http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3042/geert-wilders-first-amendment
Address before the Gatestone Institute, New York City, April 30, 2012.
Adherence to religion must be a personal choice. No religion should demand that those who leave it be killed; this makes it a totalitarian ideology rather than a religion. A religion must never mandate the subjugation of those who do not belong to it. A religion must be in accord with basic human rights. This ideology also harms Muslims. That is why we have to end the biggest disease in the world today, the cultural relativism which pretends that all cultures are equal. If Israel falls, the West falls. That is why their fight is our fight. We should support it.
I am happy to be in New York again, even though in my country today it is Queen’s Day, a national celebration. This is why I am wearing my orange tie.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to address all of you. It is always good to be among friends. It is an honor to be here in the presence of so many people who care for the preservation of freedom in our civilization.
It is great to be in America, the beacon of liberty, the land of the free, the land where people are still allowed to speak freely. I know what I am talking about. I was acquitted after a legal ordeal that lasted almost three years. I had been brought to court for criticizing Islam.
Though at the end of the day I was acquitted, the court case was a disgrace. It was a time-, money- and energy-consuming nightmare. This charade that happened in the Netherlands for the last few years could not have happened in your great country, where the First Amendment guarantees people the freedom to express their opinions.
The First Amendment is what we need in the Netherlands and Europe.
I am in New York for the release of my book “Marked for Death.” It reveals how Islam has already profoundly changed Europe in the last decades. It exposes the cultural relativism which has affected Europe so deeply that many in Europe refuse to stand for liberty and prefer to appease Islam. It explains why Islam is a threat to freedom.
As you know, people who speak out like me pay a steep price for speaking these truths. Apart from legal attempts to silence me, there are also the threats by radical Muslims to kill me. I have been living under permanent police protection for almost eight years now. But I do not regret one word. I see it as my duty to warn the West.
I have traveled widely in the Islamic world. I have read the Koran. I have studied the life of Muhammad. It made me realize that Islam is primarily an ideology rather than a religion. This ideology wants to impose Islamic sharia law on the whole world, including us the Kafirs, the non-Muslims. This ideology is also outspokenly anti-Semitic.
This ideology also harms Muslims. Islam believes that everything men have to know can be found in the Koran. As such, it is hostile to all forms of innovation. But without innovation there can be no progress and people cannot prosper.
Many people unfortunately are blind to the nature of Islam because they do not realize what Islam is, and mistakenly believe that it is a religion just like any other religion.
I have written my book to inform them.