The EU should be stronger and more united. Great Britain should belong to the Union.
Die EU sollte stärker und geeinter sein. Großbritannien sollte der Union angehören.
L'UE devrait être plus forte et plus unie. La Grande-Bretagne devrait appartenir à l'Union.
Showing posts with label refused entry to UK. Show all posts
Showing posts with label refused entry to UK. Show all posts
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Misery Is It in This Dawn to Be Alive, and to Be Young Is Very Hell!
The decision of the British government – an excuse for a government in my opinion – to exclude this wonderful, enlightened, and very erudite Dutch politician from the shores of the United Kingdom marks a turning point – a sad turning point – in the history of these isles.
The United Kingdom has for centuries been known throughout the world as a refuge for people with all kinds of opinions which would have got them into trouble at home. We have welcomed all sorts of people to this country, knowing that their opinions were unsavoury to many. Now, after twelve years of Labour government (should that be NuLabour government?) we have reneged on our wonderful past and our traditions; and all in the name of political correctness in general, and in the name of Islam in particular. We have abandoned our principles.
Tens of thousands of people have gone to war to ensure that freedom of speech was enshrined in our way of life, enshrined in our ‘constitution'; yet this fact means nothing to the people that now rule us. Our politicians are as infantile as they are spineless, spunkless, and craven!
The prime minister – the overweight, pudgy specimen that he is – could have intervened; but he didn’t feel it was necessary to do so. Consequently, Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, better known as Jackboot Jacqui (alas, not my name for her – wish it were!) has shown that she is unfit to hold the office she does. She should be jackbooted out of that office – forthwith! She is unfit for purpose!
As for Lord Ahmed, he has got far, far too much to say for himself. He should be silenced. He is, if I am not greatly mistaken, one of the ones who is, behind the scenes, pulling the strings.
That we, now, in Great Britain (that’s a minsnomer if ever I heard one!) are allowing Muslims to call the shots is not only a disgrace, it is a harbinger of the dark days that lie ahead of us. Islam is not famous for its forward, enlightened thinking; from now on, unless this ludicrous decision is reversed, and soon, neither will be the United Kingdom’s. The UK has just taken a turn down the road of darkness, down the road of dhimmitude, down the road of benightedness.
Wilders, who is the leader of the Freedom Party, flew into the UK in the face of a ban from the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith just after 2pm to show an anti-Muslim film at the House of Lords.
He was seized by two border guards who boarded the BMI aircraft as it sat on the tarmac and was marched into a side room in the main Terminal One building.
The politician, who was invited by the UKIP peer Lord Pearson and cross-bencher Baroness Cox, had earlier been warned that Miss Smith viewed his presence in the country as a threat to the “fundamental interests of society”.
The Home Office refused to confirm the flight on which the politician would be placed.
But Mr Wilders’s spokesman in Amsterdam said that he understood that he would sent back to the Dutch capital within two hours.
Der wegen islamfeindlicher Äusserungen in Grossbritannien mit einem Einreiseverbot belegte niederländische Abgeordnete Geert Wilders ist auf dem Londoner Flughafen Heathrow in Gewahrsam genommen worden. In den Niederlanden wird gegen Wilders wegen Volksverhetzung ermittelt.
Der wegen islamfeindlicher Äusserungen in Grossbritannien mit einem Einreiseverbot belegte niederländische Abgeordnete Geert Wilders ist auf dem Londoner Flughafen Heathrow in Gewahrsam genommen worden. Seine Abschiebung in die Niederlande stehe unmittelbar bevor, sagte Wilders am Donnerstag der Nachrichtenagentur AP. Die britische Regierung hatte Wilders mitgeteilt, er sei nicht willkommen, weil er eine Bedrohung für «die Harmonie der Gemeinschaft und damit die öffentlichen Sicherheit» darstelle. >>> ap | Donnerstag, 12. Februar 2009
POLITIKEN: Denmark: Governing Liberal Party Spokesman Lambasts UK
Denmark’s governing Liberal Party Foreign Policy Spokesman Søren Pind has entered the debate concerning a decision by Britain to ban the entry of the populist Dutch politician Geert Wilders because of his extreme views about Islam.
“Unless you’re a terrorist or something like that, you of course should be able to travel freely within the European Union. That’s the whole idea behind European rights and freedoms,” says Pind.
