Try to imagine what it's like to be Geert Wilders and you’ll feel sympathy for him, says Dutch political science Professor Meindert Fennema in his book Geert Wilders – The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, published on Tuesday. “His involuntary isolation from the outside world – due to strict security measures – and the indifference shown by his colleagues about this have only reinforced his distrust in the political elite."
Mr Wilders, who is the outspoken leader of the far-right Freedom Party (PVV) in the Netherlands, has been the enfant terrible of Dutch politics for a couple of years now. He regularly peppers his speeches with strong statements about Islam, immigration or Europe, often railing against generally accepted political ethics.
Mr Fennema was curious to see where this vehemence came from. His describes his findings in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.
High price
According to Mr Fennema, Geert Wilders has been heavily influenced by a strong belief that everyone should have the right to say whatever he or she wants. “But this also means he antagonises people and that he needs eight security men buzzing around him constantly. It’s a high price he has to pay. It has made him harder," Mr Fennema says.
“But at the same time, it gives you a feeling of empathy for him. He’s the victim of his strong belief to exercise his right to say what he wants."
Fairytale
The book’s title refers to classic fairytales and legends like Merlin and Harry Potter. A sorcerer’s apprentice who is trained by his master, but who hasn’t completed that training yet. According to Mr Fennema, Mr Wilders’ master is Frits Bolkestein, former leader of the conservative VVD party, who asked Mr Wilders to join his team in 1990.
“Mr Bolkestein never really cared too much about what the political circles in The Hague dictated”, Mr Fennema says. “He preferred to vent his political ideas outside parliament which appealed to Mr Wilders. His interest in Mr Bolkestein was fuelled by the fact that they both felt they operated on the right wing of the VVD. Mr Bolkestein’s firm point of view on Islam was fully embraced by Mr Wilders."
High flying
The master gave his apprentice many opportunities to develop into a well-known and high-flying conservative MP. But they couldn’t control everything. Mr Bolkestein left The Hague in 1998 for a top job at the EU, leaving an unhappy Mr Wilders behind, as he found the new VVD leader Hans Dijkstal too lenient in his views on Islam and immigration.
“Then came 9/11 and the rise and subsequent murder of far-right Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn," Mr Fennema says. “It made Mr Wilders angry but he felt his voice wasn’t heard in the VVD. He had become adrift."
Turning the tide?
But it was too late to turn the tide, Mr Fennema says. The apprentice threw away his modesty and embraced much stricter policies than Mr Bolkestein, who witnessed his apprentice’s rise as an independent MP whose new Freedom Party became an important force in Dutch politics.
“I blame the threats on his life and the subsequent security measures," says Mr Fennema when asked what made Mr Wilders the man he is today. “There are very few politicians who are really aware of what that means to someone. Mr Wilders thinks his colleagues don’t show enough solidarity which has isolated him even further. It shaped his hatred for the political elite."
'No threat'
At Tuesday’s book presentation, Mr Bolkestein said Mr Wilders does not pose any threat to Dutch society. “He has said all kinds of things, but he’s never done any harm," Mr Bolkestein said. “The threats aimed at him and his security are a much bigger threat."
Blessing in disguise
Mr Fennema admits he is not the definitive biographer of Mr Wilders. “I play but a small role. I am the narrator, not the fly on the wall. Mr Wilders didn’t want to cooperate on this book, which has been a blessing in disguise in some way. The book is a personal story on how I see Mr Wilders. I’m not the one to give any moral judgements. That’s up to the reader."
Although Mr Fennema has his doubts about the former apprentice (“His opinions divide Dutch society strongly”) he is certain that Mr Wilders is not a temporary phenomenon. “The issues he raises will dominate Dutch politics in the next decades. You might wonder how long Mr Wilders himself will remain a strong force in Dutch politics, but the problems he addresses are here to stay."
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Good luck Mr. Wilders. All good men of conscience are behind you. You are the voice of many millions of non-muslims who are not in a position to speak up and tell the truth.
I believe the point to be made is that politicians in the West are hell-bent on enforcing a worldview in which Western citizens become the victims of Islamic beliefs.
I don't think so!
The problem lies not with Mr. Wilders who says what he wants. Most of us say what we want, so that is the norm. The problem is that some Muslims do not believe in Mr. Wilders right to freedom of speech when it concerns their beliefs. However, Muslims do believe in their own freedom of speech to threaten non-Muslims, and they get away with it.
