Trusselen om europeisering og behovet for å forsvare nasjonstaten

Thank you for invi­ting me to Ber­lin. It is an honour to be here in this beaut­i­ful city of Ber­lin. When I was here last year I emp­ha­sized how impor­tant Ger­many is for all of us. We all bene­fit from a healthy, democra­tic, self-confident Germany.

Much has hap­pe­ned since my last visit. In the Net­her­lands we were able to achieve many ama­zing things. We have success­fully star­ted to roll back the process of Isla­miza­tion in the Net­her­lands.
We have done so in a peace­ful way and through the democra­tic process. Recently, a deran­ged nar­cis­sis­tic psycho­path from Nor­way com­mit­ted a hor­rible crime. In cold blood he mur­de­red nearly eighty innocent fel­low citizens. The assas­sin pre­ten­ded to be a con­cerned Euro­pean. He said that he had com­mit­ted his atrocity because “It is meaning­less to par­ti­ci­pate in the democra­tic process.”
But he is wrong! The mass mur­de­rer from Oslo mur­de­red and mai­med, and he jus­ti­fied his heinous crime by deny­ing – I quote – “that it is remotely pos­sible to change the sys­tem democra­ti­cally.” – end of quote.

But he is wrong! The Oslo mur­de­rer falsely claims to be one of us. But he is not one of us. We abhor vio­lence. We are democrats. We believe in peace­ful solu­tions.
The rea­son why we reject Islam is exactly Islam’s vio­lent nature. We believe in democracy. We fight with the force of our con­vic­tion, but we never use vio­lence. Our com­mit­ment to truth, human dig­nity and a just and honourable defence of the West does not allow us to use vio­lence nor to give in to cyni­cism and despair. We cherish the tra­dition of Alek­san­der Sol­zhe­nit­syn, Jelena Bon­ner, Lech Walesa and Ronald Rea­gan. These heroes def­e­ated a tota­li­ta­rian ideo­logy by the power of their con­vic­tion and wit­hout firing a single shot. As the ex-Muslim and Islam-critic Ali Sina said in a reac­tion to the Oslo atrocity: “We don’t raise a sword against dark­ness; we lit a light.”
So it is. We lit the light of the truth. And the truth will set us free.

The truth is that Islam can be success­fully fought with democra­tic means. We do so in the Net­her­lands. You can do so, too, in Ger­many! Let me tell you what we have achie­ved in the Net­her­lands since my last visit to Ber­lin, less than one year ago. It will encourage you. What can be done in the Net­her­lands can also be done in Germany.

My party, the Party for Free­dom, which has 24 seats of the 150 seats in par­lia­ment, sup­ports a minority govern­ment of Libe­rals and Christian-Democrats. We do this in return for measu­res to rest­rict immi­gra­tion, roll back crime, coun­ter cul­tural rela­ti­vism, and restore our tra­ditio­nal Western free­doms, such as free­dom of speech.
The Party for Free­dom has been in this position for less than a year, but we are achie­ving great things.

We have achie­ved that the Net­her­lands will soon ban the face-covering Isla­mic bur­kas and the niqabs!
We will rest­rict immi­gra­tion from non-Western countries by up to 50% in the next four years!
We are going to strip cri­mi­nals who have a double natio­na­lity and who repeatedly com­mit serious cri­mes, of their Dutch natio­na­lity!
The Party for Free­dom is brin­ging a mes­sage of hope to the Net­her­lands.
The new poli­cies will place more demands on immi­grants.
Inte­gra­tion will not be tailored to dif­fe­rent groups any­more.
There will be a toug­her approach to immi­grants who dis­o­bey the law.
Those who lower their chan­ces of emp­loy­ment by the way they dress, will see their access to wel­fare pay­ments dimi­nis­hed.
We have also achie­ved that anti-Israeli acti­vities will no lon­ger be fun­ded with Dutch taxes.
So-called huma­ni­ta­rian aid orga­niza­tions that directly or indi­rectly sup­port anti-Israel boycotts, divest­ments and sanc­tions and that deny Israel’s right to exist will no lon­ger get govern­ment fun­ding.
The Dutch govern­ment will boycott the Uni­ted Nation’s Dur­ban III meeting against racial discri­mi­na­tion because it has been trans­for­med into a tri­bu­nal for accu­sa­tions against Israel.
The govern­ment will strengt­hen our poli­ti­cal and eco­no­mic rela­tions with Israel. Invest­ment rat­her than divest­ment will be our poli­cies towards Israel.
We stand with Israel. We love Israel. Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. Israel is part of our civi­liza­tion.
My fri­ends, what the Party for Free­dom has achie­ved, shows that it can be done. To bor­row a phrase from Pre­si­dent Obama: Yes, we can! We can stop the isla­miza­tion of our socie­ties. The Dutch example shows that we can win. David can def­eat Goliath!

