Wilders, Political Correctness, and Freedom of Speech

Dutch MP and freedom advocate Geert Wilders is finally coming to Australia. The Australian government did much to block him, and he was thus prevented from coming here last year. But this month he will (hopefully) speak in several Australian cities.

It has been an uphill battle to get him here, and those who have supported him and his right to speak have experienced plenty of PC intolerance and hate along the way. Indeed, all the grief just to get him here and to find a place that will actually allow him to speak publically indicates just how far down the tubes of dhimmitude we have travelled.

The most recent illustration of this is the last minute decision of the Sydney venue to host Wilders to pull out, with no explanation offered. That of course is a real setback, and the organisers must now frantically try to find another venue at real short notice.

A spokesperson for the sponsoring organisation said this about the matter: “The venue we had booked for the Sydney evening event has just walked away from their contract with Q Society. This came after everything was arranged for weeks, the venue knew the speaker and the NSW police had already done their site evaluation. NSW police and AFP were happy with our security arrangements and the venue. Except for a beat-up article in the local paper about the usual rent-a-crowd from the unwashed left fringe and a racist neo-Nazi outfit wanting to exchange pleasantness, everything was quiet…. We find this regrettable and shameful, a clear sign that the capitulation of civil society in Australia is much further advanced than we thought.”

It certainly is regrettable – frightening really. Sydney journalist Paul Sheehan has been following all this and has penned several pieces on this which are worth citing: “Wilders will be accompanied to Australia by five Dutch police officers. He lives under permanent 24-hour security.

“Fear has arrived here before him. On Wednesday, the organiser of the tour, Debbie Robinson, told me yet another venue had cancelled and there had been another act of corporate suppression directed at the tour. ‘This morning the venue in Sydney cancelled. There was a meltdown. The events manager at the venue was screaming. Right now we have no Sydney venue.’

“It was not her only setback. ‘Yesterday PayPal froze the funds in the account that is processing ticket sales. They will not tell me why. All staff keep saying is the account is under review. It’s been like an Orwellian nightmare.’ This follows a refusal by Westpac to allow her to set up a payment system and refusal by more than a dozen venues to host a Wilders event, citing security concerns. The first attempt at a lecture tour last year was cancelled due to visa problems. The then minister for immigration Chris Bowen delayed granting a visa until after the cancellation.”

Dhimmitude is alive and well in this country, and getting worse as time goes on. As Sheehan wrote in an earlier article: “Wilders is opposed to what he calls the Islamification of Europe by a combination of demography, immigration and accommodations by multiculturalism that are not reciprocated by Muslims. Two other Dutch political activists who were similarly critical of Islam were subject to numerous assassination attempts. One was murdered, the other fled to America.

“Debbie Robinson believes the fear she has encountered in Australia merely confirms her reasons for arranging Wilders’ visit: ‘With every refusal I asked why, and was almost always informed that management had concerns about the repercussions. The audience was never the issue. The issue was offending Muslims. Looking at the number of cancellations and refusals it is apparent the Islamic community are not getting their message across about being the religion of peace’.”

It is not just spineless venue operators, but spineless politicians as well. Wilders has called upon Immigration Minister Chris Bowen to meet with him while he is here. As one news item puts it: “Mr Wilders said Chris Bowen, who has described the Dutch MP as an extremist and criticised his writings as offensive and wrong-headed, should meet him to debate his beliefs.

“The founder of the Dutch Freedom Party, Mr Wilders was forced to cancel a speaking tour last October after the decision to grant him a visa was delayed. At the time, Mr Bowen said he had finally decided to allow the visit because to refuse would give Mr Wilders the opportunity to become a cause celebre….

“Speaking to The Weekend Australian at his office in The Hague, he said: ‘I am not going to insult your Minister of Immigration, even though he insulted me. But he is wrong, I am not an extremist. I represent the third biggest party in the Dutch parliament, nearly one million people voted for my party and now we are No 2 in the polls. Perhaps, if he is a real man, he would like to meet with me and discuss the issues publicly or privately, I don’t care’.”