Geert Wilders, who is the leader of the populist Party for Freedom in the Netherlands, is best-known abroad for his film ‘Fitna’ which compares Islam with terrorism and which has caused indignation across the world. The European Parliament has banned the film being shown in the EP.
Wilders was originally invited to the United Kingdom by a peer of the House of Lords to show his film Fitna and take part in a discussion afterwards.
EU rules
Under EU rules, Britain is entitled to deny Wilders entry into the country if he is considered to be a danger to public order.
But Pind says that while it is acceptable to deny large groups of Nazis, squatters and hooligans entry into a country – banning an elected politician from another EU country endangers basic freedoms.
“This case sounds all the alarm bells. When you subject an unimportant Dutch MP to this sort of treatment it shows just how far the authorities are willing to go to put the brakes on his freedoms. That is not gratifying,” Pind says.
Freedoms
“This is an elected politician who has a certain view about an ideology. Some see him as being drastic, but he doesn’t affect the groups that are a danger to public order. This case infringes on our view of freedom,” Pind says. >>> Edited by Julian Isherwood | Thursday, February 12, 2009
PINK NEWS: Gay Humanists Back Dutch MP's Right to Criticise Islam
A gay humanist group has said the Home Secretary was wrong to ban a Dutch MP who is critical of Islam.
Jaqui [sic] Smith said that Geert Wilders, a leading rightwing politician and a fierce critic of Muslims, has been denied permission to enter Britain on the grounds that his presence would damage community relations and threaten public order.
The Pink Triangle Trust (PTT) had declared its opposition to the ban.
"We maintain that in a free society anyone should have the right to criticise religion without being banned, dubbed racist or, even worse, threatened with death as the humanist author Saman Rushdie was over his book The Satanic Verses," said PTT secretary George Broadhead.
"There can be no doubt from reading its holy books, the Qur'an and the Hadith, that Islam is a homophobic religion, which at worst has lead to the barbaric torture and murder of LGBT people in Islamic theocracies like Iran and Saudi Arabia.
"But it is also deeply mysoginist and hostile to apostates and unbelievers like humanists. >>> Staff Writer, Pink News | Thursday, February 12, 2009
Britain was once renowned around the world for defending people's right to speak out. Not any more, says Philip Johnston.
The refusal to admit the oddball Dutch MP Geert Wilders to Britain yesterday marks a further retreat from this country's traditions of free speech. It stands in stark contrast to what happened exactly 20 years ago tomorrow, when Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran issued a fatwa calling for the death of Salman Rushdie for insulting the Prophet Mohammed in his book The Satanic Verses.
In retrospect, that was a turning point in the country's history of free speech, an event that appeared to demonstrate indomitability, yet turned out to be a defeat. An unambiguous stand was taken on Rushdie's behalf by the government of the day, which denounced the threat to his life and broke off diplomatic relations with Iran. Sir Geoffrey Howe, then foreign secretary, told the Commons: "This action is taken in plain defence of the right within the law of freedom of speech and the right within the law of freedom of protest."
Despite mass book burnings, protests around the world, including in Bolton and Bradford, and threats of violence, the work continued to be published and sold. How could it be otherwise? This was Britain, after all, the citadel of free speech. We would not be brow beaten into denying the rights of one of our citizens, or anyone else for that matter, from having their say, however controversial or offensive their opinion might be.
Sadly, the past two decades have seen a pusillanimous flight into cowering capitulation. We seem to have forgotten what free speech entails, how hard it was fought for and how important it is to defend. It is the value with which this country is most associated throughout the world. It is why Britain has been home, over the centuries, to so many political dissidents who would have been persecuted elsewhere, and why those who live in autocracies that brook no criticism tune into the BBC World Service.
They see this as a place able to accommodate opinions that are obviously crazy, offensive or even seditious, a country where a view can be held and expressed, provided – and this has always been true – that it does not foment violence.
Geert Wilders is an anti-Islamist who regards the Koran as inherently inflammatory and believes he is justified in saying so. He has made a 17-minute film, Fitna – an Arabic word meaning test of faith – setting out this thesis and was invited to show it at a private screening in the House of Lords. The film can be seen on the internet, so there is no question of stopping its dissemination. It contains some unpleasant images of bomb explosions, of captured hostages facing death and of chanting mobs interlaced with passages from the Koran.
