Wilders summoned to trial

The Office of Public Prosecutor in Amsterdam has summoned Geert Wilders to appear in court on January 20 to face criminal trial for “inciting hatred and discrimination against Muslims due to their religion and inciting hatred and discrimination against non-Western immigrants due to their race.” The indictment, which is extremely long, and Wilders’s response, which is short, are posted at Jihad Watch. Diana West comments at her blog. (Note: the copy at Jihad Watch seems to be an image rather than text and cannot be selected and copied. The Hudson Institute has a version of the indictment which can be copied.)

A moment of decision has come. Under the liberal regime of non-discrimination, do Westerners have the right to state the self-evident truth that Islam is a danger to the West? Or will they be indicted and tried as criminals for saying so? And if the latter, then the defenders of the West, at least in Europe, Canada, and Australia where there is no equivalent of the First Amendment, will be forced to become outlaws.

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December 5

Ferg writes:

What is happening in Europe makes those of us who lived through WWII wonder if it was all worth the effort. Hitlers hope was for a united socialist Europe under the dominance of Germany. He didn’t even have to win the war to get his wish. As for us, I would not count on the First Amendment being any more resistant to bending than the Second and Tenth have been. The Tenth is the most clearly and plainly written of them all, not open to misunderstanding, and it is the most ignored of them all. We will become outlaws too, in fact are not far from that now.

LA replies:

The Tenth Amendment is not just ignored; it’s never had any constitutional life at all.

Tim W. writes:

And to think that all of this Dutch “tolerance” and “non-discrimination” is being practiced toward a religion which never reciprocates. There isn’t a Muslim nation on earth which would prosecute its citizens for opposing Christianization or for saying anything negative about another religion. So Holland is in the Orwellian and suicidal position of prosecuting Wilders for opposing the ascension of a religion which doesn’t allow for dissent. He’s accused of encouraging hate against those who are different by opposing the rise of a group which doesn’t permit differences with itself.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at December 04, 2009 07:57 PM | Send