Old-Fashioned Eurofascists Provoking New Muslim Cartoon Brawl

By Kevin Tillman, AlterNet. Posted January 28, 2008.

In a liberal democracy, it's crucially important that a person's right to be a total douchebag not be limited by the state (I think it's in our Constitution somewhere). So while I think he should be ostracized -- shamed -- by reasonable people everywhere, it warms my heart that there are no widespread calls* for the Dutch government to censor the latest stupidity from xeonphobic Dutch wingnut (is there another kind of Dutch wingnut?) Geert Wilders …

As The Observer reported last week:

The Dutch government is bracing itself for violent protests following the scheduled broadcast this week of a provocative anti-Muslim film by a radical right-wing politician who has threatened to broadcast images of the Koran being torn up and otherwise desecrated [Ed: It's since been put on hold until March].

Cabinet ministers and officials, fearing a repetition of the crisis sparked by the publication of cartoons of Muhammad in a Danish newspaper two years ago, have held a series of crisis meetings and ordered counter-terrorist services to draw up security plans. Dutch nationals overseas have been asked to register with their embassies and local mayors in the Netherlands have been put on standby.

Geert Wilders, one of nine members of the extremist PVV (Freedom) party in the 150-seat Dutch lower house, has promised that his film will be broadcast - on television or on the internet - whatever the pressure may be. It will, he claims, reveal the Koran as 'source of inspiration for intolerance, murder and terror.'

See more stories tagged with: dutch politics, geert wilders, muslim cartoon controvers, stupidity, extremism

Joshua Holland is an editor and senior writer at AlterNet.

Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from AlterNet! Sign up now »