The sad truth is political correctness plus dhimmitude equals the end of freedom in any nation. Australia is not alone in curtailing freedom and democracy to appease the Islamists. Indeed, Wilders knows all about this, having experienced it firsthand in Holland. That is why he wants to come here – to warn us not to go in the direction so much of Europe has.

But for daring to do this he is facing heaps of opposition and resistance. Why are we not surprised?

http://www.qsociety.org.au/
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/fear-doesnt-need-a-visa-and-its-on-tour-already-20130206-2dyki.html
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/free-speech-dogged-by-politics-of-difference-20130120-2d13b.html
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/if-bowen-real-man-hell-call-wilders/story-fn59niix-1226567057340

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30 Replies to “Wilders, Political Correctness, and Freedom of Speech”

  1. Australians are not known for giving in to bullies but they soon will be. Resolve to maintain freedom needs to be stiffened and that means getting organised, understanding the enemies of freedom and fighting back.

    Alan Williams, UK

  2. Bill, Have you seen the several comments on VirtueonLine blog, obviously from Muslims on this article? they are pretty scathing of you. Have a look

    Blessings,
    Brian

  3. Thanks Brian

    You seem to have had the wrong link in your comment, so I offer what I take to be the correct one here (the one you intended): http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=17168#.URN6fvLPURo

    And the above article does not seem to be on their site, but a slightly earlier one is. And yes under it are some hostile comments from some muslims. But that is to be expected of course.

    Thanks again,
    Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch

  4. I thought you might mention the assassination attempt on Lars Hedegaard in Denmark.

    Nina Blondel

  5. This level of capitulation and political correctness is extremely alarming. I agree with Alan, this is not the kind of attitude I expect from Aussies, I would’ve thought a kind of ‘up yours – get over it’ response was more apt to the culture here. Australians are very quickly forgetting what freedom is.

    If you cannot support this man – or anybody else – to say something you completely disagree with, you are not for freedom. And if you are not for freedom, I can only wonder what kind of Australia you want to live in, and I guarantee you that generations to come will not view you kindly.

    It’s times like this the German folk song Die Gedanken sind frei (My thoughts are free) comes to mind. It shouldn’t be getting to the point where people might consider singing it again.

    I’m really staggered this is happening in Australia. We won’t be the ‘lucky country’ for much longer if this continues. Chris Bowen appears to be a weak-spined drivel-spruiking jellyfish who is clearly unqualified and undeserving of his office.

    Mark Rabich

  6. And we always assumed that Australia was the land of a “fair go” where men were proud of being men. Not so it seems. It too has seemingly buckled before the militant gay and Muslim legions.

    But this spectacle of seeing those who speak for truth and civil liberties being literally removed from the public space is growing at breathtaking speed.
    I mention only two such recent occurrences, here in Britain, which just a few years ago would have been inconceivable, though in reality they must represent only the tip of the iceberg.

    The major, London- based, Christian lawyers society, Christian Concern, which, in international courts, defends the rights of those removed from their jobs, being stripped of their professional qualifications, or having their businesses shut down, was itself denied access to the Law Society and the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in Westminster, when at huge cost in terms of money and effort it put on a conference defending marriage as being between one man and one woman.

    http://www.ccfonserver.co.uk/press-release/press-release-law-society-and-qeii2-centre-to-be-taken-to-court-for-cancelling-christi

    If even our Christian lawyers are removed from the public space in order to make way for Pink legislation, we are totally lost.
    http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2008/11/28/comment-gay-judge-reflects-on-thirty-years-as-an-out-lawyer/

    The second incident was the sabotaging of the appearance of Dr Scott Lively who was invited by the the Oxford University Union debating society to come all the way from the USA to take part in a debate on the issues of homosexuality. Having deliberately lured him to come, so as to generate maximum publicity, it seems that they then sabotaged not just one but two appearances.

    http://oblogdeeoblogda.me/2013/01/31/scott-lively-accuses-oxford-union-of-disingenuous-invite-to-use-his-name-to-attract-interest-for-debate/
    http://www.christianvoice.org.uk/index.php/2013jan18lively/

