Geert Wilders’ Speech in Bonn - Hoofdinhoud
"The dogma that all lifestyles, opinions and convictions have the same value signifies the destruction of Western culture. It heralds the return to barbarism."
Below is the English version of the prepared text for speech given by Geert Wilders yesterday in Bonn. Many thanks to Rembrandt Clancy for the translation.
Speech by Geert Wilders in Bonn, February 2 2013
Original German source and video still: EuropeNews
Dear Friends,
Allow me to begin with a few words of thanks. Thank you Conny Meier and Bürgerbewegung Pax Europa for giving me the opportunity of addressing all of you here today.
Thank you Stefan Herre for bestowing on me the Hiltrud-Schröter Freedom Prize, named after a great German woman, who fought to free Muslim women from Islamic oppression.
Thank you Stefan, also, for the important work which you and your team accomplish with your PI website [Politically Incorrect website].
Thank you Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, and all the other fighters for freedom of speech, for speaking the truth, although you are prosecuted for it.
It requires much courage to disseminate the truth. We are living in a time in which expressing the truth and spreading it has become not only difficult, but also often very dangerous.
Last year I published my book Marked for Death in the United States of America. In it I wrote about Islam and what I think about it. A German publisher showed an interest in a German language edition and had the book translated.
According to the view of his lawyers whom he consulted, the content of the book would bring him criminal repercussions. He recommended making corresponding changes to German language text. I told them: no compromise with the truth. I insisted on a faithful translation, but according to his lawyers that was not possible.
For example, when in the English edition I criticise "Islam", instead of "Islam" in the German edition it is supposed to read "Islamism", "orthodox Islam", "Sharia-Islam" and so forth. Whenever I make the case in my book that no further mosques should be built, I am only able to speak in the book about "going along with the construction of new mosques with great scepticism". I hope you understand that this compromised text is unacceptable for me.
This German translation makes a completely different book out of it. I am convinced that there is only one Islam, and that the so called "radical Islam" is nothing other than the real, authentic Islam, and is in complete accordance with the teachings of Mohammed and the Koran.
I reject the censorship of my views concerning this. I would have betrayed my principles and all I stand for had I permitted my book be put on the market with formulations which are not only untrue, but also do not correspond to my thinking on it.
I very much regret that it is no longer possible to publish my opinion in Germany without being censored. That strengthens my assessment that free speech in Europe is in a very bad state.
I hope that there is a new German publishing house which can tell the truth. What we urgently need is something similar to the First Amendment of the United States Constitution which comprehensively protects freedom of speech.
Dear friends, the last time I delivered an address in Germany it was in Berlin with my friend Rene Stadtkewitz. Many Germans live in large cities like Berlin, Hamburg, Munich or Cologne. But most Germans live in small cities like Bonn. Here one can sense the heartbeat of the real Germany. This heartbeat indicates that Germany is in poor condition.
The whole of Germany suffers from the same problem. It is the phenomenon of Islamisation. One can feel it in places like Berlin; one can feel it in places like Bonn.
Islam is changing the face of Europe. In the last year, two Berlin citizens wrote a book Kampfzone Straße ["Battlezone Street"]. The authors, Karlheinz Gaertner, a policeman, and Fadi Saad a former member of an Islamic street gang, describe a culture of violence in which young migrants hunt native German citizens.
The indigenous Germans were beaten, robbed and stabbed. Certain parts of Berlin have developed into very dangerous areas for non-Muslims.
This culture of violence has not only established itself in our large cities, but also in cities like Bonn. Last May Salafist thugs conducted a street battle with the police here in Bonn.
As long as five years ago, in 2008, the newspaper Die Welt reported — I quote: "In several German cities the police no longer dare to enter certain districts because they are immediately attacked". — End of quote.
In August 2011 police Inspector Bernard Witthaut admitted to the Westdeutschen Allgemeinen Zeitung that no-go areas, which are beyond police control, are spreading throughout the whole of Germany.
We can observe this phenomenon not only in Germany, but everywhere in Europe, from Berlin through London to Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris and Rome.
"In every one of our cities", wrote the well-known Italian writer Oriana Fallaci shortly before her death in 2006, "in each of our cities there is a second city... a state within a state. A government within the government. A Muslim city, a city governed by the Koran." End of quote.