To understand better the dangers Western democracies are facing today due to the assaults led by Islamic Jihadists on our values and way of life, Gates of Vienna published an article titled “Geert Wilders and The Koran on Trial”.
http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2010/09/geert-wilders-and-koran-on-tri...
Please read and disseminate the article to any person who values freedom of expression, and remember always: “The Mahommedan religion increases, instead of lessening, the fury of intolerance. It was originally propagated by the sword, and ever since, its votaries have been subject, above the people of all other creeds, to this form of madness [the madness of intolerance]." Sir Winston Churchill
The Sorcerer's apprentice would be a reference to Goethe's Zauberlehrling---a parabel about someone who starts something that grows over his head:
„Die ich rief, die Geister, / Werd’ ich nun nicht los.“
For journalists with a less classical education, see Disney's version here: http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/sorcerersapprentice/
Geert Wilders is a brave and honest beacon of light and truth in Europe. I wish him well.
I think the way to counteract the muslim menace is not necessarily violence in response. If we recognise that the world is overpopulated then why not put a tax and lack of benefits on any children over two in number in a family. That at least may stop the horrendous rate of breeding evident in many muslim families and used as a tool against the host culture. Add much more stringent immigration rules and the automatic expulsion of any immigrant who preaches hate of the West and you may have moved a little towards at least slowing the advance of Islam in the world.
It is important that the justice system takes on disgusting islam by its dirty filthy evil horns.
The full planet is looking towards holland in this. Geert w. Is a great and brave man. Is holland ready to deal with islamic pedophilia? Get ready to hear the truth. This case is a good thing. Future women and children will be free from the clutches of this insane 7th. Century evil cult that is being spread like wildfire because of petroleum money. Our thoughts are with you mr. Geert w. Thank you for all of mankind.
It is important that the justice system takes on disgusting islam by its dirty filthy evil horns.
The full planet is looking towards holland in this. Geert w. Is a great and brave man. Is holland ready to deal with islamic pedophilia? Get ready to hear the truth. This case is a good thing. Future women and children will be free from the clutches of this insane 7th. Century evil cult that is being spread like wildfire because of petroleum money. Our thoughts are with you mr. Geert w. Thank you for all of mankind.
WAKE UP Netherlands....you have a sage in your midst and he is the only real voice warning you of what's to come. Eurabia is at the door with the medieval hordes breeding their way into YOUR country and living off of YOUR tax dollars and attending YOUR schools...for what purpose who knows? Arent you tired of being culturally sensitive and criticising this man for speaking his mind and the truth. I hope your grandchildren like bowing to Islam and speaking Arabic because that's where your country is headed.
You are the one who needs to WAKE UP. The only logical conclusion to what you and Wilders propose is all out war with Isam - how safe will your children and grandchildren be then? In this increasingly overcrowded world, we are simply going to have to become more tolerant of those who have different opinions, lifestyles and religions. The alternative is too ugly to bear thinking about. That's what being human is about - we have brains with which to think and plan, we have the unique ability to have visions for our future. The future you propose looks grim and bleak to me. I want my kids to grow up not being threatened of those who are different, I want them to embrace everybody and get every last enjoyable drop out of life. Is that too much to ask??
The war is coming to your doorstep wether you like it or not. The only way to possibly prevent this is if people are real and deal with things as they are and not how they want them to be. This could be avoided but we need open and honest discussion about the real issues otherwise the problems in our societies will get worse if kept underneath the surface where they can't be dealt with, up until they blow-up in our faces and then there will definitely be war. Have you ever taken a real look into their religion to verify the facts for yourself?
Exactly, but you do understand that your point is self-defeating when we start talking about tolerance for intolerance.
Much of Islam features a undeniable intolerance against: non-believers, jews, gays, women, etc. Even people like Tariq Ramadan, supposedly a moderate bridge-builder, are known for making remarks along those lines. Don't even get me started about the speeches vented in your general Saudi funded mosque.
Now of course I hear you already replying that this is all an exaggeration and there really exist modest Mohammedans. Here is our answer: Sure, there are people who don't pray and read the Koran, they wage no jihad, they mean no harm. There are also others. We don't know how many. How are we going to figure that out? By keeping quiet (this is apparently what you call tolerant)?
