Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > Geert Wilders Speech "The Failure of Muliticulturalism in Canada and Europe"
Geert Wilders Speech "The Failure of Muliticulturalism in Canada and Europe"
May 13, 2011
The Failure of Multiculturalism in Canada and Europe
Ladies and gentlemen, let me thank you for inviting me to Canada. It is great to be here in your beautiful country. Last week, we celebrated Liberation Day in the Netherlands. Canadian soldiers played a very important role in the liberation of the Netherlands in 1944-45. We are immensely grateful for that. They gave their lives so that we might be free. The Dutch people will never forget that.
Canada is also dear to us because your country is the home to over 1 million people of Dutch descent.
Dutch immigrants, like countless immigrants from other countries, have helped to turn Canada into what it is today. My countrymen did not come to impose their own language and traditions upon the non-Dutch Canadians, but they assimilated into Canadian society and, in doing so, they enriched it.
Millions of immigrants have come to this country. They were welcomed because they contributed. They went through all the necessary steps to become Canadian citizens. Because they came from many countries and continents, Canada is a truly multi-ethnic country. But they all blended in and strengthened Canada.
Today, Europe is also confronted with millions of immigrants. Unfortunately, they are not strengthening our societies. Europe is in the middle of an islamization process, driven by immigration from islamic countries.
Before I continue I want to make clear that I do not have a problem with Muslims. There are many moderate Muslims. I always make a distinction between the people and the ideology, between Muslims and islam. There are many moderate Muslims, but there is no such thing as a moderate islam.
And because there is no such thing as a moderate islam, the islamization of our societies is a dangerous threat. The consequences can be seen all over Europe. Europe's islamic lobby is increasingly assertive. It has successfully pressured European politicians into implementing pro-islamic policies and adopting anti-Israeli positions.
As the Muslim population is concentrated in urban areas, many European cities have very large islamic concentrations. In some neighbourhoods, islamic regulations are already being enforced – also on non-Muslims. Women's rights are being trampled. We are confronted with headscarves and burqa's, polygamy, female genital mutilation, honor-killings. "In each one of our cities" wrote the well-known Italian author Oriana Fallaci shortly before her death in 2006, "there is a second city, a state within the state, a government within the government. A Muslim city, a city ruled by the Koran." – End of quote.
Unfortunately, the influence of those Muslims who organize their lives according to the islamic requirements is growing across Europe, especially among young people. Among 15-year-old German Muslims, 40 percent consider islam more important than democracy. Among Muslim university students in Britain, 40 percent support sharia. One in three of those students considers it legitimate to kill in the name of islam.
In January 2008, Michael Nazir-Ali, the Anglican bishop of Rochester, England, stated that – I quote – "the ideology of islamic extremism [has succeeded] to turn already separate communities into ‘no-go' areas […]. Those of a different faith or race may find it difficult to live or work there because of hostility to them and even the risk of violence." – end of quote.
In June 2008, the Christian church authorities in the Danish town of Arhus decided to pay so-called "protection money" to islamic so-called "security guards" who assure that church goers are not harassed by islamic youths. On March 31st, 2010, a fight broke out in the Roman Catholic cathedral of Cordoba, Spain, when Muslims entered the cathedral and claimed that it was theirs. They attacked the guards with knives.
Women and Christians, homosexuals and Jews, atheists and apostates, Sikhs and Hindus, they are all being threatened.
How did we get into this situation? It is partly our own fault because we have foolishly adopted the ideology of multiculturalism. I use the term "multiculturalism" to refer to cultural relativism. It is a specific political ideology which advocates that all cultures are equal. If they are equal it follows that the state is not allowed to promote any specific cultural values as central and dominant. In other words: multiculturalism holds that the state should not promote a leitkultur, which immigrants must accept if they want to live in our midst. In Canada, as in Europe, this leitkultur used to be based on Judeo-Christian and humanist values.
The situation in Canada is not as bad as in Europe yet. Unfortunately, however, your country, too, has officially adopt multiculturalism. This happened under the prime ministership of Pierre Trudeau in the 1970s. In a speech to the Canadian House of Commons on October 8th, 1971, Trudeau advocated – I quote – "a vigorous policy of multiculturalism." – end of quote.
Forty years later, it is clear to all that multiculturalism has been a failure. Last February, the Canadian newspaper The Sun wrote that multiculturalism was – I quote – "a Utopian dream that has failed like all Utopian dreams. […] Just look at Canada […] and you will see a disaster. […] What we have is a […] society living largely in segregation. […] And what ferments so often in many of these single-cultural, often state-dependent ghettos are the religious prejudices and ethnic hatreds of [the] homelands [of the immigrants]." – end of quote.