Last July, the Dutch govern­ment even did somet­hing which not a single nation has dared to do before. It spoke out firmly against the Orga­ni­sa­tion of Isla­mic Coope­ra­tion. The OIC is an inter­na­tio­nal orga­niza­tion of 57 Isla­mic countries, most of them bar­ba­ric tyran­nies. This OIC con­sti­tu­tes the lar­gest voting bloc in the Uni­ted Nation. It had cri­ti­cised the fact that Dutch jud­ges had acquit­ted me of all char­ges of group insult and incite­ment to hatred and discri­mi­na­tion. But the Dutch govern­ment made it clear to the OIC that free­dom of speech will not be muzz­led in the Net­her­lands. It told the OIC very bluntly: “The Dutch govern­ment dis­socia­tes itself fully from the request to silence a poli­ti­cian.” – end of quote.
We will never sub­mit to the Isla­mic OIC bullies!

As you pro­bably know, for almost two years I went through the ordeal of being a sus­pect in a cri­mi­nal case. I was drag­ged to court in Amster­dam on the accu­sa­tion of hate speech cri­mes. Last June, this legal cha­rade ended with a full acquittal.

The Dutch people learned through my acquittal that poli­ti­cal debate has not been stif­led in their coun­try. My acquittal was a vic­tory for free­dom of speech. The Dutch people also learned that they are allowed to speak cri­ti­cally about Islam. They learned that resi­stance against Isla­miza­tion is not a crime. They learned that there is hope and that libe­ra­tion is near.
My acquittal marks the tur­ning of the tide. Not only in the Net­her­lands, but in the whole of Europe. It is the first breach of the dyke. We have star­ted the roll-back ope­ra­tion. We have sent a mes­sage to the ideo­lo­gues of Islam: Don’t tread on us!

My acquittal has a sig­ni­fi­cance which far sur­pas­ses the Net­her­lands. It has a meaning for the whole of Europe and the free world. My acquittal marks the end of an evo­lu­tion whereby our civil liber­ties in Europe are con­stantly being rest­ricted in order not to offend Islam and anger Isla­mic fana­tics.
My acquittal legi­ti­mizes cri­ti­cism of Islam. It does so also in Ger­many and eve­rywhere else.
Indeed, why should you Ger­mans not enjoy the same rights as the Dutch! If peace­ful and democra­tic resi­stance to Isla­miza­tion is not a crime in the Net­her­lands, it should not be a crime in Ger­many either.

So, here is my mes­sage to you: Con­ti­nue your fight for free­dom and free­dom of speech!
Do not let your poli­ti­ci­ans and jud­ges grant you fewer rights than the Dutch!
Do not let yours­el­ves be inti­mi­dated by Isla­mic or left­ist oppo­nents who shriek and yell. Do not let yours­el­ves be inti­mi­dated by media who claim that a mur­de­rer who has lost his belief in the democra­tic process has anyhow been influ­en­ced by us.
My fri­ends, when I visited you last year, even in my wil­dest dreams I could not have ima­gined that we would have been able to influ­ence govern­ment poli­cies in the way we have done.

That is why I tell you: Never give in to the bul­lies! Never give up hope. Never despair! You can still turn the tide! One can always turn the tide!
It is true: Ger­many has been less for­tu­nate than the Netherlands.

When I was here last year, Tilo Sar­razin had just pub­lis­hed his book “Deut­schland schafft sich ab.” Sarrazin’s book was a best­sel­ler. It hit a nerve. It sold over one-and-a-half mil­lion copies. This shows that Ger­man society is ripe for change. But poli­ti­cally Sarrazin’s book has changed not­hing yet. On the con­trary, the Ger­man poli­ti­cal elite raised the speed of Isla­miza­tion in Ger­many. Bun­despre­si­dent Wulff said “Islam is a part of Ger­many.” Chan­cel­lor Mer­kel said that mul­ti­cul­tura­lism is an abso­lute fai­lure, but she con­ti­nues to defend Turkey’s entry into the EU. The spread of Islam con­ti­nues una­bated in the Ger­man class rooms, on Germany’s stre­ets, through the con­struc­tion of new mos­ques, etce­tera, etce­tera.
Your situa­tion has wor­se­ned because you do not have a party – yet – with enough electo­ral sup­port to influ­ence Ger­man poli­tics for the bet­ter. Ger­many needs a rightwing party that is not tainted by ties to neo-Nazis and by anti-Semitism, that is decent and respectable, but also firm.
René Stadt­kewitz is wor­king very hard to make Die Frei­heit as success­ful as the Party for Free­dom in the Net­her­lands. René, we are here to help you! Because Ger­many deser­ves bet­ter than what it gets today!

