HAARETZ: AMSTERDAM - When "tolerance" becomes a term of abuse in a place like the Netherlands, you know that something has gone seriously wrong. The Dutch always took pride in being the most tolerant people on earth. In less feverish times than these, no one could possibly have taken exception to Queen Beatrix's speech last Christmas, when she pleaded for tolerance and "respect for minorities." But Geert Wilders, leader of the right-wing, anti-Muslim Party of Freedom, was so disgusted by the Dutch queen's "multicultural rubbish" that he wanted her to be stripped of her constitutional role in the government.
Wilders, a popular rabble-rouser whose party occupies nine seats in the Dutch parliament, compares the Koran to Hitler's "Mein Kampf," wants to stop Muslims from moving to the Netherlands and thunders that those who are already in the country should tear up half the Koran if they wish to stay. Tolerance toward Islam is cowardly appeasement in his eyes. He thinks that Europe is in peril of being "Islamized." "There will soon be more mosques than churches," he says, if true Europeans don't have the guts to stand up and save Western civilization.
Notwithstanding his call to ban the Koran, Wilders and his admirers claim to believe in unfettered free speech as a Western birthright. Beatrix stated that the right to free speech does not automatically mean the right to offend. Wilders disagrees. No criticism of Islam, however offensive, should ever be hampered by political correctness. Wilders uses every opportunity to test Muslims' (often very limited) tolerance. His latest provocation is a short film denouncing Islam, which is yet to be screened but has already caused panic all around. Remarkably for a Dutch politician - and a minor one, at that - news of Wilders' antics has reached the world press. Dutch embassies are bracing themselves for violent demonstrations, and the government is considering special security measures.
Some commentators suggest that Wilders, born and raised as a Catholic in a provincial Dutch town, is, like his Muslim enemies, a true believer, driven by the goal of keeping Europe "Judeo-Christian." Perhaps, but this is probably a red herring. His war on Islam is also, and perhaps even mainly, a war on the cultural and political elites, the Dutch intellectual establishment, the Eurocrats of Brussels and the liberal-minded queen. A War on Tolerance >>> By Ian Buruma
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)