But The Sun is omitting something. So are the European politicians, President Sarkozy of France, Chancellor Merkel of Germany, and Prime Minister Cameron of Britain, who recently also pointed out that multiculturalism has been a disaster. They all carefully avoid referring to the elephant in the room of multiculturalism. This elephant in the room is islam.
Multiculturalism would not have been able to cause the damage it has done if it had not been for islam. Singapore's former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew recently said – I quote: "We can integrate all religions and races except Islam." – end of quote. Mr Lee is right. He was speaking from experience in his own multi-ethnic country, where Malays, Indians, Chinese and Europeans live harmoniously together, and only the followers of islam cause problems.
Muslims reacted with such indignation to Mr Lee's remarks that he was forced to retract his statement and apologize. But this does not mean that Mr Lee was wrong. The European experience shows that Mr Lee is right. It is islam which is causing the most problems for societal harmony in our multicultural societies.
Multiculturalism is divisive. It encourages groups not to assimilate into one homogeneous society. On the contrary, it stimulates them to keep their divisions and to push their own agendas. This is a recipe for conflict when islam is involved. Because islam has one main goal: the submission, whether by persuasion, intimidation or violence, of non-Muslims.
The Dutchmen who came to your country never caused any problems because they did not bring along an ideology which prohibits friendship with non-Dutchmen, which commands them to hate non-Dutchmen, and to submit or kill non-Dutchmen.
Islam, however, comes with a book which it claims was written by God himself – a book which states that Muslims have more rights than non-Muslims, and that the latter, in fact, have no rights at all and should be submitted or killed. Sura 8 verse 60 is but one of very many aggressive verses in the koran. It states unequivocally – I quote: "Prepare for them whatever force and cavalry ye are able of gathering to strike terror, to strike terror into the hearts of the enemies of Allah and your enemies." – end of quote.
Multiculturalism is a disaster. Almost everyone acknowledges this today, but few dare say why it has been such an utter disaster. I will tell you why: Multiculturalism has been a catastrophe because it has been a tool to promote islam – an ideology that threatens our core values, such as tolerance.
Multiculturalism made us tolerate the intolerant, and now intolerance is annihilating tolerance. We should, in the name of tolerance, claim the right not to tolerate the intolerant; we should, in the name of civilization, claim the right not to tolerate barbarity.
But how deep we have fallen! The dogma that all ways of life, opinions, and beliefs are of equal value, is destroying Western culture. It heralds a return to barbarism. All over the West, including in Canada, we are now being confronted with phenomena such as honor killings where islamic men kill their own daughters, sisters and wives, while politicians such as Canadian MP Justin Trudeau, the son of Pierre, objects to calling these practices barbaric, because as Trudeau junior said only two months ago – I quote – "there needs to be a little bit of an attempt at responsible neutrality." – end of quote
No, my friends, there is no need for neutrality – responsible or otherwise – in the face of evil. In the face of evil, we must speak the truth. We must speak the truth or we will perish in lies. The truth is that in the face of evil neutrality itself is evil.
Islam obliges Muslims to follow the example of Muhammad. The life and deeds of Muhammad are well known. We know them from the sira, Muhammad's 8th century biography, and from the hadiths, the collection of his words and deeds as written down by his contemporaries. We know that Muhammad was evil. Ali Sina, an Iranian ex-Muslim who lives in your country, says that Muhammad is a paedophile, a mass murderer, a terrorist, a torturer. All these descriptions are historical facts.
Islam is dangerous because it exhorts its followers to imitate Muhammad as closely as possible in their personal lives. That is why it is our duty to unmask Muhammad. That is why next year I intend to release a film about this evil man.
Today, we are confronted with political unrest in the Arab countries. Autocratic regimes, such as that of Ben Ali in Tunisia, Mubarak in Egypt, Kadhafi in Libya, Assad in Syria, and others, have been toppled or are under attack. The Arab peoples long for freedom. This is only natural. However, the ideology and culture of islam is so deeply entrenched in these countries that real freedom is simply impossible as long as islam remains dominant. Islam and democracy are not compatible.
A recent survey by the American Pew Center found that while 59 percent of Egyptians prefer democracy to any other form of government, 85 percent say that islam's influence on politics is good, 82 percent believe that adulterers should be stoned, 84 percent want the death penalty for apostates, and 77 percent say that thieves should be flogged or have their hands cut off.
