosques, and in many European cities entire areas are no-go zones for non-Muslims – including police and fire personnel. While gullible Westerners are basically welcoming these ominous developments with open arms – and closed eyes and minds – it is all one-way traffic of course.
As Mark Steyn explains in his brilliant foreword to this book: “Imagine it the other way around. Rotterdam has a Muslim mayor, a Morocan passport holder born the son of a Berber imam. How would Saudi Arabia feel about an Italian Catholic mayor in Riyadh? The Jordanians about an American Jewish mayor in Zarqa? Would the citizens of Cairo and Kabul agree to become minorities in their own hometowns simply because broaching the subject would be too complex?”
Or as Wilders puts it, “Today, for the third time in history, Islam is waging an offensive to conquer Europe. For the first time, however, it is threatening the continent from within. The doctrine of immigration is Islam’s Trojan horse, paving the way for jihad. From the inside, Islam is now eating its way out while many Westerners look on helplessly.”
In this fine book Wilders weaves scenarios about contemporary Islamic usurpation of the West with historical and religious discussion concerning the rise of Islam, its bloody history of conquest, its antipathy to human rights, freedom and democracy, its abhorrent treatment of women, and its utter contempt of all non-Islamic faiths.
Thus he provides a solid and very helpful overview of what Islam is, what it believes, what it has done, and where it is headed, and combines that with the grim situation we find in the West today. He very carefully makes the case for the very real war we are in – a war which will be fought to the death, with only one victor, and one loser.
But he offers hope – his own story is a story of how just one person, or a small group of individuals, can turn things around. Partly through his own political party, the Party for Freedom, he has managed to radically turn around the nation of Holland. It’s basically open-slather policies of immigration, multiculturalism and uncritical “tolerance” which caused tremendous harm have been largely abandoned.
Just recently Holland, like Germany and some other nations which have finally wised up, has ditched its bankrupt and dangerous policies, and radically tightened up, mostly due to Wilders’ efforts. “Indicative of its new outlook, in July 2011, the Dutch government did something that no other nation has dared to do – it denounced the Organization of Islamic Unity (OIC), the tyrannical organization of fifty-seven Islamic countries, most of them barbaric dictatorships, that tries to bully Western nations into submitting to Islam’s diktats.”
It also built a stronger relationship with Israel; boycotted the anti-Semitic Durban III conference; banned public uses of the burka; toughened up naturalisation requirements; and in general took steps to resist the slow but steady Islamisation of Holland. The result: “Those who settle in the Netherlands are now obliged to integrate. … Immigrants must benefit the Netherlands, not the other way around.”
Of course Wilders has paid a great price for all this. The death threats and non-stop police protection is a part of this. Then he had to go through a two-year trial in his own country for “hate speech” – but that was finally dismissed. As Mark Steyn said, “In twenty-first-century Amsterdam, you’re free to smoke marijuana and pick up a half-naked sex partner from the front window of her shop. But you can be put on trial for holding the wrong opinion about a bloke who died in the seventh century.”
He concludes with some steps to preserve our freedoms and resist the spread of radical Islam:
-Defend freedom of speech (and repeal all hate speech laws)
-Reject all forms of cultural relativism
-Stop the Islamisation of the West
-Cherish our national identity.
The rationale is this: “We have to stop pretending that Islam is merely a religion – it is primarily a totalitarian ideology that aims to conquer the West. A free society should not grant freedom to those who want to destroy it.” He finishes his invaluable volume with these words:
“If we do not oppose Islamization, we will lose everything: our freedom, our identity, our democracy, our rule of law, and all our liberties. It is our duty to defend the legacy of Rome, Athens, and Jerusalem.”
Near the end of the book he cites the assassinated US President, William McKinley: “That’s all a man can hope for during his lifetime – to set an example – and when he is dead, to be an inspiration for history.” Wilders has certainly been both an example and an inspiration – and so far he is still alive to continue in his important work.
May he long live, and may his book sell extremely well.
