Geert Wilders, heads the far-right Party for Freedom (PVV) in The Netherlands
At the invitation of Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), and Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), one of the most divisive bigots in Europe has been in Washington DC, where he addressed the Conservative Opportunity Society, on April 29, a group founded by Newt Gingrich.
Intensifying Islamophobia in Texas
Following his activities in Washington, D.C., Wilders will travel to Garland, Texas to participate in an anti-Muslim cartoon exhibit on May 3 sponsored by the American Freedom Defense Initiative, a group that is co-run by Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer. Wilders will be the keynote speaker at AFDI’s “Muhammad Art Exhibit and Contest,” or “Draw the Prophet” event. As its name suggests, the event is a contest to which artists may submit cartoon renderings of Muhammad in the hopes of winning a grand prize of $10,000. Of course, “Draw the Prophet” is also meant to further politicize the attack on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
“Draw the Prophet’s” scheduled location sends another message, though. The event is a response to a previous gathering held at the same venue back in January called “Stand with the Prophet,” which at once challenged both anti-Muslim bigotry and fear-mongering and the extremism of groups like ISIS. As AFDI’s leaders turned up at “Stand with the Prophet” to spread their bigotry, their contest is a reiterating on their own hate.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) had issued a press release prior to the Washington event:
As leader of the Freedom Party, Wilders has expressed virulently anti-Muslim, bigoted and profoundly offensive views. In April 23 letters to Reps. King and Gohmert asking them to reconsider the invitation, ADL noted Wilders has called Islam “not a religion” but rather a “totalitarian ideology akin to National Socialism” and has described the Qur’an as being “even worse than Mein Kampf.”
“Mr. Wilders is entitled to express his opinions, but for an elected member of the House of Representatives to provide a platform for a man who is practically an international symbol of anti-Muslim hatred not only lends him credibility, it ill-serves the goal of having a Congress that lives up to America’s ideals of tolerance,” said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. “Reps. King and Gohmert should reconsider the invitation, given this individual’s established record as one of the most notorious bigots in the world.”
Boehner asked to denounce invites to far-right Dutch legislator
Three Democratic lawmakers are calling on Speaker John Boehner to denounce invitations to a far-right Dutch legislator who is set to address some Republican members of Congress this week.
Reps. Keith Ellison, André Carson and Joe Crowley wrote a letter Tuesday asking the the Ohio Republican to criticize invitations from two members of the Republican conference to Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders — a controversial figure in Europe who has called Islam the “ideology of a retarded culture.”
In an earlier post here, "
Geert Wilders coming to DC, TX," commenter Catte Nappe,
linked to Texas coverage.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) writes about Spencer, co-host of the Texas event:
Spencer is known to have associations with European racists and neo-fascists. However, he claims that his contact with them is merely incidental. On June 25, 2013, Spencer and Geller were banned from Britain after planning to attend a rally organized by the English Defence League, an anti-Muslim extremist group. According to a letter issued by the Home Office of the United Kingdom, “The Home Secretary has reached this decision because you have brought yourself within the scope of the list of unacceptable behaviours by making statements that may foster hatred which might lead to inter-community violence in the UK.” Spencer’s response to the announcement was to accuse the British government of being a “de facto Islamic state.”
Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian terrorist who slaughtered 77 people, mostly teens, in Oslo and the nearby island of Utoya on July 22, 2011, referenced Spencer’s writings dozens of times in his 1,500-page manifesto. He believed that Islam was destroying Western civilization. In response to media reports about the connection, Spencer likened the situation to Charles Manson’s statements about drawing inspiration from the Beatles.
In her 2008 book, Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West, the late prime minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto, pointed out that Spencer is “falsely constructing a divide between Islam and West,” and that he presents “a skewed, one-sided, and inflammatory story that only helps to sow the seed of civilizational conflict.”