THE MUHAMMAD CARTOONS

THE MUHAMMAD CARTOONSProfile: Geert WildersTHE KEY SPEAKER at the Muhammad cartoon exhibition isDutch politician Geert Wilders, a name synonymous withstrident anti-Islamic views.Wilders is the most successful counter-jihadist politician inthe world. He is founder and leader of the Party for Freedom(PVV), which is currently leading in the Dutch opinion polls 1 .Wilders has described Islam as the “ideology of a retardedculture” 2 and compared the Qu’ran to Hitler’s Mein Kampf,labelling it the “fascist Koran”.He has called for the Qu’ran to be banned and said thatthe Dutch constitution should be re-written to stop allimmigration from Muslim countries. He supports paidrepatriation of Muslim immigrants and wants all ‘Muslimcriminals’ to be stripped of Dutch citizenship and deported“back where they came from”.In 2008 Wilders commissioned the making of ‘Fitna’, a filmwhich explored (what he viewed as) Qu’ranic-inspired actsof terrorism. This highly controversial film was shown in theBritish House of Lords at an event organised by Lord Pearsonand Baroness Cox.Wilders has received hundreds of thousands of dollars infunding from counter-jihadists in the US. Principle amongthese is David Horowitz’s Freedom Centre.Over the past few months Wilders has championed theMuhammad cartoons issue. He was present at Pam Geller’scartoon competition in Texas, which was attacked by gunmen.He has used one of his party political broadcasts in late June2015 to display these cartoons to a Dutch audience, and hehas offered to attend a cartoon event in Denmark.1 July 20152 http://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/feb/17/netherlands.islamGeert Wilders withPam GellerMeanwhile, another image showed Muhammadbrandishing a sword ready for a fight. His eyes wereblacked out while two women standing behind him inIslamic dress had only their eyes uncovered.Set against a backdrop of growing Muslim anger andresentment at the ‘war on terror’, the publishing ofMuhammad’s image was considered political anddeliberately offensive.The publication in the Jyllands-Posten led to aninternational boycott of Danish goods and a withdrawalof diplomatic relations by many Muslim countries withDenmark. Riots erupted across the world, with up to 200people reportedly killed in protests in dozens of countries.Danish and other European diplomatic missions werealso attacked, as were churches and Christians in Pakistanand Egypt. In India, Haji Yaqoob Qureishi, a minister inthe Uttar Pradesh statement government, even offereda cash reward for the murder of the editor of the Danishnewspaper.Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen describedthe controversy as Denmark’s worst internationalrelations incident since the Second World War.Despite a public apology, Jyllands-Posten was alsotargeted. There were numerous plots against the paper’scartoonist and in 2010, five years after the cartoons werepublished, police shot a would-be assassin who had gotinside the cartoonist’s house. Several others, includingas recently as 2013, have been convicted with plotting totarget the newspaper or the cartoonist.The French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo took up theHOPE not hate | THE MUHAMMAD CARTOONS | 7