Last night, Dutch anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders visited Toronto, where he spoke to both Sun TV’s Ezra Levant and the Canada Christian College. Wilders, for the uninitiated, is the leader of the third-largest political party in the Netherlands and the one-trickiest of one-trick ponies. His ideology can be summed up, essentially, as such: he really, really doesn’t like Muslims. His “Party for [non-Muslim] Freedom” probably has other positions on important issues, but it’s his unfortunate views on Islam that get him invited to international speaking arrangements. So what does Wilders believe? We take a look at five of his most ridiculous statements after the jump.
1. Canada should ban the burka
According to the Toronto Sun, Wilders offered that “if Muslim women are forced to wear burkas covering their faces, they will never find jobs or have friends in Canada, and will forever be dependent on their husbands.” Even if that were true, broad attacks on religious clothing usually end up making the state look silly. Case in point: France. There, even moderate Muslim women began wearing the burka to protest the country’s blanket ban, and police complained that they had better things to do with their time. Oh, and speaking of moderate Muslims…
According to the Toronto Sun, Wilders offered that “if Muslim women are forced to wear burkas covering their faces, they will never find jobs or have friends in Canada, and will forever be dependent on their husbands.” Even if that were true, broad attacks on religious clothing usually end up making the state look silly. Case in point: France. There, even moderate Muslim women began wearing the burka to protest the country’s blanket ban, and police complained that they had better things to do with their time. Oh, and speaking of moderate Muslims…
2. There’s no such thing as moderate Islam
Wilders regularly compares the Quran to Mein Kampf, which is the kind of rhetorical trick that even the Internet frowns upon. But, apparently, it isn’t too silly for newspaper columnists. Wilders says: “There is no moderate Islam….There is no good part of the Quran.” That’s one heck of a broad statement, and it also happens to be completely at odds with the actual experience of Canadian politics. The country’s various Muslim communities have long been engaged in an important conversation over what “moderate” and “extreme” mean, and how to adapt Islamic views to Canadian culture.
Wilders regularly compares the Quran to Mein Kampf, which is the kind of rhetorical trick that even the Internet frowns upon. But, apparently, it isn’t too silly for newspaper columnists. Wilders says: “There is no moderate Islam….There is no good part of the Quran.” That’s one heck of a broad statement, and it also happens to be completely at odds with the actual experience of Canadian politics. The country’s various Muslim communities have long been engaged in an important conversation over what “moderate” and “extreme” mean, and how to adapt Islamic views to Canadian culture.
3. The Muslims are taking over
Stop us when this sounds familiar: “An increasingly vociferous Islamic lobby has led to the harassment of Christians, female genital mutilation and polygamy, [Wilders] said, adding that with its own growing Muslim community, Canada faces the same fate.” Wilders believes that Muslims’ growing numbers and religious devotion make them, both in the Netherlands and in Canada, a danger to democracy. Likewise, Levant says: “The challenges radical Islam poses in Holland today are challenges we will face tomorrow.” This is generally called the “Eurabia” scenario, and even a passing glance at the actual data reveals that it exists only in the fevered dreams of, well, people like Levant and Wilders.
Stop us when this sounds familiar: “An increasingly vociferous Islamic lobby has led to the harassment of Christians, female genital mutilation and polygamy, [Wilders] said, adding that with its own growing Muslim community, Canada faces the same fate.” Wilders believes that Muslims’ growing numbers and religious devotion make them, both in the Netherlands and in Canada, a danger to democracy. Likewise, Levant says: “The challenges radical Islam poses in Holland today are challenges we will face tomorrow.” This is generally called the “Eurabia” scenario, and even a passing glance at the actual data reveals that it exists only in the fevered dreams of, well, people like Levant and Wilders.
4. Brown people go home
From Wilders: “If [Muslims] want to have Islamic culture, [they should] stay in the country where [they] came from.” Yikes. We’re pretty sure we shouldn’t need to explain why that’s an absurd position for a country of immigrants, especially one that’s been welcoming Muslims for decades now. Hell, even the right-of-centre party in Canada is busy soliciting the “very ethnic” vote. Not only does Canada want them, it wants them to vote in large numbers!
From Wilders: “If [Muslims] want to have Islamic culture, [they should] stay in the country where [they] came from.” Yikes. We’re pretty sure we shouldn’t need to explain why that’s an absurd position for a country of immigrants, especially one that’s been welcoming Muslims for decades now. Hell, even the right-of-centre party in Canada is busy soliciting the “very ethnic” vote. Not only does Canada want them, it wants them to vote in large numbers!
5. Muslims are a threat to gay rights
This just makes us laugh—not because we’re ignorant of the actual homophobia that exists in many Muslim countries, but because the march of gay rights in Canada and the Netherlands is happening at the same time that Wilders believes the battle against creeping Islamization is being lost.
This just makes us laugh—not because we’re ignorant of the actual homophobia that exists in many Muslim countries, but because the march of gay rights in Canada and the Netherlands is happening at the same time that Wilders believes the battle against creeping Islamization is being lost.
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