You should grant us the right to exercise our freedom of speech and question their beliefs, for if there is nothing wrong with their ideology, brought about by a 7th century statesman and conqueror, then they should surely be able to answer our questions. Now if you could kindly point us to some moderate imam who clearly rejects all the above-mentioned phobia's then you would help. I read a lot on the subject. I know a few. Funny enough, all of them are threatened by their own so-called "brothers" and walk around with police protection.
Another thing. Every time we cave in and grand Islam special privileges again (we should not draw their prophet, we should be careful not to insult them, etc, etc), you are granting a small victory to the hawks inside their community. Every time you don't stand up for our freedom of expression and our way of life (we were also bad during colonialism, America is the source of all evil), you are giving them reasons not to integrate in our marvelous wonders called modern societies. If they don't find an identity here, then why shouldn't they fall back on the feeling of superiority that comes from being in a culture that violently subdued Africa, parts of Asia and half of Europe, while successfully taxing non-believers and building progress on that. Look up the history behind Jihad, the crusades (were they launched as an aggression or a reaction to an aggression), the etymology of the word slaves and why the church banned slavery at the time of the Caliphs. This history may all stun you and bring about unbelieve, but then you should look up the facts and grant me that our behavior wasn't so bad in a relative sense. It was bad for sure, but nothing close enough to continue this self-hatred that we have for ourselves. We have done enough introspection. Now it is time for the more intolerant to practice some!
Now what? The ducth people who supports mr Wilders should get ready to face the quencequencies if he or his party participates in any gorvenment. Because, what I'm hearing from the web rumors nearly every muslim countries is will to break diplomatic ties with the netherlands, most especially to boycott every dutch products. That is the danger.
Yes. So you basically want to give in to threads again.
No let me be clearer: you drop your principles of freedom of speech and democracy and give in to threads. Because you happen to find Wilders a bit rough around the edges (I do too). Because you may even call him a racist or even nazi (I do not).
This is what happens every time concerning the Mohammedans. They demand no drawings of their prophet. Our newspapers cave, comedy central gaves, our leaders cave and never mention freedom of speech. They demand nobody says anything bad about their religion, our systems cave and grant them hilarious law-suits against freedom of speech in Austria, in Canada, in the the Netherlands, everywhere (except the US which has better laws).
If we don't stand by our high principles and have a common identity formed around our modern era societies full of all sorts of richness, then tell me, why would any Mohammedan want to integrate again? Why wouldn't they choose their own familiar background which often features female genital mutilation (FGM), honor killings, inbreeding, sharia (undemocratic, discriminating law), honor killings, etc.
There is nothing wrong for us to like one of the above described societies better. And you can make an informed choice like me. You can look up to what extend FGM is practiced in their countries of origin on wikipedia. You can read about the unfairness and undemocraticness of sharia also on wikipedia even. Hell you can even look into the Koran and Hadith to understand where all this craziness comes from. Was their prophet an altruist like Jesus for example (im not a christian)?
With all our fallacies, we have something to be proud of. Like the internet that our societies brought about. The general freedom. Let's not give it up so easily because some people might be offended by the truth. Or even by what we/I think is the truth. For if it is not true, then it would be so easy to negate it. Have you heard any of that lately?
threads --> threats
It is clear from your response that you don't care about the future of your children and grandchildren. All you are worried about is whether you will be able to get to your next vacation destination. For your information and education the dutch have sacrificed all they had before to secure their hard and long fought for independence. 1686 was the year that stadholder William III by invitation of protestant parlementarians made a trek to London to force the last catholic king and absolute monarch of England, Ireland and Scotland to abdicate. In doing this William secured the allience of England to keep the king of France at bay while securing more personal liberty and demacracy in England, Ireland and Scotland. The financial impact of the whole operation led to the end of the Golden Age in the Netherlands, while for England it was the start of their ruling of the waves.
If you sacrifice your freedom to keep the peace, you'll end up losing both.
I salute the man, stand strong and move forward. And never bend.
Geert is not a coward, as some people may think. I don't think Geert wants anyones pity, as he is not one to be pitied. Geert is a man of principle and freedom of truth.
The United Nations Organization is almost useless because it is controlled by thugs who oppose the human rights. We need new foreign policy and new international organization that make clear distinction between those who respect the human rights (defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights) and those who violate the human rights. Geert Wilders is trying to organize International Freedom Alliance for this purpose.
