Dear friends,
I am happy to be in Copenhagen again.
It is always a pleasure to return to this wonderful city - the
home of my good friend and fellow freedom fighter, the Danish
hero Lars Hedegaard.
It is always a privilege to be in the capital of the brave
Danish people.
And it is always an honor to be a guest of your great
organization.
The Danish Free Press Society is a beacon of light. For
Denmark, for Scandinavia, for the whole of Europe, and for the
entire West. Your staunch defense of civil liberties, such as
freedom of speech, serves as an inspiration for many, including
myself and my party.
On a moment like this, when the free world is in mortal danger,
an organization such as the Danish Free Press Society is needed
more than ever.
Exactly ten years ago, today, my fellow countryman Van Gogh
fell as a martyr of free speech.
I remember that morning very well. The press came to my office
to ask for a reaction, but hardly anyone could believe that what
had happened was really true. We all realized that the
Netherlands would never be the same again. Unfortunately few
lessons have been learned since that horrible day in 2004.
Islam claims that Muhammad was a prophet. But Muhammad was not a
prophet; Theo van Gogh was a prophet.
Van Gogh saw what was coming. He spoke out forcefully against
the danger of Islamization.
He had also just made a short movie, together with my then
colleague Ayaan Hirsi Ali, about the plight of women in
Islamic society. The movie was called "Submission."
That is why he was murdered. His assassination should have been
an alarm bell.
Van Gogh warned us in strong language, as clear as the colors
that his great-granduncle Vincent used when painting his
landscapes.
He was a brave man. When he realized the danger of Islam, he did
not run like a coward. He would have hated to see how our
freedom of speech has been restricted in the ten years since his
death.
Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, the more Islam we get, the
less free our societies become. Not only because of the
islamization but also because of the weak appeasers who call
themselves politicians.
We are no longer allowed to crack jokes or draw cartoons if
Islam feels insulted by it.
If you do so, your life is in danger, as Kurt Westergaard
and Lars Vilks can testify. You might even get arrested,
as happened
a few years ago with the Dutch cartoonist
Gregorius Nekschot.
Sure, the charges against Nekschot were later dropped. But if
you value your life and if you prefer to avoid trouble, it is
better not to do anything that might remotely insult Islam.
We are no longer allowed to tell statistical truths, as Lars
Hedegaard experienced, when he referred to rape figures in
Islamic families.
A murderer came to Lars's door and the state authorities
persecuted him for so-called hate speech. Sure, the Supreme
Court eventually acquitted Lars. But if you value your life and
if you prefer to avoid trouble, it is better to keep quiet.
We are no longer allowed to refer to scientific and historical
research, as my friend, the brave Austrian human rights activist
Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, experienced.
In a seminar on the historical figure of Muhammad, she
mentioned that he had a crush on little girls and had sex with a
9-year old. That is the truth.
But Elisabeth was convicted, and her conviction was even upheld
by the Appeals court. Once again, it is better to remain silent
if you want to avoid trouble.
But Theo van Gogh did not remain silent. And neither did Kurt
and Lars and Elisabeth and Robert and the Danish Free Press
Society, and my party, the Party for Freedom in the Netherlands,
and so many other freedom fighters in the West.
We speak out. We will never be silent. Because we love our
country. Because we love our freedom. Because we refuse to live
in slavery. Because we believe that without liberty, life is not
worth living.
Liberty and human dignity, that is what we stand for.
We are the torchbearers for freedom. We are the torchbearers for
democracy. We are the torchbearers for a civilization that is
far superior than any other civilization on earth.
Last Summer, my home town, The Hague, witnessed scenes which
brought back memories of the darkest period in our history, the
Nazi era.
Sympathizers of
the Islamic State paraded in
our streets. They carried swastikas, they carried the black
flags
of ISIS. They shouted "Death to
the Jews."
Instead of rounding up these hatemongers, the authorities did
nothing.
When we warn against Islam, the authorities call it hate speech
and bring us to court. But when the grim forces of hatred march
down our streets, the police look on and do not interfere. It is
a disgrace. It is a scandal. It is intolerable.
Islam is waging a war against the free West. Indeed, we are at
war. Only fools can deny it. Islam has declared war on us.
America and its allies are currently bombing the Islamic State
in Syria and Iraq.
Excellent.
My party supports this offensive. I am glad that Dutch and
Danish F16s participate in it and that our two nations stand
shoulder to shoulder in this endeavor. We should liquidate
Abu Bakr Al-Bagdadi and the
other criminals who are leading the Islamic State.
But we have to do more than that.
Far more important than fighting Islamic State abroad, is the
fight to preserve our own security in our own countries, in the
Netherlands, in Denmark, in all the other European and Western
countries. It is our homes that we must defend.
It is just to bomb the Islamic State in the Middle East. But our
first priority must be to protect our own nations, our own
freedoms, our own people, our own children, here, at home
Recently, the Dutch authorities prevented some forty jihadis
from leaving our country, when they attempted to go to Syria to
fight in the ranks of ISIS. Their passports were seized and they
were sent home instead of jailed. These criminals now walk our
streets and make them unsafe.
You may have heard that the jihadis who recently murdered
soldiers in Canada were also people whom the authorities had
previously prevented from leaving Syria and who were not
arrested but allowed to go free on the street.
Blocking the exodus of those who want to wage Jihad elsewhere
and not detain them is sheer stupidity. Keeping them here as
free people means that they will hit us here.
We must hasten their exit instead of preventing it. But we must
never allow them to return. Therefore, we must reinstate
national border controls.
Nothing is more important than first to protect our own
countries from the Jihadis.
