This is true; but he has been indicted by the Amsterdam court now for inciting hatred against minorities on the basis of his comparison between the Quran and Mein Kampf (among other things). I don’t think though the British fear that Wilders’ supporters will start violence but rather that his opponents are going to try to kill him, which is of course a distinct possibility.
look, he was invited by British parliamentarians, which is to say (if you subscribe to the idea that the UK is somehow a representative democracy) he was indirectly invited by the British people. I was British, I wouldn’t want my political representatives to be curtailed in this way, and I’d sure be pissed off if the Dutch government (i.e. my government, or, more properly, the government of my country) restricted Dutch MPs in this way. To be sure, the entire Dutch parliament and the government have roundly rejected this move by the British in the clearest of terms.
Please direct your attention to the terms and conditions set forth by the straight dope. If you really believe what i have posted is racism, then kindly hit the report this post and let the mods decide.
I seen your definition, i just dont agree with it.
I do believe that your statement of wanting to fight ignorance is laudable, however it does not excuse you from calling the mods on me, either call me a racist and let the system decide, or refrain from using that term.
There’s a ton of stuff going on over here that can explain Wilders’ popularity. Mainly, there really are problems with certain groups of mostly 2nd generation young Muslim immigrants. There is a discussion between and within pretty much all political parties about what the problem really is, and how best to deal with it. Meanwhile, Wilders walks in and comes up with the “easy answer” - and the man can talk; he’s by far the best orator in current politics over here - even if his ideas are crap and he’s useless in a discussion. Of course people are going to vote for him, especially if they perceive the alternatives as nothing more than idle talk.
Also don’t forget Fortuyn.
Just because you guys have a two-party system doesn’t mean you don’t have a lot of bigots who are popular. They just get sucked into the republican party.
I can see both sides of this. Remember there is no god-given right to enter another county. The US denies entry to people based on all sorts of crazy reasons (for example this guy who was denied entry as he had written essays in the 60s advocating psychedelic drug use in psychiatry).
Its common for people with extremist views be denied entry to the UK. Why should this guy be any different ? (and his views ARE clearly extremist).
Actually I am in Canada, and the individual that i posted , one earnst zundel was widely regarded as being a right looney tune. I suspect that I could name several mainstream politicians that had peoples hair raising, but possibly because of the way they were trending, not actually what they actually said.
From where I sit, Wilder does not appear any different than that Austrian Haidar, or the french chap, in the end the people spoke and they were defeated.
Well the UK now is part of the EU and subject to it’s laws so it is not entirely free to do whatever it wants in this or other respects. Which, BTW, I think is a good thing for everybody concerned.
EU or not, the UK is absolutely free to deny entry to whomever it damn pleases to deny entry. This is not to say that the British decision is a wise one, or a fair one, though.
No. It is NOT “absolutely free to deny entry to whomever it damn pleases to deny entry”. It is not even “relatively free” because it has signed the EU treaties which govern this matter and also its decisions can be appealed to the EU courts.
It may well be that the treaties specify some conditions (like criminal past, etc) where a member state may deny entry but in general citizens of EU countries have a right to enter the UK which cannot be denied by the authorities of the UK.
The previous government in Denmark barred Rushdie from entering the country. Also on some spurious security concerns. Boy did that ever generate a shit storm. They lost in the next election – not a little part because of it. And they are still taking heat from it, now more than a decade later. And for a good reason too. “community harmony” – what the hell is that? What an ominous sounding phrase.
Too right! We banned Snoop Dog at one point, so I’ve no objection to this racist asshole being prevented from setting up a soapbox…unless it is on Hyde Park Corner.