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I’m Dutch, and I must say that I support Wilders’ view on Islam and muslims in Holland; however, I wonder what would have happened if Wilders got further than he got now. What if, in the future, restrictions on other aspects of Islam would be forbidden or fined? I while back he tried to install the “kopvoddentax” (head-rag tax); a tax people who wear kerchiefs on their heads (= muslima’s ) would be obligated to pay.
Now what if that had happened; what would have stopped atheïsts from claiming: “wearing a cross around your neck in public areas is a display of ones religion, a religion that’s offensive to women and gay people that is! It should be prohibited or fined!”?
In other words: any aspect of the fight against Islam could just as easily be used against Christianity. Any thoughts on this?
Ruben Baan
Thanks Ruben
Yes that is happening. In France for example the ban on the public wearing or use of religious symbols means not just the burka is banned, but crosses on the walls of public schools as well. So there can be a danger here of going too far in either direction. Attack on some religious freedoms can be an attack on all religious freedoms.
However, having said that, I think there is a proper distinction to be made between allowing, say, a person to wear a cross around her neck, and banning – for public security reasons – full Islamic coverings. And banks, stores, airports and plenty of other places should have the right to see a customer’s full face.
So it depends on what is being proposed, and how far one goes I guess. But some such bans seem appropriate, while not all may be.
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
A good clear review of a book that tells the truth about Islam and its aim to subjugate the West – the truth that deadly fantasies about Islam are blinding most in the West to. We know, of course, that those fantasies are promoted by the dominant political class whose own fantastical ideology is killing Western Civilization from the other direction.
Gerard Wilson
Yes quite right Gerard
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Dear Bill, One obvious reason why Islam has a strong presence is because many Europeans have lost their faith in Jesus and their sense of Christian heritage. In the early 20th century Hilaire Belloc wrote a book “The Faith and Europe”. He said among other things, the Faith (Christian) is Europe and Europe is the Faith. He would be doing gymnastics in his grave today.
Regards, Franklin Wood
Yes quite so Franklin.
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
I think Stalin came up with a term for such people who openly allow such policies to go ahead, Useful idiots. Plain and simple we can see what is happening and yet here we have a stupid policy of an open border, letting in anyone who claims asylum, without any proof of it.
Ian Nairn
There are a number of things we can do right now. Change the meme – that islam is a “religion”. For a start, don’t directly refer to the adherents of the islamic ideology as muslims, call them adherents. You may want to add ‘commonly known as muslims’. You can ask the question ‘why are you fluffing the skirts of religion around the islamic political ideology that is based on apartheid, with human chattel slavery as a valid economic activity, and women are regarded as breeding and fornicating beasts in a man’s personal bordello. Use the example of political islam – Saudi Arabia and Iran which are directly based on the islamic trilogy; also “secular” muslim majority countries where the “secular” laws are subject to shariah, for example Indonesia, Malaysia. Direct the conversation away from religion to where the problem is. I’ve conducted successful debates in comments on blogs using this tactic and the lefty darlings are thwarted at every turn. They have no come back, because my argument is based on truth backed up by the facts. Don’t get bogged down in a religious debate, tell them to go to an apologist website for that – the issue is political. As we do this, others also see the merit of this method and use it too – that way it will spread.
Christine Elkins
Yes quite so Chrissie – good stuff.
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Informed intelligent people living in a democracy should be able to collate and present sufficient evidence from recent global history and current events to make a substantive case to improve our laws in order to protect us from the ideological deceit that is said to be Islam.
The Federal Government appears to be addressing “forced marriages” [sic] and Islamic inheritance laws that disenfranchise females. Yet ABC TV recently interviewed a number of Islamic divorce cases in progress that evidenced that Sharia law will be exercised no matter the laws of the host country.
Their boldness is backed by brutality as evidenced by the death of Theo Van Gough on the streets on Holland and the disenfranchising of a democratically elected Dutch parliamentarian who dared to expose suffering of women under Islam and who when in Australia at a writers festival needed body guards. This is Hirshi Ali, former muslim.
Are those who are strongly advocating that multiculturalism extend unqualified to Islam not reading the Qur’an? Are they uninformed of Islamic cultural, judicial and political fruits in modern Europe and their homeland nation states?