Wilders claims that these verses from the holy book of Islam are being used today to incite modern Muslims to behave violently and anti-democratically. You may think he is wrong to say this; you may agree with him; you might, like the lords who invited him to Britain, think it is something worthy of discussion, given the obvious problems caused around the world by radical Islamism and the violence perpetrated in the name of the religion. It is hard, in a free country, to understand why it is a view that must be suppressed.
What, then, possessed the Home Office to ban Wilders – an unprecedented action against a democratically-elected politician from a European state, who is entitled to free movement within the EU? By any measure, it was an extraordinary decision; yet it was not even raised in parliament, the supposed guardian of our freedoms, though some MPs have commented on the ban, largely to support it. >>> Philip Johnston | Thursday, February 12, 2009
BBC: Geert Wilders Ban: Your Comments
A Dutch MP who described the Koran as a "fascist book" has been banned by the Home Office from entering the UK amid fears his presence would endanger public security.
Freedom Party MP Geert Wilders was due to show his controversial film - which links the Islamic holy book to terrorism - in the UK's House of Lords.
BBC News website readers have been getting in touch with their views on the decision.
Below is a selection [censored, maybe?] of your comments: >>> | Thursday, February 12, 2009
TIMES ONLINE: Anti-Islamist Politician Geert Wilders Refused Entry to Britain
The far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders was turned away from Heathrow today after testing the Home Secretary’s ban on him entering the country.
Immigration officials denied the Dutch MP entry to the country after the Government decided he should not be allowed to attend a screening of his controversial anti-Islamist film tonight.
Mr Wilders said: "I am in a detention centre at Heathrow ... I am detained. They took my passport. I will not be allowed to enter the country. They will send me back within a few hours.”
On his flight to London, he told The Times that the British Government was “the biggest bunch of cowards in Europe”.
”It is easy to invite people you agree with, it is more difficult to invite people you disagree with and this is the proof of the pudding," he said. >>> David Charter, Heathrow, and Nico Hines | Thursday, February 12, 2009
NRC HANDELSBLAD: The Dutch ambassador to Great Britain, Pieter Willem Waldeck, will meet the leader of the populist Party for Freedom (PVV), Geert Wilders, when he arrives in London on Thursday.
Dutch foreign minister Maxime Verhagen said the ambassador will be at the airport to assist the politician who is travelling to Great Britain in spite of a decision by the British government to refuse him entry. The British authorities say Wilders is not welcome because his outspoken views on the Muslim faith could lead to unrest.
Wilders had been invited by a member of the House of Lords to show his short film Fitna. The British refusal to deny entry to a Dutch member of parliament has been condemned by Dutch political parties. Maxime Verhagen appealed to the British government to reconsider its decision. >>> News Staff, NRC Handelsblad | Thursday, February 12, 2009
NRC HANDELSBLAD: Wilders’ Right to Speak
EDITORIAL: The United Kingdom does not want to admit anyone to its territory that would threaten “ Target=_blank>community harmony and therefore public security.” This argument was used to deny member of parliament Geert Wilders of the populist party PVV entry to the country on Tuesday. Too high a barrier to the free movement of people and the freedom of expression has thus been erected. Besides the fact that the law of both the European Union and the Council of Europe seems to be violated by this, the political concept of a free European space has also been damaged.
Ironically, striving for freedom often entails the prospect of confinement. That has now occurred. The fact that the ban affects a member of parliament makes the decision political, in addition to symbolic. The British are concerned about a well-defined political program that is democratically legitimised in the Netherlands. Voltaire is often credited with pointing out that freedom of expression means defending someone’s right to assert that with which one disagrees. That certainly applies to Wilders, who gives plenty of occasion for disagreement. But his freedom to express such disagreeable sentiments should prevail all the more. As should the duty to defend that freedom. Moreover what is at stake here is political freedom, without which other freedoms are all but unthinkable. >>> Editorial | Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Read the letter to Geert Wilders from the Home Office here
FOX NEWS: Despite Ban, Dutch Lawmaker Vows to Visit 'Cowardly' Britain
Dutch politician Geert Wilders says he's flying to Great Britain despite a government order banning him from entering the country, and he's daring the "weak and cowardly" British government to arrest him when he gets there.
