“The lights are going out all over Europe” – Geert Wilders

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Two years ago when I was in our nation’s capital for a CPAC convention, I attended a reception hosted by Pamela Geller, Dr. Andy Bostom, David Horowitz, and Robert Spencer, four highly esteemed people in the forefront of the fight against radical Islam.

Among those at the event was Lt. Col. Allen West, who had lost his initial bid for Congress the previous fall.  As we know, he ran again and won, and now represents Florida’s 22nd congressional district, his bayonet affixed.

The reception was held to introduce Geert Wilders, the Dutch parliamentarian who was being hounded throughout the world and in his own country for speaking the truth about radical Islam and its creep throughout Europe.  Bulked up body guards positioned themselves at strategic spots, and one or two never left his side. For Wilders, it was like being  caught in a bad B-movie.

Wilders is a tall man — 6’5 or more — with a head of thick blonde hair.  Standing beside him, he towered over me and pretty much everyone else in the room.

The reception was held independent of CPAC because CPAC’s organizers weren’t interested in availing themselves of Wilders’ presence or more tragically, what Wilders had to say. Their loss.  And an early indication of why CPAC is rapidly losing is cachet as the “must” event for the conservative crowd.

No matter.  The irrepressible Pamela, together with Jihad Watch’s Spencer and author Bostom, went forward with their own arrangements, which attracted more than 500 of CPAC’s attendees.  It was standing room only, and many had to be turned away because of the hotel’s fire laws.  Pamela has more great photos and details at her site, Atlas Shrugs.

So it was a meet and greet, and Wilders graciously posed for photos and chatted with folks who were eager to meet him and view the movie FITNA. After mingling for nearly an hour, Geert spoke to the standing room only crowd prior to showing Fitna on a screen beside him.

This week, Geert Wilders was brought before a judge in a courtroom for speaking the truth, for speaking out against a brutal culture that vows to spread its totalitarian system (caliphate) in the USA and throughout the world.  His opening remarks before the court were stunning.  Thanks to Baron and Dymphna at Gates of Vienna for providing us with the translated version.

Below is the speech given by Geert Wilders on the opening day of his new trial on “hate speech” charges in Amsterdam. Many thanks to Vlaamse Leeuwin for the translation:

The lights are going out all over Europe. All over the continent where our culture flourished and where man created freedom, prosperity and civilization. The foundation of the West is under attack everywhere.

All over Europe the elites are acting as the protectors of an ideology that has been bent on destroying us for fourteen centuries. An ideology that has sprung from the desert and that can produce only deserts because it does not give people freedom. The Islamic Mozart, the Islamic Gerard Reve [a Dutch author], the Islamic Bill Gates; they do not exist because without freedom there is no creativity. The ideology of Islam is especially noted for killing and oppression and can only produce societies that are backward and impoverished. Surprisingly, the elites do not want to hear any criticism of this ideology.

My trial is not an isolated incident. Only fools believe it is. All over Europe multicultural elites are waging total war against their populations. Their goal is to continue the strategy of mass immigration, which will ultimately result in an Islamic Europe — a Europe without freedom: Eurabia.

The lights are going out all over Europe. Anyone who thinks or speaks individually is at risk. Freedom-loving citizens who criticize Islam, or even merely suggest that there is a relationship between Islam and crime or honour killing, must suffer, and are threatened or criminalized. Those who speak the truth are in danger.

The lights are going out allover Europe. Everywhere the Orwellian thought police are at work, on the lookout for thought crimes everywhere, casting the populace back within the confines where it is allowed to think.

This trial is not about me. It is about something much greater. Freedom of speech is not the property of those who happen to belong to the elites of a country. It is an inalienable right, the birthright of our people. For centuries battles have been fought for it, and now it is being sacrificed to please a totalitarian ideology.

Future generations will look back at this trial and wonder who was right. Who defended freedom and who wanted to get rid of it.

The lights are going out all over Europe. Our freedom is being restricted everywhere, so I repeat what I said here last year:

It is not only the privilege, but also the duty of free people — and hence also my duty as a member of the Dutch Parliament — to speak out against any ideology that threatens freedom. Hence it is a right and a duty to speak the truth about the evil ideology that is called Islam. I hope that freedom of speech will emerge triumphant from this trial. I hope not only that I shall be acquitted, but especially that freedom of speech will continue to exist in the Netherlands and in Europe.