Dutch politician Wilders postpones visit

He wanted to exercise his right to free speech, but, instead, controversial Dutch MP Geert Wilders has postponed a planned visit to Prague after no venue was willing to play host to his anti-Islamic message.

Originally scheduled to visit Nov. 30 three venues - first the Czech Senate, then the Aventin Palace and Kaiserstein Palace - initially offered to host Wilders before backtracking from agreements. 

Wilders, who heads the Dutch Party for Freedom, is best known for his 17-minute Web broadcast documentary Fitna, which juxtaposes passages from the Quran with images of terrorist attacks including the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks against the United States. He advocates ending all immigration to the Netherlands and a ban on the construction of mosques. Speaking in Israel in 2008, he referred to Muhammad as "the devil," and the same year The Guardian quoted him as saying, "I don't hate Muslims. I hate Islam."  

Civic Democratic (ODS) Senator Jiří Oberfalzer and editor of the anti-Islamic Web site Eurabia.cz Edvard Steinský invited Wilders to the Czech Republic. Wilders had been slated to speak in the Czech Senate at Oberfalzer's request, but, after other senators and Oberfalzer's own political party distanced themselves from the invitation, it was retracted.

Wilders eventually canceled his travel plans, but Oberfalzer and Steinský say they will continue planning for a future visit.

"I was especially sorry about the atmosphere the visit of this Dutch politician triggered, leading eventually to the fear of private owners to provide a place for the free expression of opinion," Oberfalzer said. "We will return to the owners and operators of conference halls and try to organize this event for an alternate date."

According to Steinský, Wilders' speech was never meant to be open to the public but only "pre-selected politicians and journalists, publicists, academics and representatives of think-tanks."

"I think the cancellation of the event made a big advertisement for Wilders, and we will try to use it," Steinský said.

Wilders did not respond to several requests for comment.

"It's not about me, but it is about saving our basic human rights such as freedom of expression, equality between men and women and the survival of our democratic societies in Europe generally," he said in an interview with Eurabia.cz. "Fortunately, more and more people realize that Islam is a threat to our way of life."

According to the Interior Ministry, there are more than 11,000 Muslims living in the Czech Republic, accounting for just over 0.1 percent of the total population. A Czech Muslim organization, Libertas Independent Agency, offered to secure a hall for Wilders to speak, providing he engaged in a discussion on Islam with some of its members. Instead, the trip was postponed.

Steinský says he is hopeful Wilders will visit in February.

Benjamin Cunningham can be reached at
bcunningham@praguepost.com