My fri­ends, your coun­try is the poli­ti­cal back­bone of Europe.
Ger­many is the most popu­lous coun­try in Europe. Ger­many is the eco­no­mic motor of Europe. If Ger­many is sick, we are all sick.
Last year, I urged you: Stop being asha­med of Ger­many. It is unfair to reduce Ger­man patrio­tism to national-socialism, just as it is unfair to reduce Rus­sia to Sta­li­nism. Be proud of your coun­try. Only if the Ger­mans have pride in Ger­many, they will be pre­pared to stand for Ger­many and to defend Ger­many. And you must stand for Ger­many, just as the Party for Free­dom in the Net­her­lands stands for the Net­her­lands. We must all stand for the sur­vi­val of our nation-states because our nation-station sta­tes embody the democra­tic liber­ties which we enjoy.
Wit­hout the nation-state there can be no real natio­nal poli­ti­cal free­dom. That is why we must be good patriots. Patrio­tism is often bran­ded as fascism. But patrio­tism is no fascism. On the con­trary. Every democrat and defen­der of free­dom must by defi­nition be a patriot. A soul needs a body. The spi­rit of poli­ti­cal liberty can­not flou­rish out­side the body of the nation-state. The nation-state is the poli­ti­cal body in which we live. That is why we must pre­serve and cherish the nation-state. So that we can pass on the liberty and the democracy which we enjoy to our child­ren.
Wit­hout a nation-state, wit­hout self-governance, wit­hout self-determination there can be no security for a people nor pre­ser­va­tion of its iden­tity. This was the insight which led the Zio­nists to re-establish the state of Israel. The­odore Herzl said that there had to be a Jewish state because – I quote – “what we want is a new blosso­ming of the Jewish spi­rit.”
Dear fri­ends, we urgently need a new blosso­ming of the Ger­man spi­rit. For deca­des, the Ger­mans have been asha­med of them­sel­ves. They pre­ferred to be Euro­peans rat­her than Ger­mans. And they have paid a heavy price for it. We have all paid a heavy price for it.

Europe is not a nation; it is a clus­ter of nations. The strength of Europe is its diver­sity. We are one family but we live in dif­fe­rent bodies. Our cul­tu­res are bran­ches of a com­mon Judeo-Christian and huma­nist cul­ture, but we have dif­fe­rent natio­nal cul­tural iden­tities. That is how it should be.
Uni­for­mity is a cha­rac­te­ri­s­tic of Islam, but not of Europe. Islam era­di­cated the natio­nal iden­tities of the peop­les it con­que­red. The Cop­tic iden­tity of Egypt, the Indian iden­tity of Pakis­tan, the Assy­rian iden­tity of Iraq, the Per­sian iden­tity of Iran, they were all wiped away, cracked down upon, or discri­mi­nated against until this very day. Islam wants all nations replaced by the so-called Ummah, the com­mon iden­tity of the Nation of Islam to which all have to be sub­ser­vi­ent and into which all natio­nal iden­tities have to vanish.
Islam tried to con­quer Europe, but never succe­e­ded so far. That is why we Euro­peans were able to develop our dif­fe­rent iden­tities as nation-states. If we want to hold on to these we must stand toget­her against the for­ces which threa­ten our iden­tities. Today we are con­fronted by two dan­gerous for­ces: Isla­miza­tion and Euro­pea­niza­tion.
When I was here last year, I spoke a length about the threat of Islam. Today, I want to draw your atten­tion to the threat of Euro­pea­niza­tion. By Euro­pea­niza­tion I mean the ideo­logy which posits that our sover­eign nation-states have to sub­merge in a pan-European superstate.

The Euro­pean Union’s Foun­ding Fat­hers held that in order to avoid a future war in Europe, Europe’s nations, and espec­ially Ger­many, had to be encaps­u­lated in what the Rome Treaty cal­led “an ever clo­ser union among the peop­les of Europe.” Robert Schu­man said that the EU’s aim was – I quote – “to make war not only unt­hin­kable but mate­rially impos­sible.” – end of quote.
The Euro­crats think that nation sta­tes in gene­ral – and espec­ially Ger­many, Europe’s lar­gest nation-state – are the pro­blem. They are wrong. The real cause of the Second World War had not been the Ger­man nation state – it had been Nazi tota­li­ta­ri­a­nism.
There is not­hing wrong with Ger­many. The cause of the war was the Nazi ideo­logy. The remedy against tota­li­ta­ri­a­nism is not buil­ding a super­state. The remedy is intro­du­cing more direct forms of democracy at the low­est pos­sible levels. Instead of depri­ving Ger­many and other nation-states of their sover­eignty, the post-war lea­ders should have intro­du­ced a Swiss-like sys­tem in our countries. Small units should have a large degree of local sover­eignty. The indi­vi­dual citizen should be given a direct democra­tic say over his own fate and that of his com­mu­nity.
Instead, the peop­les of Europe were rob­bed of their sover­eignty, which was trans­ferred to far-away Brus­sels. Deci­sions are now being taken behind clo­sed doors by unelected bure­au­crats. This is not the kind of govern­ment we want!