Non-violent solutions of any problem are best, but it is difficult to find non-violent solution of Islam. The essence of Islam is its founder, Muhammad. He was exceptionally cruel bandit, and yet Muslims call him uswa hasana (the model of conduct) and al-insan al-kamil (the perfect man). Their Islamic duty to emulate Muhammad’s crimes is called Sunna. Muslim mobs attack kafirs (non-Muslims) every day. There is no historical precedent of Muslim majority tolerating kafir minority, but there is plenty of historical evidence that Islam cannot be reformed and that our desperate efforts to appease it have failed. If you do not want to be a dhimmi, defend our civilization while you can.
The essence of science and Western civilization is having doubts and original ideas. Muslims have neither doubts nor original ideas. They are zombies. When their population is small, they are Meccan Muslims, so they are friendly and they have extremely large families. When they become the majority, they are obsessed with killing their kafir (non-Muslim) neighbors. Having killed all the kafirs, they kill Muslims who are not perfect zombies. Islam will bring rivers of blood into our cities. There will be no mercy - millions of Muslims will die, and Islam will die with them.
Love your comment man. Thanks.
People should read more history about Islam. I think we had enough introspection in our own cultures. Sure we have done some bad things, but choosing between our modern open societies and their backward cultures featuring honor killings, female genital mutilation, ritual slaughter, lack of religious freedom, oppression of women, oppression of minorities, etc etc all over the place, should be an easy thing!
Probably we are in this position because we want their oil. Our leaders need political goodwill from them, so the discourage criticism against their societies. As Chomsky often notes, the academic elite are behind the political elites, because they prophet the most from it. Maybe that's why clear open debate on the issue is so difficult in our society. No probably this is a long shot. But I just wanted to show that I've read Chomsky (and Zinn for that matter) and I have done my fear share of introspection. Largely I agree with their stances btw, but I would still prefer our society over any Mohammedan society.
I'm also not of the opinion that we should try to change their countries. Just that we should be able to have a clear debate in which we can call a spade a spade and actually explains some of the behavior some of our guests are featuring. Mark Steyn does a pretty good job at that btw, using one of the powerful features of our western culture: the display of humor.
It doesn't matter if he's in there for his 'own glory' or if he's a 'victim of his own believe' - It's a fact that he's the one standing up there! He has the guts to outspeak what millions of people think but don't dare to say! He's the one with the balls! Either you're with or against him but you can't argue with that!
Geert is not a victim of his beliefs as is the thesis of the book. He has exercised his own free will to follow the course he has chosen, and through his own myopic selfishness, ignored taking into account the calculation of the possible consequences. Geert deliberately chose to isolate himself from not only the mainstream of Dutch society, but even of his own followers, in the manner the leadership of the PVV has been structured by him. The real victims of Geert's beliefs are Dutch society and democracy as a whole, not only as well to mention those who have been singled out as scapegoats by Geert's ideology. Geert neither deserves nor is owed any sympathy for what he stands for, or those he has hurt. Geert is in this for himself, his own glory, and his own enrichment. Geert deliberately wanted to roll the dice, now he has to let the action ride.
David, you should learn to make a distinction between involuntary reaction/emotion and voluntary or conscious reaction/emotion. If I shout "fire" in the theatre, I create panic, an involuntary reaction/emotion. If I criticize you for some of your beliefs, then I don't solicit nor should I expect any involuntary reaction. You issue a death treat at my address, still was not an involuntary reaction.
The former form of speech should be banned and the latter should be allowed in open en free societies (i say "should be", because clearly it is not in practice and even in theory because of our ludicrous holocaust denial laws*).
Now you should understand that Mr. Wilders practices something that we should cherish, linking our free and open societies. Even though we find him rough around the edges and are against some of his policies. You also see that the opponents of Wilders prove his point by threatening him. Nobody is really hurt when somebody practices his freedom of speech, only the people who choose to be hurt. If you cannot understand this from the theoretical perspective then ask yourself where we would be when we weren't able to practice our freedom of speech against say the Catholic Church. Also isn't their a disproportionate outcry against Islam-criticism compared to criticism of Christianity, which has become very common and beside the point in our societies?
* I'm not a denier. I'm merely pro freedom of speech and having a first amendment like the americans have and Wilders proposes.
Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies.
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.
"I will follow the good side right to the fire, but not into it if I can help it."........Mr. Wilders appears to have stopped at the fire of terrorism and is watching the fire with a smile on his face!
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