Why did Author and journalist Robert Spencer come to Australia secretively? He, along with many others, has provided substantial evidence and exposed Islam as a dictatorial and deceptive ideology.
And yet we dither and appease. Where are the resources that will give birth to the countervailing power in Australia?
Ray Robinson
Yes Ray the info is there, and the truth is readily available. We need to make use of it and start getting involved in these issues while we still have the freedom to do so.
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
One of the reasons why Islam has such an influence everywhere is their worship. Though their worship is to a cruel god, it is a sacrificial worship of time, obedience/submission. It feeds their “god” and the result is a “blessing” of conquering power. If only we, who belong to Christ would know how to worship in spirit and in truth (for such the Father SEEKS to worship Him), we would and should see the reality of “being more than conquerors”. But so many Christians have no time for the Lord. They only want to be saved.
I admire Geert Wilders and I admire you Bill. I may not be able to debate properly but I share copies of your and other good leaders exhortations. And I can pray.
You are needed!!
Evangeline.
Hi Bill,
Just a quick comment on Ruben Baan’s comment on the “kopvoddentax”. I have it on fairly good authority that this head gear for women is not really a religeous symbol. According to a Bangladeshi friend many women who wear this gear in western countries don’t wear it in their own country. According to Patrick Sookdeo of the Barnabas Fund, Islamic doctrine does not prescribe it, but is pushed by the imams for the sake of visibility, which is part of the strategy of dominance. He says that when you have a cup of coffee in a shopping mall and look around you cannot see who are Christian women, but you can see who are Muslim women. That is the aim. Whether it is a good idea to tax it, I don’t know. What I do know is that “Marked for Death” is an amazing book and I admire Geert Wilders. If I were still Dutch I would vote for him.
Joost Gemeren
Aha! moment. Of course, socialist lefties think that all problems are external and caused by a lack of wealth (which is locked up in the hands of those greedy capitalists).
But really, the problem is internal – crimes (basically greed and covertousness from within) reduce an area from economic balance or even surplus, to an economic war zone.
John Angelico
Having just read ‘The Closing of the Muslim Mind by Robert Reilly, Wilders’ book is next on my list. Our ‘elite’ are ignorant of the assault on reason in Muslim theological schools in the ninth Christian century. This assault successfully put an end to the use of reason in Islam, which is why reason cannot be used in talking to Muslims today, either scientifically, morally or religiously. For Islam to become a religion of peace it will have to undo nearly 1,000 years of totalitarian mind control. Only the arbitrary Will of Allah counts. It is pure Nietzsche.
Alan Williams
Perhaps there would be a change if we all prayed that EVERYONE would come to know that Jesus is the Way the Truth and the Light. God asks us to love and if we love surely we would pray for each other? We Christians don’t pray enough or there would be changes in our politics, religions and in ourselves.
Lorraine Twentyman
Speaking of “moderate Muslims” is like speaking of moderate communists or fascists. We have been lulled into a false sense of security. Of course the burqa should be banned. And not Bill, so much for “public security reasons”, but because it’s a symbol of a culture which is completely at odds with Australia’s (or the West’s) Christian values. Wearers of the burqa are making a political statement. Wearers of a cross are usually making a personal statement. They in no way equate.
But I fear it’s too late. We have allowed Muslims to come here and we have not expected them to assimilate. What we have welcomed to our shores is the modern day equivalent of the Trojan horse.
John Bradford
Hi Bill, the spread of Islam is pushed by so called progressive churches e.g., the Uniting Church has an official policy of not converting Moslems.
Stan Fishley
I am reading one book and have another six to read after that, two of which are ‘Why We Want To Kill You by Walid Shoebat & The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades). I will defiantly be getting this book next.
Carl Strehlow
Glad to keep you busy and off the streets Carl!
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Bill, Think back to the IYF +10 Conference held in Doha and of Mahathir’s (former PM of Malaysia) comments on the Islamic women dressed in Kijaab. He stated then that this dress code (Kijaab) had nothing to do with the Quran.
Anyone who wants information on this only needs to go to Google and type in “dress code for Muslim women”. Makes interesting reading!!!!
Madge Fahy