"I'll see what happens at the border. Let them put me in handcuffs," Wilders told Radio Netherlands in an interview Wednesday. The right-wing lawmaker was invited by a member of Parliament to show his anti-Islam movie "Fitna," which calls the Koran a "fascist" book and accuses Islam of being a violent religion. He was told by the British Embassy in a letter Tuesday that he could not set foot in the country.
Britain's Home Office would not comment specifically on the ban, but it said it "opposes extremism in all its forms" and would work to "stop those who want to spread extremism, hatred and violent messages in our communities from coming to our country." >>> Fox News | Wednesday, February 11, 2009
MAIL Online: A bitter diplomatic row erupted today after Britain banned a controversial Right-wing Dutch politician from the UK.
Geert Wilders had been invited by the Ukip peer Lord Pearson to show his anti-Islam film 'Fitna' and hold a Q&A session in Parliament tomorrow.
The 17-minute documentary features verses from the Koran - which it brands a 'fascist book' - alongside images of the 9/11 and 7/7 terrorist attacks.
It equates Islam's holy text with violence and ends with a call to Muslims to remove its 'hate-preaching' verses.
After being alerted to the private screening, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith barred Mr Wilders on the grounds that his visit was a threat to 'community harmony and therefore public security'.
But the move brought a furious response from the Dutch foreign minister Maxime Verhagen - a political opponent of Mr Wilders - who complained directly to the Foreign Secretary David Miliband in a 'curt' telephone call.
'The fact that a Dutch parliamentarian is refused entry to another EU country is highly regrettable,' he said.
However, Britain is refusing to give way, even though Mr Wilders is a democratically-elected politician and the leader of a legitimate political party.
A defiant Mr Wilders, who claims to have visited the House of Lords in December, called the decision 'cowardly' and vowed last night to go ahead with his visit.
'Let them try to detain me,' he said. 'I'll see what happens at the border. Let them put me in handcuffs. We are talking here about a European Union country, one of the oldest democracies in the Western world.'
While Mr Verhagen said the Dutch government would press Britain to reverse the ban, Lord Pearson said he was 'very surprised' to hear the news.
Under UK and EU immigration rules, a person can be refused entry to Britain, 'if his exclusion is justified on grounds of public policy, public security or public health.'
The Home Office refused to comment on the individual case of Mr Wilders.
But a spokesman said: 'The Government opposes extremism in all its forms. It will stop those who want to spread extremism, hatred and violent messages in our communities from coming to our country.
'We endorse the original condemnation of the film 'Fitna' by the Dutch Government, and feel that it serves no constructive purpose. >>> By Michael Lea | Wednesday, February 11, 2009
RADIO NETHERLANDS WORLDWIDE: Wilders to Travel to Great Britain Despite Ban
The leader of the populist Freedom Party, Geert Wilders, says he will travel to Great Britain on Thursday in spite of a decision by the British government to refuse him entry. The British authorities say he is not welcome because his visit could pose a threat to public order. Mr Wilders had been invited by a member of the House of Lords to show his film Fitna. Members of the British Muslim community have protested against plans to show the film.
The British refusal to deny entry to a Dutch MP has been condemned by politicians from across the Dutch political spectrum. Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen has contacted his British counterpart David Milibrand and protested against the decision. [Source: RNW] Wednesday, February 11, 2009
AFP: Far-right Dutch MP Ignores Britain on Entry Refusal
THE HAGUE — A far-right Dutch politician facing trial after likening Islam to Nazism vowed Wednesday to press ahead with a planned trip to London despite Britain's refusal to grant him entry.
"I am going tomorrow. We will see what will happen," Geert Wilders, best known for his anti-Islam short film "Fitna", told AFP.
He said his plane was scheduled to land at Heathrow airport on Thursday at 1305 GMT.
Wilders, 45, is the leader of the Dutch Freedom Party (PVV), which has nine seats in parliament.
British authorities informed Wilders on Tuesday that his presence in the United Kingdom would pose a "genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat to one of the fundamental interests of society".