Let us restore our liberties, such as freedom of speech. Let us
defend our culture. Let us protect our people. Let us make our
nations free and safe again. Let us be brave.
That is what we must do; that is our duty.
Let me ask you: Do our authorities actually do this?
Unfortunately not.
They fail to do their duty. They fail to act accordingly. They
even lie to us.
Everyday, we hear Western leaders repeat the
sickening mantra that Islam is a religion of peace.
Whenever an atrocity is committed in the name of Islam, whenever
someone is beheaded in Syria or Iraq, Barack Obama,
David Cameron, my own Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte
and many of their colleagues rush to the television cameras to
tell the world that it has nothing whatsoever to do with Islam.
How stupid can you be?
Fortunately, the eyes of ever more people are opening to this
reality.
In my country, a poll last June, showed that 65% of the Dutch
are convinced that the Islamic culture does not belong in the
Netherlands. In France, 74% find Islam incompatible with French
society.
In Britain, fewer than one in four think that following Islam is
compatible with a British way of life. In Germany, over two
thirds of the population think negatively about Islam.
Even in the Czech Republic, a country with hardly any Islamic
population, almost two-thirds consider Islam a threat to society
and 90% are afraid of it. And in Denmark 92% of your citizens
believe Muslim immigrants should adopt Danish customs.
With every new terrorist crime, with every new attack, with
every new beheading, it becomes clear to ever more people what
the true nature of Islam is.
With every Islamic assault on our values, more and more people
realize that Islam wants to conquer the world, that it is
prepared to kill or enslave anyone who refuses to submit. And
that it is ready to commit the biggest atrocities to achieve
this goal.
My friends, we are gathered here today, because we are neither
prepared to collaborate with evil, nor to appease it. We say No
to Islamic censorship. And No to the politicians who fail us.
During the past ten years, I have been living under constant
police protection.
As you know, I am not the only one who has to live through this
ordeal. Several people in this room are in the same situation.
Our friends Lars and Kurt even came to stand eye to eye with
fanatics who tried to slaughter them.
Of course - I repeat it wherever I go - of course, there are
many moderate Muslims.
I believe in moderate people, but I do not
believe in a moderate Islam. There is only one Islam - the Islam
of the Koran, the Hadith and the life of Muhammad, who was a
terrorist and a warlord.
But even though there are many moderate Muslims, it is wrong to
think that the moderates are a majority. They are not.
A poll in the Netherlands gave shocking results.
It is hard to believe, but almost three quarters of the
Muslims in my country say that Dutch Muslims who go and fight in
Syria are heroes. Can you believe it? Heroes!
And over two thirds of the Islamic population in the Netherlands
consider the religious rules of Islam to be more important than
our own democratic laws.
Equally terrifying was an article yesterday in the Dutch press
stating that Mohammed Bouyeri, the murderer of Theo van
Gogh, is still considered a hero today by hundreds of Dutch
Muslims.
A few years ago, I called on Muslims to liberate themselves from
the yoke of Islam, to choose for freedom. I wholeheartedly
support Muslims who love freedom. So, I told them "Free
yourselves. Leave Islam." I still stand by this appeal. But this
does not blind me to the present reality.
You may have heard that I will probably be brought to court
again soon.
Three years ago, I was taken to court on hate crime charges.
The court case lasted almost two years. Fortunately, I was
acquitted.
But now, the Dutch judiciary is going after me again because I
asked Dutch voters whether they want more or fewer Moroccans in
the Netherlands.
Moroccans are the largest Islamic population group in the
Netherlands. In The Netherlands the Moroccan problem is the
problem of Islam.
I referred to Moroccans, not because I have anything against
Moroccans but because they are overrepresented in Dutch crime
and welfare statistics. They also account for three quarters of
all Dutch Muslims who leave for Syria to wage jihad. No-one in
the Netherlands wants more Moroccans.
As I said, our leaders still refuse to defend our freedoms
because they are either cowards or appeasers. This is why the
task of defending freedom has now fallen on us. On you, on me,
on ordinary citizens.
To this end, I have established the International Freedom
Alliance (IFA).
We want IFA to be the shield for all those who refuse to submit
to Islamic tyranny. The mission of IFA is to stop the
Islamization of non-Islamic countries and to fight for the
preservation of our freedom and democracy.
We want to stand firm. We want to preserve our civilization for
our children and grandchildren. Because there is nothing more
precious than liberty and freedom. But it has a price. And the
price can be high. Sometimes a man must give all he can.
Our political leaders may fail us. But we, my friends, we will
not fail.
There is a path we shall never choose, and that is the path of
submission. This is why we say: Yes to freedom! No to tyranny!
IFA aims to be a network of resistance fighters in all the
countries threatened by Islam.
Friends, I have good news from the Netherlands.
Today, the popularity of my party, the
Party for Freedom, is at a
high. An opinion poll published this morning shows that we have
by far become the largest party in the Netherlands, with almost
20 per cent of the vote. 1 out of 5 Dutchmen would vote for the
PVV today.
The policies that we stand for are also getting more popular
than ever.
We want to stop all immigration from Islamic countries. We want
to stimulate voluntary re-emigration to Islamic countries. We
want to expel all criminals with dual citizenship and deprive
them of their Dutch nationality. We want to de-Islamize our
nation.
Dear Friends, there is a lot of work to do.
We, the defenders of freedom and security, have
an historic duty. Our generation has been entrusted with a huge
task: To oppose Islam and keep the flame of liberty burning.
I say it without exaggeration: the future of human civilization
depends on us. Now is a time when everyone in the West must do
their duty. We are writing history here.
So, let us do our duty. Let us stand with a happy heart and a
strong spirit.
Let us go forth with courage and save freedom!
Thank you.
