FREE SPEECH TRIAL IN NETHERLANDS

THE BATTLE TO DEFEND free speech against Islamic attempts to snuff it out is stirring in the Netherlands. The outcome of this case will affect the whole world. "Anti-Islam lawmaker appeals hate speech charges," from The Associated Press today.

An Associated Press newspaper in Amsterdam has reported that "a right-wing lawmaker says he has asked the Dutch Supreme Court to halt his prosecution on hate speech charges for anti-Islamic remarks. Bigot alert. Here we have a Dutch newspaper using the code "right-wing" to smear one of its own legislators. AP thus semaphores to its readers that Wilders is evil, not to be trusted, not to be supported.

But what century are we now living? Except in totalitarian regimes of which there are many examples, there is nothing "right wing" about supporting the freedom of speech, the freedom of conscience, and the equality of rights of all people before the law against Islamic supremacism.

Geert Wilders says the remarks—including labeling the Qur'an a "fascist" work and calling for it to be banned—fall within the realm of normal discourse and his prosecution threatens his right to freedom of speech. In March 2008, Wilders released the film "Fitna," which juxtaposes Quranic verses with violent film clips and images of terrorism by Islamic radicals....

Those "Islamic radicals," of course, are the ones who actually connected the Qur'an with violence. But it isn't they who have aroused the anger of the Islamic world. It is only Wilders, because he is an Infidel who has dared to speak out against this religiously sanctioned violence.