Geert Wilders - Why Not?

Federal Minister for Immigration, blah blah - the Hon. Christopher Bowen has said some unkind things about Geert Wilders and Minister Bowen took his sweet time to grant the Dutch politician and Leader of the Freedom Party (PVV) a visa to enter this democratic country we call Australia.  However, Minister Bowen did not take his time granting a visa to jihad apologist Taji Mustafa to spread the word about the Religion of Peace last September.

Perhaps Wilders should have changed his surname to Mustafa!

Look at the trouble Debbie Robinson is having trying to secure a venue for Mr. Wilders, not only in Sydney but in Perth too, apparently?

NSW has the highest population of the followers of the Religion of Peace.  You know, that religion that doesn’t cause any trouble, that religion that doesn’t riot and doesn’t use 6-year-olds to hold signs saying ‘Behead All Those Who Insult The Profit’ whilst mothers watch on lovingly.  That religion that doesn’t want establishment of Sharia law in this country.  That religion that prefers enclaves to that of a normal assimilation process into the land they have adopted as home.   Those who put country first, life second and religion third.  What a farce!

What are these clowns frightened of?  Why are venues suddenly not available?  Are the venue owners scared their establishments may be rioted upon and destroyed or even worse levelled via incendiary device or similar?  Well, that’s a serious possibility when dealing with members of the Religion of Peace, as we have already witnessed.   Wilders, who, no doubt is the subject of a Religion of Peace fatwa, has every right to address Australian audiences and he should be able to do so without fear nor favour.  Is this the sort of influence Islam now holds in Australia?  We are too shit-scared to provide a venue to a European politician of the likes of Mr. Wilders?   So many of us predicted this very thing many years ago when Muslims began flooding the Department of Immigration in one form or another.  Those of us making the dire predictions were capable of evaluating and distilling the European experience of mass Muslim migration.  Too bad this ridiculously incompetent Federal Government did not possess such foresight!

Freespeech dogged by politics of difference

Paul Sheehan, www.smh.com.au 21 JAN, 2013

The obvious question is, what are they afraid of? Is it fear of violence, or  vandalism, or simply fear of association?

Debbie Robinson, a small business operator who describes herself as an  ordinary citizen, wants to bring to Australia a Dutch political leader who is a  supporter of democracy, freedom of religion, feminism and gay rights. But when  she started making arrangements all she encountered was fear.

''In Sydney, venues that were initially available were cancelled or would not  take the booking when they realised who the speaker was,'' she told me. She  provided a list of rejections: the Hilton Hotel, North Sydney Leagues Club,  Sydney Masonic Centre, Wesley Convention Centre, Luna Park Function Centre, the  Concourse at Chatswood and the Sir  John Clancy Auditorium at the University of  NSW.

''I offered a church-based venue in Sydney a donation and their reply was,  'You could offer $4 million and we would not accept your booking'.''

 Finding venues was not her only problem. ''Earlier in the year I approached  APN Outdoor to arrange a four-week run of bus ads in Sydney. The artwork was  forwarded to them and I was quoted a price for the job …  Then I was advised  they would not be able to run the ad as it was too political and would result in  the buses being damaged and defaced. They would not say who would do the  damage.''

The same happened in Perth, where Robinson lives, when venues declined to  take her booking, including the Burswood Casino. When she tried to organise a  payments system for the tour, she was rejected by Westpac. The bank, which has  been courting the Chinese Communist government for years, wanted nothing to do  with this Dutch democrat.

''I was organising an e-way payment system with Westpac to link to the  website of the Q Society [the sponsor of the tour]. I received a call from a  manager who said the Westpac Risk Management Team had decided the material for  sale was offensive and inappropriate and therefore they would not proceed with  the e-way system. I asked to speak to the manager responsible and was told he  was on leave.''

The Dutch MP causing so much concern is Geert Wilders, the leader of the  Party of Freedom (PVV), the king-maker in Dutch politics over the past two  years. When Wilders withdrew his support for the government last year, it  collapsed and a national election was called.

A month after that election, in which the PVV polled a million votes and won  16 seats, Wilders was scheduled to be in Australia. The trip was cancelled after  it was sabotaged by the Minister for Immigration, Chris Bowen.

The minister then had the gall to write an opinion piece, published in The Australian on October 2 last year, in which he claimed, ''I have  decided not to intervene to deny [Wilders] a visa because I believe that our  democracy is strong enough, our multiculturalism robust enough and our  commitment to freedom of speech entrenched enough that our society can withstand  the visit of a fringe commentator.''

Reality check: Bowen's department sat on Wilders' visa application for almost  two months, then acted only after the minister received public criticism and  Wilders was cancelling his trip.

No such long delay hindered the visit of Taji Mustafa, a spokesman for Hizb ut-Tahrir, an apologist for jihad, when he made a speaking tour in Australia last September while Wilders was being frozen out. When questioned in Parliament, Bowen replied: ''Hizb ut-Tahrir has not been proscribed in Australia … This entry permit was issued in accordance with the normal procedures for British nationals.''

Apparently, the anti-Western Hizb ut-Tahrir is not ''fringe'', nor worthy of  an excoriating opinion piece, but the leader of a party that won 24 seats, 1.4  million votes, and 15 per cent of the vote in the Dutch 2010 election represents  an extremist fringe.

People are entitled to loathe Wilders, or shun him. They are also entitled to  support him, or hear him. The problems encountered with his visit illustrate the  double-speak, double-standards and fear that exists when it comes to the subject  for which Wilders is notorious - confronting Muslim extremism.

Neither Wilders nor the PVV have ever been involved in violent conduct, yet  he has lived under 24-hour police protection for the past nine years, since two  Muslim fundamentalists were arrested after a siege in 2004 and charged with  planning to assassinate him.

When Wilders comes to Australia next month for speaking engagements in  Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, he will be accompanied by five Dutch security  officers. The venues will not be revealed until 48 hours before each speech.

Wilders believes Islam is a political ideology, not just a religion, and  should be compared with totalitarian belief systems. He has compared the Koran  to Fascism and Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf. He advocates ending  immigration by Muslims because the Netherlands was losing its demographic and  social stability. For this he was taken to court for hate speech. He won, but  the case occupied three years.

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.''