"Your statements about Muslims and their beliefs, as expressed in your film 'Fitna' and elsewhere, would threaten community harmony and therefore public security," said a letter addressed to Wilders and made available to AFP. >>> | Wednesday, February 11, 2009
If anyone had doubted the extent to which Britain has capitulated to Islamic terror, the banning of Geert Wilders a few hours ago should surely open their eyes. Wilders, the Dutch member of parliament who had made an uncompromising stand against the Koranic sources of Islamist extremism and violence, was due to give a screening of Fitna, his film on this subject, at the House of Lords on Thursday. This meeting had been postponed after Lord Ahmed had previously threatened the House of Lords authorities that he would bring a force of 10,000 Muslims to lay siege to the Lords if Wilders was allowed to speak. To their credit, the Lords authorities had stood firm and said extra police would be drafted in to meet this threat and the Wilders meeting should go ahead.
But now the government has announced that it is banning Wilders from the country. A letter from the Home Secretary’s office to Wilders, delivered via the British embassy in the Hague, said:
...the Secretary of State is of the view that your presence in the UK would pose a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat to one of the fundamental interests of society. The Secretary of State is satisfied that your statements about Muslims and their beliefs, as expressed in your film Fitna and elsewhere would threaten community harmony and therefore public security in the UK.
So let’s get this straight. The British government allows people to march through British streets screaming support for Hamas, it allows Hizb ut Tahrir to recruit on campus for the jihad against Britain and the west, it takes no action against a Muslim peer who threatens mass intimidation of Parliament, but it bans from the country a member of parliament of a European democracy who wishes to address the British Parliament on the threat to life and liberty in the west from religious fascism.
It is he, not them, who is considered a ‘serious threat to one of the fundamental interests of society’. Why? Because the result of this stand for life and liberty against those who would destroy them might be an attack by violent thugs. The response is not to face down such a threat of violence but to capitulate to it instead. >>> Melanie Phillips | Wednesday, February 11, 2009
RADIO NETHERLANDS WORLDWIDE: Dutch Right-wing politician and controversial anti-Islam campaigner Geert Wilders has been refused entry to the United Kingdom despite being invited to visit by a member of the House of Lords, the British parliament's upper chamber.
Mr Wilders (pictured), who was due to go to London this Thursday, received a letter today, 10 February, from the British ambassador to the Netherlands telling him that he was not welcome, reportedly because his visit would constitute a threat to public order.
Handcuffs
Mr Wilders responded to the decision in fighting mood, telling Dutch media that he still intended to travel to London:
"I'll see what happens at the border. Let them put me in handcuffs."
Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen's response was also firm. He contacted his UK counterpart, David Miliband, by telephone and voiced his dissatisfaction that a member of the Dutch parliament - Geert Wilders is in fact also the leader of a political grouping, the Freedom Party - has been prohibited from entering a fellow European Union member state. >>> By RNW Internet, (Sources: ANP/Elsevier) | Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Send your PROTESTS to the Foreign Secretary:
private.office@fco.gov.uk OR milibandd@parliament.uk
TELEGRAPH BLOGS: Geert Wilders, Anti-Islamic Politician, Banned from Britain
Can this really be true? An elected representative, the leader of a legitimate political party, banned from entering the United Kingdom? On what possible grounds?
It's true that Geert Wilders is a controversialist, who takes pleasure in causing offence. He needs 24-hour protection, so serious are the death-threats he has attracted from jihadis. He revels in offending liberals as well as Muslims: his call for the Koran to be banned struck me as rather inconsistent with his stated commitment to civic freedoms. I wouldn't vote for him if I were Dutch.
But what I think of him is neither here nor there. Freedom means the freedom to express any opinion, however eccentric, however offensive. The Dutch foreign minister, a political opponent of Mr Wilders, has complained to David Miliband. Good for him. Whether our government is actuated by cowardice or authoritarianism, it's equally ugly. We are a meaner country than we were this morning. Comment here >>> Daniel Hannan | Tuesday, February 10, 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: Martha Stewart has been refused a visa to Britain because of her criminal convictions for obstructing justice, the Daily Telegraph has learned.
The lifestyle guru, convicted four years ago in the US for obstructing justice, was planning to speak at the Royal Academy and to hold meetings with several figures in the fashion and leisure industry, including Jasper Conran, and was due to travel within the next few days.
The refusal by the UK Border Agency was sent to Ms Stewart, aged 66. A spokesperson for the business magnate said: "Martha loves England and hopes this can be resolved and that she will be able to visit soon."
She added that Ms Stewart has many friends in Britain, which she has visited numerous times. Martha Stewart Refused Entry to the UK >>> By Christopher Hope Home Affairs Editor and Alex Spillius in Washington | June 19, 2008
