Yesterday, the Kafkaesque Prozess against Geert Wilders started. Wilders took a few minutes to address the court. Please find below Geert's personal message (English subtitled).
Hattip: Vlad Tepes
Full translation:
Speaker, judges of the court,
I would like to make use of my right to speak for a few minutes.
Freedom is the most precious of all our attainments and the most vulnerable. People have devoted their lives to it and given their lives for it. Our freedom in this country is the outcome of centuries. It is the consequence of a history that knows no equal and has brought us to where we are now.
I believe with all my heart and soul that the freedom in the Netherlands is threatened. That what our heritage is, what generations could only dream about, that this freedom is no longer a given, no longer self-evident.
I devote my life to the defence of our freedom. I know what the risks are and I pay a price for it every day. I do not complain about it; it is my own decision. I see that as my duty and it is why I am standing here.
I know that the words I use are sometimes harsh, but they are never rash. It is not my intention to spare the ideology of conquest and destruction, but I am not any more out to offend people. I have nothing against Muslims. I have a problem with Islam and the Islamization of our country because Islam is at odds with freedom.
Future generations will wonder to themselves how we in 2010, in this place, in this room, earned our most precious attainment. Whether there is freedom in this debate for both parties and thus also for the critics of Islam, or that only one side of the discussion may be heard in the Netherlands? Whether freedom of speech in the Netherlands applies to everyone or only to a few? The answer to this is at once the answer to the question whether freedom still has a home in this country.
Freedom was never the property of a small group, but was always the heritage of us all. We are all blessed by it.
Lady Justice wears a blindfold, but she has splendid hearing. I hope that she hears the following sentences, loud and clear:
It is not only a right, but also the duty of free people to speak against every ideology that threatens freedom. Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States was right: The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
I hope that the freedom of speech shall triumph in this trial.
In conclusion, Mister Speaker, judges of the court.
This trial is obviously about the freedom of speech. But this trial is also about the process of establishing the truth. Are the statements that I have made and the comparisons that I have taken, as cited in the summons, true? If something is true then can it still be punishable? This is why I urge you to not only submit to my request to hear witnesses and experts on the subject of freedom of speech. But I ask you explicitly to honour my request to hear witnesses and experts on the subject of Islam. I refer not only to Mister Jansen and Mister Admiral, but also to the witness/experts from Israel, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Without these witnesses, I cannot defend myself properly and, in my opinion, this would not be a fair trial.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Mark Steyn on Multiculturalism
"Multiculturalism is not about knowing anything about other cultures; it's just about feeling warm and fluffy about them."
Hat tip: Lagonda
Monday, January 4, 2010
Stop Injustice to the People of Iceland!
To: Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Gordon Brown and Secretary of Treasury of The Netherlands Wouter Bos
WE THE UNDERSIGNED hereby Petition the above officials to withdraw their claim that all the people of Iceland should be held responsible for the mistakes made by officials and bankers of the involved countries with regard to the demise of Landsbanki/Icesave.
RELEVANT FACTS:
This petition is created by Dutch libertarian blog www.vrijspreker.nl that speaks out for individual liberty and opposes abuse by the state. It is important that all morally responsible people, especially in UK and Holland, show to the Icelandics that we support them and are explicitly not supporting our government in their decision.
Total amount claimed by The Netherlands and UK amounts to 3.8 euro billion. Since Iceland only has 320,000 inhabitants, this results in a staggering 12,000 euro per inhabitant. Apart from the fact that the legal basis is very weak, the claims have no moral or ethical foundation and will lead to the robbing and prolonged suffering of ordinary citizens such as elderly, hard working laborers, children and disabled, all of them not being involved in the failings of Landsbanki/Icesave whatsoever.
Instead the governments of The Netherlands and UK should focus on finding and bringing to justice all involved greedy bankers, officials and regulators.
The Icelandic parliament has narrowly approved the payment plan with Dutch and UK governments with only 33 of 63 members. The people of Iceland are however increasingly against the bill. Polls suggest that 70\% is against it. Also more than 56,000 people have already signed a petition, handed over to the president Olafur Ragnar Grimsson.
Mister Grimsson has now asked for some time to consider the bill, which will only be effected once he signed it. Should he not sign the bill, the bill will be left to a referendum.
THE UNDERSIGNED RESPECTFULLY REQUEST THE UK AND DUTCH OFFICIALS:
1) to respect fundamental ethical and moral values and to drop their excessive claims of in total 3.8 billion euro on the government and therefore ordinary citizens of Iceland
2) to find and bring to justice all involved bankers, companies and government officials
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