Geert Wilders is coming to Australia on a speaking tour.  He will be in Melbourne on February 19th, Perth February 20^th and in Sydney, February 22nd.  Much controversy surrounds his visit.

Wilders first planned to visit Australia in 2012 but the Immigration Minister subverted the trip in typical "Yes Minister" style, by neither granting nor denying Mr Wilders a visa - until Wilders, unable to delay further, cancelled his trip. Yet the same Minister fast tracked the visa of Tareq Al Suwaidan a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Kuwait.   Suwaidan publicly thanked him for doing so.

Suwaidan, like Wilders presents to English-speaking audiences as a moderate, a supporter of free speech and freedom of religion.

Geert Wilders speaks out against the abuse of freedom.  Coming as he does from a democratic, European background with enlightenment values, he challenges what he considers  the erosion of human rights, principles of equality, and a creeping racist element coming from extremist Muslim groups in Europe. It is ironic therefore that he has been labelled as an extreme racist whose views should be stifled.

Wilders is under 24 hour security protection as a result of real threats to his life.  This is in spite of the fact that he threatens no one, simply espousing the clear division between state and religion. He believes that societies that have freed themselves from the shackles of state-imposed religion have benefitted enormously from that freedom and he is concerned that Islamist elements are attempting to undo the hard won gains of the European Enlightenment.  Wilders argues that there are close ties between fascism and Islamic theology, a theology, he maintains that has much in common with notions of supremacism.  Unlike many of his critics, he has travelled extensively in the Middle East and speaks with first-hand knowledge.

Wilders has visited Israel over forty times, beginning with a year-long visit as a young volunteer. He sees Israel not as a colonial power, but as the product of a quiet revolution, a work-in-progress in forming a society truly based on equality. He says "that the values of ancient Israel have become the values of the West. We are all Israel, and Israel is in all of us." 

Wilders highlights how core Western democratic practices, eg the right to debate views robustly, the right to have newspapers report accurately and the multicultural ethos which is such a part of Western thinking are being abused and eroded. These very practices are themselves being used to close down debate, to stifle accurate reporting, and to impose strict cultural rules. Why then does the mainstream media and government consider Geert Wilders to be an extremist?

Is Geert Wilders dangerous?  Yes! He IS dangerous. But not because he's a racist trying to appeal to base emotion. He's dangerous because he wants to shake people out of their complacency, to alert people that their human rights are being gradually eroded. And he wants to shake people up with debate, with academic and scholarly discourse. Wilders points out that within Islamic communities critical analysis of Islam is forbidden, and can even be punishable by death in certain cases. This is the antithesis of democratic behaviour and thinking.   Geert Wilders deserves to be heard and evaluated independently and critically in the spirit of intellectual freedom.  He deserves a fair go!

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Wilders is the  leader of the Dutch Party for Freedom.
He will speak on  'Freedom, Islam and the West'.

There are only a few days left to book Monday 18th February 8 am, will be the last opportunity to secure your seats for the Perth and Melbourne events. Sydney sales closing Wednesday 20th 8am February.

This is a  once in a lifetime opportunity to see and hear this courageous man.

Author and world-renowned Islamic scholar Sam Solomon will  also speak. Sam Solomon, is an ex Muslim  who lectures widely on social and religious matters.

His books AL -Hijra, The Islamic Doctrine of Immigration, Accepting freedom or imposing Islam? and  Al-Yahud ;Eternal Islamic Enmity &the Jews will also be on sale

Mr Solomon continues to advise lawmakers in Europe and America and has proposed a  'Charter for Muslim Understanding', first issued in the European Parliament in 2006.

Mr Bjorn Larsen will also be  on this tour. Bjorn is a board member of the International Free Press Society and Director of the Dispatch International newspaper.

For more information and event sales go to: http://www.qevent.org/ or phone:
1300 023 287

References and recommended further reading
http://www.israpundit.com/archives/48210
http://www.geertwilders.nl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1730&Itemid=1
http://counterjihadreport.com/2012/11/26/ex-muslim-sharia-expert-sam-soloman-speaks-on-islam/
http://www.d-intl.com/
http://www.qsociety.org.au/