Let us confront the bitter truth: In societies which are ruled by the Koran there is no more freedom. People are no longer permitted to discuss this problem. Freedom of speech is the first freedom which a society loses when the tyranny of Islam sets in. What we once embraced as a birthright for members of a free world is no longer self-evident. Freedom of speech is no longer guaranteed.
The British writer Salman Rushdie was forced underground after the publication of his book The Satanic Verses. The Japanese translator of his book was murdered. The Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard and his Swedish colleague Lars Vilks were forced into hiding after drawing cartoons of Mohammed.
I also pay a high price for my views about Islam. Islamic death threats force me to go into hiding. For nine years now I have been living under police protection, 24 hours a day. I had to leave my house. I even had to live in barracks and prison cells, because they were the most secure places in which the police could protect me from assassins.
In a free society every politician, every author, every cartoonist, every citizen should be in the position to express his opinion without having to fear for his life. Unfortunately we no longer live in completely free societies. Also the truth is that the more Islamic our countries are, the more unfree they become.
In June of last year, after a Bonn Salafist published a video in which he called for the murder of certain politicians and journalists, the police searched Salafist establishments throughout Germany and banned one of their organisations. The threat has not diminished since then, however.
In December of last year, Bonn barely escaped a catastrophe. The police found a bag filled with explosives in the Bonn Central Train Station. Fortunately the authorities were able to prevent an explosion which would have turned out to be as destructive as the Madrid bomb attack of 2004 and the terrorist attack on the London Underground in 2005.
According to statements in the newspaper Bild, the security services estimate the number of Salafists in North Rhine-Westphalia alone to be approximately one thousand; and Bonn, the beautiful city, the city of Beethoven, the former capital city, is characterised today by some as the "capital of the Salafists".
Salafism is an Islamic movement, whose members try, as precisely as possible, to live as did Muhammad, the founder of Islam. Islam calls upon all believers to imitate Muhammad's way of life as much as possible. The life and actions of Muhammad are sufficiently well-known. Ali Sina, an ex-Muslim from Iran, calls Muhammad among other things, a liar, a paedophile, a torturer, a terrorist and a mass murderer.
All these descriptions are proved by historical Islamic sources. As for example the Sira, the biography of Muhammad from the 8thcentury as well as the Hadith, the accounts of Muhammad's sayings and deeds as they or handed down by his contemporaries.
Muhammad comes with a book — the Koran —which he falsely maintained was written by Allah himself — a book, which concedes more rights to Muslims than to the Kuffar, the non-Muslims, who in fact have no rights at all and therefore ought to be slaughtered.
Muhammad established a state which is based on Islamic law, the Sharia. From Medina, the first city in which Muhammad implemented Sharia law, he conquered Arabia through terror, violence and deception. He commanded his followers to continue his work until the entire world is under Islamic domination: "I have been commanded to fight against people till they testify that there is no god but Allah," said Muhammad in his last address.
He did this in accordance with Sura 8:39: "Make war on them until idolatry is no more and Allah's religion reigns supreme" [English trans. from The Koran, N.J. Dawood].
It is important to recognise that many people harbour misconceptions about Islam. Islam is not a religion; Islam is predominantly an intolerant ideology akin to Communism and Fascism. Islam is an ideology, because it is more politically than religiously informed and it strives for an Islamic state. Islam is totalitarian because it is not based on volition. It commands that people who leave Islam must be killed.
Because Islam has global ambitions, we are all in the same boat. Bonn has the same problem as Cologne or Berlin; Germany has the same problem as France and Great Britain, Italy, and the Netherlands. Europe has the same problem as the United States, Canada and Australia, which I shall visit this month. Everywhere freedom is threatened, and everywhere people are anxious.
I am travelling around the world in order to support those who are intimidated and are silenced. I am here in order to make known the truth about Islam:
•the truth, that because Muhammad mistreated women, some followers of Islam think that they are justified in treating women in the same way;
•the truth, that because Muhammad lied and deceived in order to support the spread of Islam, some followers feel justified to do the same. Islam even has a word for this kind of lie, — it is called taqiyya;
•the truth, that because Muhammad plundered non-Muslims, some of his followers have the feeling that they possess the right to do the same, — that is called jihad;
•the truth, that because Muhammad spread Islam through terror, some of his followers do the same, — that is also called jihad;
•the truth, that because Muhammad founded an Islamic state, some of his followers see it as their duty to do the same;
•the truth, that because Muhammad murdered his critics and the critics of his Islamic state, some of his followers threaten all those who speak critically about Muhammad and Islam with death.
