After the honor of pocketing the freedom award in Italy last week, today Dutch MP Geert Wilders is off to our guarantor of free speech (at least, we hope so), the cradle of Liberty, the United States of America. He does so at the invitation of the influential Republican Senator for Arizona, Jon Kyl.

Last Thursday's event in Rome included a ceremony during which Wilders was awarded the Oriana Fallaci Free Speech Award, an honor that recognizes him, like the late Italian author and journalist, as a “symbol of the fight against Islamic Fascism and a knight of the freedom of humankind.”

Wilders noted the objectives of his "Facing Jihad" world tour:

“This event is part of the ‘Facing Jihad’ world tour for "Fitna" that will serve to expose Islam for what it is: an ideology that preaches terrorism, antisemitism and the oppression of women, homosexuals and non-Muslims”, Wilders said.

“Educating the public about the harsh realities of Islamization is the first step to effectively combating and ultimately defeating Global Jihad”.

But after his confrontation with the UK's Labor Government of Gordon Brown last week which barred him from entering Britain on account of "endangering community harmony", today he's off to the US where he will be showing "Fitna" to the Senate at the invitation of Senator Jon Kyl.

Individual Liberty and the Freedom of Speech being carved into the bedrock in that nation, Wilders doesn't expect any similar problems with Home Office officials there. Neither did he have any last week when entering Italy. It says a lot about the state of affairs in Britain today, no longer great! by any standard save one.

The showing in the American Senate will be followed by an informal discussion, in which the topic will be the state of the freedom of expression in Europe. Senator Kyl in his invitation referred to the enormous controversy sparked by Britain's ban.

Isn't that a first class embarrassment, after the Americans had to bail out Europe from various collectivist adventures a number of times over the last century?! Apparently we're still clueless how to safeguard our own values and keep them.

There has been a debate in The Hague Parliament over the Wilders ban, but the Dutch Government, while initially speaking up for a parliamentarian's right to do his job in any of the EU member states, have now dug in their heels and refuse to bring up the case in the wider political European arena.

The loyalties of the Christian Democrat Government apparently aren't as much to Liberty (not part of their political philosophy, after all) but rather to fellow 'confessionals' under the banner of - as Pat Condell put it - "any religious value in society is better than none".

Wilders will also visit New York and Boston this week, where he will host press meetings, grant interviews and feature in a number of MSM talk shows in order to raise money for his legal fund. While he's having to bear the costs of appealing the British ban, he's also facing mounting legal expenses defending against the indictment for "inciting hatred" extended to him by the Amsterdam Court of Political Correctness and Dhimmidom. (Hit the donate button on top of this page if you want to contribute.)

In an article on American Thinker author Andrew G. Bostom clarifies that what Wilders demands is simply precision and consistency in the application of the law: "Wilders compared the Koran to Mein Kampf and called it hate speech according to the Dutch Penal Code". In a 2008 post Bostom collates Wilders' view with historical comments made by Winston Churchill on the same subject.

He's also breaking the news that Wilders is now proposing a European First Amendment. Well, not a moment too soon to rid ourselves of the politically correct perversion that is 'hate speech'. Short of actual and proven incitement to murder it has no place in a mature society.

Bostom also interestingly calls to mind a very similar case as Wilders' Fitna, compiled in a book by Sita Ram Goel dating back to 1986 known as "The Calcutta Quran Petition" (peruse it here) (buy it here). The given aim of the book reads: "(...) to promote a public discussion of Islam as a religion, particularly its claim that every bit of the Quran and the Hadis has a divine source. This claim is used at present to prevent a close examination of what the book contains and what message Islam has for mankind at large".

Faith Freedom explains:

Three heroic sons of India, namely Sri Chandmal Chopra, advocate of Calcutta High Court, Sri Hamangshu Kumar Chakraborthy and Sri Sital Singh filed an application in the Calcutta High Court (...) to declare each copy of the Quran (...) forfeited to the government. In their petition they stated, among other things, the following reasons:

(...) the book contains words or sayings which promote, on ground of religion, disharmony, enmity, hatred or ill-will between different religious communities or which outrage the religious feelings of any class of citizens of India or insult the religion or religious beliefs of that class of people.

Two Hindus were arrested - under Indian law exploited by Muslims to prevent public criticism of their faith - for publishing a poster which simply cited 24 Koranic verses with a caption “Why riots take place in this country.”

The accused were eventually acquitted by a magistrate who opined, that close perusal of the citations shows that they are harmful, teach hatred, and ... how can we put that succinctly ... generally endanger community harmony.

Related:

- Why Multiculturalism is Racist and Evil
- A Treasure Trove of Treason
- Liberty be Damned!
- Live Blogging "Geert Goes to London" and Back ...
- Geert Wilders: Let Them Eat Grits!
- Geert Wilders: Persona Non Grata in Britain

- Filed on Articles in "In Defense of Liberty" -