    I could also mention how I was physically assaulted at Bournemouth University, and ignominiously ejected from a lecture hall, last February by a homosexual lecturer, Dr Eric Anderson, and the staff, in front of about 70 sports students, for merely objecting to his obscene language – and how the police afterwards intimidated me and the Crown Prosecution threw out my attempt to present to him a private prosecution, claiming that it was not in the public interest to pursue the case. This is the man that the Crown Prosecution describe d as man of good character, whilst referring to me as homophobe, simply for objecting to his filthy language.

    http://oxfordstudent.com/2011/05/21/lecturer-or-lecherer-at-lgbt-talk/

    Wake up and smell the coffee.

    David Skinner, UK

  7. As so many other commentators I am disgusted and tempted to offer our farm as an open-air venue for Geert Wilders, though probably not very practical as it is 2 hours from Sydney. It looks like we won WW2 in vain as it is all very reminiscent of life under Nazi occupation.
    Joost Gemeren

  8. No-one will ever deny me my God given right to freedom of speech. Prosecute me and I will speak out longer and louder. Incarcerate me and I will be more determined and find other ways to speak out against immorality and evil. The only way men will silence me is to assassinate me, and my innocent blood will speak out against the perpetrators that God’s Judgments may be just against those who proclaim immorality and Sin as being good.
    Leigh Stebbins

  9. I hope Westpac never has the gall to concoct an ad about supporting Australian values.

    This capitulation is not what so many Australians fought and died for.

    Churchill said:
    “If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival.”

    Looks as though Westpac couldn’t give a stuff.

    Edward Moorham

  10. In response to David Skinner’s post, this is appalling news, and shows how both justice and freedom disappear when authorities allow the homosexual reprobates and Muslim agitators free reign, and indeed, give them some kind of favoured status. It is certainly a far cry from the Britain of the Puritans, of Whitefield and the Wesleys, or Queen Victoria and Christian Britain in the C19th. However, I have a couple of questions regarding this post:

    1. Do these developments herald a major and deliberate crackdown targeting Christians and Christian belief in Britain? If so, what measures and programmes are in place in faithful churches to equip Christians for this onslaught? It seems to me that Christians in Britain (and here too!), having enjoyed years – and centuries – of peace under the regime of ‘Christendom’, are quite unprepared for this growing menace, and I fear that many will capitulate; indeed, many have already. I am thoroughly convinced that moaning about it and ringing alarm bells but leaving it there is a dead end. We must face the realities of the situation, and be pro-active in preparing people for persecution. The Bible, after all, has a lot to say about this.

    2. I want to know what the response is of others on this blog? David seems to be talking to the proverbial flies on the wall, for all the (non)response he gets to his various posts. What he has posted above is indeed the trend of things, and if this just disappears down the gurgler I wonder whether that too would be a sign of apathy. What is happening in the UK is surely on its way here!!

    Murray R. Adamthwaite

  11. I wonder how the sleeping church and Australia for that matter will react when violence comes knocking?
    But seriously most church folk are frightened by bold talk, how about a punch to the face?
    By some Muslim extremist.
    So what will they do, run to the police?
    They don’t care or too scared.
    Oh I see just run, but to where?
    God said “I will send them strong delusion”.
    Is this what we’re dealing with here….The deluded?
    Alan Williams said “get organized”.

    Daniel Kempton

  12. It’s infuriating. I am close to moving to the moon. LOL
    Jenna Priest

  13. Thanks guys, and quite right Jenna. Trying to find somewhere on planet earth free of political correctness, dhimmitude and other modern plagues is getting to be more and more difficult.

    Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch

  14. Geert Wilders is on the same night as my life group. I have to weigh up which one is more important to go to.

    Ross McPhee

  15. Thanks Ross

    Yes it is a dilemma. Although I suppose one is a once off, while the other is a regular on going event. So I may (or may not) see you there!

    Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch

  16. This sort of thing has been coming for decades and unfortunately many Christians and other lovers of freedom have been too accommodating towards the anti-discriminative so-called, extreme leftist, freedom-despising, marriage-distorting, controlling people who have got most politicians and journalists and other opinion-leaders by the scruff of the neck.