It is not a matter of chance that worldwide all Islamic states demand that criticism of Islam and its prophet should be banned. But nevertheless it is our duty to speak the truth. As Mark Steyn writes in the forward to my book: "something is badly wrong in our society — and that we have a responsibility to address it honestly, before it gets worse".
Freedom of speech is the most important political civil liberty. Without freedom of speech the other freedoms are meaningless.
Freedom of speech forces governments to justify their policies. It is in the public interest for governments to correct their mistakes. The authorisation of Islamic mass immigration to Europe was one of the greatest mistakes of the last decades.
Dear friends, look at what Islam has brought you. I will give you a few examples — all from Germany, and from the past year.
In March an Islamic mob rioted in Berlin.
In May a Salafist mob in Bonn.
In May a 22-year old Turk, who grew up in Germany, was convicted of the murder of his 18-year old sister who was born in Germany, — a killing on account of honour.
In May as well, an immigrant from Pakistan, who had been living for 27 years in Germany, was convicted of the honour murder of his 20-year-old German-born daughter and her friend.
In July four members of Al Qaeda, three of them born in Germany, were brought to trial in Düsseldorf for planning a terror attack.
In August a poll revealed that for the younger generation of Turks in Germany Islam is becoming increasingly more important, and that almost half of the Turks in this country hope that in the future there should be more Muslims than Christians in Germany.
In December there was the failed bomb attack in Bonn.
These incidents are so serious that we must be permitted to discuss them in complete openness and without taboos. Above all because we are not a fringe group, but speak in the name of the large majority of decent and law abiding citizens. Never forget that.
In November a poll of the Allensbach-Institut für Demoskopie [Allensbach Institute for Public Opinion Research], which was carried out on behalf of the Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung, revealed that 64% of Germans believe that Islam is prone to violence. These people are not mistaken. They are right!
56% believe that Islam strives for political influence in Germany. These people are not mistaken. They are right! More than 80% of Germans believe that Islam robs women of their rights and 70% state that Islam is fanatical.
There is a growing chasm between normal Germans, who are worried about the consequences of mass immigration and the intellectuals, politicians and the cultural and media elite who maintain these people are intolerant. Germans are not intolerant. Islam is intolerant!
Dear friends, I always distinguish between Muslims and Islam. I always make a clear distinction between the people and the ideology. There are moderate Muslims, but the political ideology of Islam is not moderate. It intends to force Islamic law, the Sharia, on the entire world. This is supposed to be achieved by jihad.
The good news is, that millions of Muslims in the world — among them many in Germany and in the Netherlands — do not follow the prescriptions of the Sharia, much less do they engage in jihad.
The bad news, however, is that those who do are ready to employ all available means to reach their ideological and revolutionary goals.
Most Muslims are moderate, but the ideology of Islam is dangerous. The moderates are the prisoners of the barbaric system of Islamofascism.
Despite the many moderate Muslims, the growing Islamisation is causing huge problems. Europe's Islam lobby is increasingly assertive. It has successfully managed to push European politicians to implement pro-Islamic policies and to limit freedom of speech as well. All this under the pretext that the expression of truthful statements about Islam is a form of hate speech and is therefore criminal.
I will give you once more some examples from Germany in the past year. In January the German authorities confirmed that they are monitoring every German-language website which deals critically with Islamic immigration and the Islamisation of Germany.
In February Jochen Hartloff, the social democratic Justice Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate, declared to the Süddeutschen Zeitung that he supports the introduction of Islamic Sharia law in questions of family law in Germany, because — I quote: "This can have a pacifying effect.".
In June Defence Minister Thomas de Maizière declared in the Turkish capital of Ankara that he would like to have more immigrants in the Germany army because the Bundeswehr, according to his conception, — I quote: "should be a representative cross-section of the population".
In November the city of Hamburg concluded an "international treaty" [Staatsvertrag] with the Islamic communities, which grants them rights and privileges, while the city is obligated to support Islamic religious instruction in public schools. In the same month the government of Bremen followed the example of Hamburg.
Instead of expediting the assimilation of immigrants into our countries, our governments support the creation of an Islamic parallel society — a Trojan horse inside our borders.
Do not accept it.