We should not harbor the illusion that there can be real freedom and real democracy in a country where islam is dominant. The death of Osama bin Laden last week was a victory for the free world, but we will be confronted with Islamic terrorism as long as islam exists, because islam's founder Muhammad himself was a terrorist.
Islam deprives Muslims of their freedom. That is a shame, because free people are capable of great things, as history has shown. The Arab, Turkish, Iranian, Indian, Indonesian peoples have tremendous potential. If they were not captives of islam, if they could liberate themselves from the yoke of islam, if they would cease to take Muhammad as their role model and if they got rid of the evil Koran, they would be able to achieve great things which would benefit not only them but the entire world.
My friends, I am not a pessimist. We can still turn the tide – even in Europe – if we act today.
In the Netherlands, we try to roll back the islamization process. The current Dutch government is a minority government which can only survive with the backing of my party, the Party for Freedom. We support the government, but in return we demand that measures be taken to prohibit certain aspects of sharia law. We have achieved that the Dutch government will ban the burka. It will also restrict immigration from non-Western countries. It will expel radical clerics. This is a truly historical achievement.
I hope that the new conservative government in Canada, which I congratulate with its fantastic election result, can take similar measures.
There are four measures which we must take.
First, we must tell people what is at stake. In Western Europe and also in Canada freedom of speech is being restricted at the demand of adherents of islam and their collaborators. We all know the case of Ezra Levant here in Canada. Last week, Danish journalist Lars Hedegaard, president of the International Free Press Society, was fined because he had criticized Islam. In a private conversation, without knowing that his words were being taped, he had called attention to the horrific conditions of women in islamic societies. Recently, in Austria, Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, a human-rights activist, was fined for calling the Islamic prophet Muhammad a pedophile because he had consummated his marriage to a nine-year old girl. Meanwhile, my own trial in Amsterdam is dragging on.
As you probably know, I have been brought to court on charges of hate speech for telling the truth about islam.
My trial is not merely a political trial. It is also an unjust trial. The decision of the public prosecutor not to prosecute me was overruled by the court, which issued an order to prosecute me. In that order the court concluded that I am guilty of incitement to hatred and discrimination. I was already found guilty before the trial began.
This legal charade will not, however, prevent me from saying what needs to be said. The fact that we are being treated as criminals for telling the truth must not deter us. We are doomed if we remain silent or let ourselves be silenced. Europe and Canada are in desperate need of an equivalent of America's First Amendment which guarantees freedom of speech.
Freedom is the source of human creativity and development. People and nations wither away without the freedom to question what is presented to them as the truth. Without freedom of speech we risk becoming slaves. Frederick Douglass, the 19th century black American politician, the son of a slave, said – I quote – "To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker."
There is reason for concern if the erosion of our freedom of speech is the price we must pay to accommodate Islam. There is reason for concern if those who deny that Islam is a problem do not grant us the right to debate the issue.
65 years ago young brave Canadians, in the battle against nazi-germany, offered their lives for a free Europe, a free Netherlands. It would be an insult to them if we Europeans would give up that precious freedom for another totalitarian ideology called Islam.
Hence, this is our first and most important obligation: defend the right to speak what we see as the truth.
Second, we must end cultural relativism. To the multiculturalists, we must proudly proclaim: Our Western culture is far superior to the islamic culture. Only when we are convinced of that, will we be willing to fight for our own identity.
We must defend our own civilization if we do not want to be swamped by barbarism.
Third, we must stop the islamization process. More islam means less freedom. We must stop immigration from islamic countries, we must expel criminal immigrants, we must forbid the construction of new mosques. There is enough islam in the West already.
Fourth, we must take pride in our nations again. As Canadians you must cherish the culture and identity of Canada. You must demand that immigrants accept Canada's values, and not the other way round. Former Governor-General of Canada, Adrienne Clarkson, herself an immigrant from China, said – I quote – "what we call home is more than a place on a map. It is our belonging to a community of ideas and ideals; it is the knowledge that we can say something and be listened to, and the conviction that we can respect, rely upon and help each other." – end of quote. I fully agree.
You and I, Canadians and Dutchmen, we belong to a common Western culture. We share the ideas and ideals of our common heritage. We, too, must stand together, side by side. We, the nations of the West, must rely upon each other and help each other in the struggle against our common adversary, islam. In order to preserve our nations – our homes –, in order to pass our heritage on to our children, we must stand together. Otherwise we will be submerged in the uniform Nation of Islam.
My friends, we will stand together.
We will stand firm.
We will not submit. Never.
We will survive.
We will stop islam.
We will defend our freedoms.
Thank you.
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