    I suppose the only sure thing humanly-speaking ( and spiritually too) is a revival or series of revivals where many come into eternal life and Christians see things afresh.

    By Gods’ grace we may yet see the devil confounded in these matters. I would love my grand-children to grow up in a truly free and respectful society.

    David Morrison

  17. “I would love my grand-children to grow up in a truly free and respectful society.” So do we all, David Morrison, so do we all, but this kind of society cost the lives of our parents, grandparents and ancestors, stretching way back. The cost of peace is eternal vigilance. I suppose those living in Israel know something about this.
    Like Josiah being presented with the law and then responding by going and tearing down the idols, or King Xerxes being told by Esther about the imminent destruction of her and her cousin Mordecai by Haman and his allowing her and the Jews to destroy their enemies, so we must remind people of the Magna Carta that laid the foundations for all human rights and the American Constitution and then to strip away the mask of the Marxist LGBTs who are determined to do nothing less than to destroy marriage, our families and the nation.
    A war as every bit as real as that prosecuted by Hitler on the free world has been declared by the Marxist, using as the weapon of choice, out proud homosexuals and their pushing of sexual depravity and corruption. As Dr Scott Lively says in Redeeming the Rainbow,
    “Why have we identified sexual license as the “gay” ethic, when its most destructive aspects seem to be associated with heterosexual behavior? It is because the culpability of “gays” relative to the spreading effects of sexual license in society is akin to that which we assign to drug pushers, even though it is the addicts themselves who destroy their own communities through criminal behavior.”
    This will require exposing the depravity, hatred and promotion of paedophilia by groups like Stonewall and all the other LGBT rights groups, who having skilfully taken on a cloak of respectability, speaking in soft, temperate, decent and balanced tones, incite and organise others to do their work of spreading AIDs , HIV and a host of other sexually transmitted misery. Collecting such evidence is not at all difficult. The problem is getting folk of finer sensibility who don’t want to be accused of being nasty or impolite, to point the finger, just as Jesus Christ did to the Pharisees, John the Baptist did to Herod, Paul and the disciples did to the enemies of the Cross and Churchill did Nazi sympathiser.
    No more Mr nice – guy. Be gone!
    Scott Lively has reminded us of the fact that the 800 hundredth anniversary of the Magna Carta is coming up in 2015. This document had a tremendous and far reaching influence in founding freedom of conscience and religion in Western civilisation. Like King Josiah being presented the law, we need open up this document and see just how much we have come in putting ourselves under the bondage of both Islam and homosexuality.
    John Cooke who was the chief prosecutor of King Charles 1, drafted the following indictment at his trial in 1649: ‘… that no chief officer or magistrate may hereafter presume traitorously or maliciously to imagine or contrive the enslaving or destroying of the English nation, and expect impunity for so doing …’

    David Skinner, UK

  18. It’s shameful that the values our forbears died for are being trampled under foot by the “tolerance” brigade who are decidedly intolerant if contrasting views. Like the rest of Juliar Gilltard’s greens/labor coalition cabinet, Chris Bowen is a myopic, thought-free, ignoramus who fills no purpose other than warming a seat in the front bench during question time!! I noticed he didn’t squirm when his labor colleagues invited the anti-semitic, anti-american, anti-denocracy, and anti-liberty socialist autocrat Hugo Chavez to speak in Australia… But then again Chris Bowen doesn’t need to research such topics… He’s got the ABC and the Fairfax media to give him his thoughts so he can pretend that they’re his own.
    Show me a peaceful Muslim, and I’ll show you a person that hasn’t read the Koran or takes their religion seriously!!
    Joel van der Horst

  19. Also David Skinner, I’m amazed that upholding the law is now no longer considered to be “in the public interest” by Her majesty’s Crown Prosecution… How despicable that Britain no longer protects the rights of its citizenry!!
    Joel van der Horst