Since there is no such thing at all as a moderate Islam, the Islamisation of our society is a dangerous threat. This Islamisation is mainly propelled by immigration from Islamic countries. Muhammad himself conquered Medina with the help of immigration; or Hijra, as it is called. On this basis we must stop immigration from Islamic countries.
We must look the bitter and uncongenial truth in the face: the bitter truth that Islam today is the greatest threat to freedom, and the uncongenial truth that Islam is already present everywhere around us.
Mosques are spreading throughout the whole of Europe as are Islamic centres and halal shops. In every larger West European city you meet women with headscarves and burqas. Open the pages of our newspapers you will read horrific stories of mistreated women, of female genital mutilation and of honour killings in our own backyards. We must no longer accept that! Enough is enough.
Allow no one to tell you that Islam respects freedom. Freedom and Islam are not compatible. Allow no one to tell you that Islam is a religion of peace. Islam is an ideology of violence. Allow no one to tell you that the intolerant must be tolerated.
We have to show our colours. We have to draw a red line. We have to call for the following: Firstly, no more mosques; secondly, no more Islamic schools; and thirdly, all criminal immigrants with double citizenship must be deported!
We have to cease giving in to every Islamic demand. Winston Churchill said once, when he was confronted with Nazi tyranny: "never, never give in, in nothing, great or small, large or petty; never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense." Instead of following Churchill's example, Western politicians allow themselves to be intimidated by Islamic sensitivities.
A Germany full of mosques and veiled women is no longer the Germany of Goethe, Schiller, Heine, Bach and Beethoven.
And even though not all Allah- and Muhammad-believers become violent, the truth is that some of them will. And they will become violent because Islam instigates it. Islam extols Islamic supremacy. We should not close our eyes to this reality out of political correctness. If we do so, we do it at our own peril.
Everywhere, where Islam has had a foothold, it has brought enormous human suffering; for its own followers and their families — and especially for women and for non-Muslims.
In December of last year, in my homeland the Netherlands, a linesman was kicked to death by a group of young players after a football game. The media and the political establishment emphasised that we had a so called "football problem" in the Netherlands. The youths, who kicked the Dutch Linesman to death were not domestic Netherlanders, however, but Moroccans.
Almost every week there are incidents with Moroccan youths. In the Netherlands 65 percent of all Moroccan youths between 12 and 23 years have already been arrested at least once by the police. This is the reason why I emphasise that we do not have a "football problem" but a "Moroccan problem".
The list of violent incidents in which Moroccans are involved, whether in our streets, our schools, our shopping centres or in our sports fields is endless. Moroccans are the largest Islamic group in my country. But the victims are almost never Moroccans or Muslims.
Four years ago the German Federal Minister for Families Kristina Schröder encouraged, — I quote: "an open debate about racist Muslims". She spoke very wise words about freedom of speech and explained — I quote: "Such a culture of discussion must in the end include the debate on integration also, then together we shall take major steps forward". End quote. Therefore we must discuss it.
Minister Schröder is correct. To guarantee freedom of speech is a moral duty of politicians. If we wish to end the increase of violence in our streets, we have to be allowed to report the truth about Islam. If we wish to stop the Islamisation of our countries, we must end cultural relativism.
The cultural relativists are the greatest friends, the henchmen, of Islam. They parrot the Islamic taqiyya-language. They call us xenophobic and accuse us of hate speech. They drag us before the courts, because we are practising our freedom of speech.
People such as myself and Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff in Austria, Lars Hedegaard in Denmark, Mark Steyn in Canada and innumerable others have had to spend a great deal of time, energy and money for court proceedings, just because they told the truth. I had the luck to be acquitted, but some of the others unfortunately did not.
Cultural relativism prescribes that all cultures are morally equal and valuable. If all cultures are the same, it follows that the state must not prefer any specific cultural values. Cultural relativists conclude from this that the state cannot stipulate any dominant culture which the immigrant has to accept if he wishes to live in our midst. In Western countries this dominant culture is based principally on Judeo-Christian and humanistic values.
The dogma that all lifestyles, opinions and convictions have the same value signifies the destruction of Western culture. It heralds the return to barbarism. Everywhere in the West we are now confronted with Islamic men who treat their own daughters, sisters and wives as inferior beings, while Western politicians turn a blind eye. Everywhere we are also confronted with Islamic racism, while the elites refuse an open discourse about it.
