Wilders circus comes to London

Searchlight - September 2009

Right-wing Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders brought his Islamaphobic roadshow to London on 16 October.

Wilders was banned in February, as threat to security from entering the UK on the orders of the then Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, but the ban was lifted on 13 October following an appeal to the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (AIT).

The right-wing Birkenhead Society which bills itself as a "Conservative debating society" and admires the late Tory racist Enoch Powell supported Wilders' AIT appeal. His estimated costs of £10,000 were also reportedly funded by the Society.

The AIT ruled that while Wilders' opinions are expressed strongly and in a way that was bound to cause offence, the right of freedom of expression was more important. Wilders, always desperate to make headlines, travelled to London three days after the ruling for a press conference and a meeting with UKIP's Lord Pearson of Rannoch to discuss a future showing of his anti-Islam videoclip Fitna in the House of Lords.

Outside the press conference venue, small group of Islamists shouted such slogans as "Islam will dominate the world", actually helping Wilders' quest, while inside he was busy claiming a "victory for free speech" at the same time as denying that he is an extremist.

His ideas - that Islam is a fascist ideology of a retarded culture and that millions of Muslims should quit Europe if they will not assimilate to "Western values" - as presented in London and everywhere else his circus can hardly be regarded as moderate.

In January, Wilders will face trial in Amsterdam for insulting Muslims and inciting discrimination and hatred.

Jeroen Bosch for Alert! and Antifa-Net