  20. My mother and father both understood that freedom is something we must fight for. Dad fought for 6 years during WW2, and Mum served for 18 months as a radar operator. There was a World War going on, and they realised that they all had to sink together or swim together, one or the other, so they fought. They didn’t know whether they would win or not, but they were sure going to give it their best shot. When I worked as a volunteer with Jim Wallace in 2001, I asked his chief of staff what he thought was the greatest threat to western civilisation – his answer – “individualism”. Think about it.
    Ian Brearley

  21. Hello everyone – it’s just me, broken record again, WHERE IS THE CHURCH?????
    Steve Davis

  22. I am very concerned about where Australia is heading – a fast-track to dhimmitude and Sharia. Predict that in the next few decades we will be Muslim majority and well on our way down the gurgler.
    Heidi Attwood

  23. Greetings from Old England. I just found you a click or 2 from an item I was reading on thereligionofpeace.com. Subscribed.

    The United Kingdom is going down, carved up between the demographic and cultural Islamic jihad and militant secularism, with a slumbering church that doesn’t seem to realise what’s at stake.

    If you will forgive the plug, I have written a speculative novel about Britain’s downfall available on Amazon Kindle, ‘Darwin’s Adders: A Chronicle of Pagan Britain 2089.’ In the novel I examine some of the factors leading to the collapse of ‘Western Civilisation, formerly known as Christendom.’ She forgot that civilisations need maintainence and can fall as well as rise.

    You may know that last week, to our shame and under a so-called Conservative Prime Minister, the UK Parliament approved a bill that would allow homosexual marriage. The activists behind this such as Peter Tatchell are also anti monarchists: we are hearing very little about it but if SSM is allowed, homosexuals will probably sue churches to demand their ‘rights’ to a church wedding. Any refusal will be appealed which will undoubtedly go to the European Human Rights court funded by British taxpayer legal aid. Furthermore, Queen Elizabeth could not sign any such bill into law without breaking her Coronation Oath to uphold the established protestant faith. Constitutional crisis guaranteed! Bet you nobody will be queuing up for gay weddings in mosques.

    It may be too late, but at least those who trust to Jesus rather than Marx, Freud and Darwin should put up a fight.

    Kind regards
    Stephen Hayes, UK

  24. Well, at least now there is a party here in Australia that is willing to stand up and not be politically correct. I will be casting my vote with the Rise Up Australia party as they have stated that they are going to stand up for Australian values and not capitulate to Sharia or gay marriage.

    Mario Del Giudice

  25. I’ve paid to hear Geert in Melb., Vic. If no venue wants him; maybe we could go to someones farm near Melb & pay them. Bring foldup chairs, picnic hamper & raincoat if it rains.
    Darilyn Adams

  26. If it was a pig farm, it would be an excellent choice of venue to listen to him in peace. Just sayin’.
    Mark Rabich

  27. Forget all the Polictal Correctness and the Totalatarism and stand for Christ in all Places and at all Times.

    This Attribute has been lacking in the Churches and in Christians for a long time. Now is the Time for us all to get a bit of backbone and stand for Christ in all Places and at all Times.

    Leigh D Stebbins

  28. I hear there was a pig buried under the secret location many years ago, perhaps that needs to be mentioned so no-one is offended and they can stay away.
    I did hear 2UE speak to Gert, and it was a good interview.
    Shame they got some nasty emails after it though, but none of the complainers could say what was it that made offence.
    Johannes Archer

  29. I am unable to go to hear Geert Wilders speak, due to a slight accident which resulted in several broken bones – My only wish is that I could host him in my own home. Like most of the commentators, I too am concerned about the seeming apathy both within and without our Churches. One thing I do know, when the Australian people wake up from their slumber and discover what has been happening to our beloved Country – they will fight! They will fight to restore this Country as the general public loves Australia. Most have parents or grandparents who told them tales of long ago wars, and, unfortunately, there are some children who are losing their Fathers in the war in Afghanistan – do you really believe that these children will not stand up and fight?
    Like most writers on this blog, I believe in the power of God, and it is HIS people who are to humble themselves and pray for the Nation to be healed.

    Joan Davidson

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