Dear friends, There is no place here for the Sharia, because the hypothesis of cultural relativism is false. Cultures are not equal. Our culture is better than Islam by far. We are proud of our culture and of our Western identity. We should also be proud of our culture and nation states. Forced conformity is a characteristic of Islam, but not of Europe.
Islam attempted to conquer Europe, but it did not succeed. That is also the reason why we Europeans in the West were able to develop our distinct identities as nation states. If we wish to maintain these, we have to stand together against the powers which strive to destroy our identities.
Dear friends, I am always happy whenever I have the possibility to speak in Germany. Whenever I am here, I ask you to stop being ashamed of your nation. Be proud of Germany. Be proud of being German patriots. You must stand by Germany, just as I stand by the Netherlands. We must all assume responsibility for the survival of our nation states.
Patriotism is often branded as fascism. But patriotism is not fascism. On the contrary, every democrat and defender of freedom must by definition be a patriot. The spirit of political freedom can not thrive outside the body of the nation state. The nation state is the political body in which we live. Therefore we have to maintain the nation state so we can pass on to our children the freedom and democracy which we enjoy.
Do not allow German identity to be swept away by Islam.
Do not allow German identity to be swept away by the EU.
The European unification process serves the goals of Islam because it undermines our national identities and robs us of the most important instruments for halting Islamisation: our national sovereignty.
The European Union does not solve any problems; the European Union is the problem. The EU is the largest attempt since the collapse of Communism to rob people of their sovereignty, their democracy, their identity and their dignity. The Eurocrats do not wish to hear this message, but it is the truth. Without the nation state there can be no complete, national, political freedom. Therefore we must be good patriots.
My dear ladies and gentlemen, dear friends; it is time to act. Just as the great American patriot Ronald Reagan, the man who freed Germany and Europe from Communism once said: "We must act today, in order to preserve tomorrow."
I am no defeatist. I am an optimist. Here is a short synopsis of the things which we therefore have to do. First of all we have to defend freedom of speech. As I have already said, it is the most important of all our freedoms. Today the erosion of our freedom of speech is emerging as the price which we have to pay in order to satisfy Islam. This is not acceptable. Something is completely wrong when those who deny that Islam is a problem take from us the right to discuss it.
Europe urgently needs something equivalent to the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, which guarantees freedom of speech. We must never be reduced to silence. If we permit Islam to intimidate us, we also permit it to rob us of our dignity and freedom. This must never happen.
Secondly, we must end cultural relativism. In my own land I have suggested that a clause in our constitution be accepted according to which the prevailing culture in the Netherlands rests on Judeo-Christian and humanistic principles.
Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, we must stop the Islamisation of our countries. More Islam means less freedom. Ladies and Gentlemen, there is already enough Islam in Europe. Immigrants ought to assimilate and accept our values.
Fourthly, we must restore the precedence and the sovereignty of the national state. As Germans you must appreciate the culture and identity of the German nation. You must demand that immigrants in Germany assume your values, and not the reverse. You must demand that you are governed not from Brussels, but from Berlin.
The last time I cautioned you to stop being ashamed of Germany. It is unfair, to reduce patriotism to National Socialism, just as it is unfair to reduce Russia to Stalinism. Be proud of your land. Only when Germans are proud of Germany will they be in the position to stand for Germany and to defend Germany. And you must stand for Germany, exactly the same way as the Party for Freedom in the Netherlands stands for the Netherlands. We must all stand for the survival of our nation states, because our nation states embody the democratic freedoms which we enjoy.
Like other peoples also, Germans have the right to remain who they are. Germans should not have to become Frenchmen, nor Netherlanders, nor Americans, nor Turks. Germans should remain Germans.
Finally, it is also our duty to help Israel, the national state of the Jewish people. Israel is the front line in the jihad. Israel is a navigational light surrounded by darkness. Israel is fighting our fight. Insofar as we help Israel to survive, we help ourselves.
Friends, we must stick together, shoulder to shoulder with Israel and with the other Western countries. We have to be able to rely on each other and help each other mutually in the fight against a common foe. If we wish to preserve our nations, and if we would like to pass our Judeo-Christian heritage down to our children, then we have to stand together. Otherwise we will soon be swept away by Brussels and Islam.
Dear friends, simply fulfil your duty. Please do not be afraid. Express the truth. Defend our freedom. Together, together we can preserve freedom; together we should preserve freedom, and, my friends, together we shall preserve freedom!