Wilders’s civilizational defense of the West

Charles T. writes:

Geert Wilder’s speech in Jerusalem is excellent. I consider the following quote to be the most important concept in the whole speech; it must be repeated over and over again to the people of the Western nations:

Our Western principles are hollow if they are not accompanied by a desire to sustain our culture and our civilization, based upon knowing who we are and where we come from. We are not from Saudi-Arabia. We are not from Iran. We come from Rome, Athens and Jerusalem. That makes our civilization special, and certainly worth preserving.

This quote, of course, violates the religion of the elites who despise their own cultures. If we are to survive, we must commit what the elites consider idolatry. We must love our own countries, our own culture, and yes, even ourselves and our own families more than we love those outside of our countries. To do so will place us in opposition not only against our political elites, but against many of our deluded leaders within our Christian churches.

Mr. Wilders’s final words are not those of a defeatist. If we are to win, then we must think and act like Mr. Wilders who states: “It is five to twelve. Freedom must win, we have to win and we will win. ”

We must adopt this attitude if we are to survive.

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Sam H. writes from the Netherlands:

Parts of the speech were good. I don’t really think Wilders is much a political philosopher, by the way. He has some good instincts and a lot of courage, but he is not a religious man, and he has inbibed a lot of modern dogmas. Note for example his defence of Amsterdam as the “gay capital [sic] of the world.” How could he possibly be a consistent traditionalist.

According to news reports, Pipes defended his usual line about Islam not being the problem, and moderate Muslims gaining the upper hand. However, some of the news reports also indicate that he spoke tough words about “crushing” the Palestinians. Then again, with contemporary “journalism” in terminal decline, it’s often very hard to figure out what really happened. Here are some relevant links:

The video of the speech itself.

An interview with Israeli radio with Wilders and some pictures, that show you how tall Mr. Wilders is. He is one of the tallest men I’ve ever met.

Comments on what Pipes said.

LA replies:

You are right that lauding Amsterdam as “the gay capital of Europe” is inconsistent with the original title of this post, “Wilders’s traditionalist defense of the West.” I had not read the Wilders speech yet and was only responding to the passage that Charles T. quoted. I’ve changed the title to “Wilder’s civilizational defense of the West.”

Posted by Lawrence Auster at December 16, 2008 01:00 PM | Send