We want less bure­au­cracy! We want more democracy!
We want less Europe! We want to hold on to our sover­eignty. We want home rule! We want to remain inde­pen­dent and free! We want to be the mas­ters in our own house!

In Decem­ber 1991, the Maast­richt Treaty cal­led for a single Euro­pean cur­rency. The Dutch guil­der and the D-mark were sacri­ficed on the altar of Euro­pean uni­fi­ca­tion. Hel­mut Kohl sold this pro­ject to the Ger­man people as – I quote – “a mat­ter of war or peace.” – end of quote. The euro was pre­sented as “an angel of peace” which the Ger­mans had to spon­sor by giving up the mark. During the past six deca­des Ger­man poli­ti­ci­ans have told the Ger­mans that the nation state, and espec­ially Ger­many, was so dan­gerous that it had to be ema­s­cu­lated. The Ger­mans had to become Euro­peans instead of Ger­mans. To achieve this poli­ti­cal pro­ject, natio­nal and mone­tary sover­eignty was relin­quis­hed. Eco­no­mic and natio­nal inte­rests were sacri­ficed on the poli­ti­cal altar of so-called Europeanization.

All the countries which joined the euro lost the power to adjust their cur­rency to their own eco­no­mic needs. They have all suf­fe­red as a con­se­quence. The cur­rency of some countries is under­va­lued, the cur­rency of others is over­va­lued; they all have to share in car­ry­ing the bur­den of other countries, even if the lat­ter are suf­fe­ring from self-inflicted poli­cies, cor­rup­tion or fraud. The Euro­pean mone­tary sys­tem has allowed some countries to get a free ride at the expense of others, while those who cheat are in a position to black­mail those who have to foot the bill. This cha­rade has to stop!
The Euro­pean mone­tary sys­tem is deeply fla­wed. It is also immo­ral. As The­odore Herzl said “The cha­rac­ter of a people may be rui­ned by charity.” This applies for those at the rece­i­ving end of charity, but also for those who donate it. The so-called pan-European soli­darity is lite­rally rui­ning us! Ger­many has paid enough for Europe alre­ady!
The same applies for the Net­her­lands. Our citizens do not have to pay the debts of others!
My fri­ends, your party Die Frei­heit embo­dies the best hope for Ger­many. Because your party is the only party in Ger­many which has the courage to state loud and clear that countries which can­not pay their debts should leave the euro. I fully agree.

My fri­ends, time is run­ning out. We have to act for the sake of democracy and the future prosperity of our child­ren. The for­mer Soviet dis­si­dent Vla­di­mir Bukovsky warns that rat­her than pre­ven­ting war, the Euro­pean pro­ject makes con­flicts more likely. He draws a paral­lel between the EU and the for­mer Soviet Union which also suppressed feelings of natio­nal unity. When eco­nomy rea­lity def­e­ated the Sovi­ets’ poli­ti­cal pro­ject, the suppressed feelings of natio­nal iden­tity boun­ced back with a venge­ance and destroyed the Union. Bukov­ksy fears that if we do not stop the Euro­pean moloch from expan­ding the same thing might hap­pen in Europe.

The Euro­pean lea­ders state that the only way to solve the cur­rent cri­sis is more Euro­pean gover­nance. They advo­cate more powers for Brus­sels. They are wrong. More Europe only makes mat­ters worse. We have to oppose their attempt of furt­her centralization.

We do not want more Europe! The EU lacks democracy, accoun­ta­bi­lity and trans­pa­rency. That is why we reject it. We want less Europe! Let us hope that next Wed­nes­day the Ger­man Con­sti­tu­tio­nal Court pro­tects natio­nal sover­eignty.
As a natio­nal legis­la­tor in the Net­her­lands I expe­ri­ence day by day how little we still have to say about our own fate. We are expec­ted to rub­ber­stamp laws which have been made by the EU Coun­cil of Minis­ters. The 27 EU com­mis­sio­ners con­vene behind clo­sed doors with their colle­agues. They nego­tiate in secret and then emerge to announce their agreement and pre­sent it. That is how the sys­tem works.

Recently, your Chan­cel­lor, Frau Mer­kel, went to Paris. Toget­her with Pre­si­dent Sar­kozy she announ­ced plans for an eco­no­mic govern­ment of the euro­zone.
We oppose this. We want the natio­nal par­lia­ments to decide about our eco­no­mic poli­cies. We do not want to spend our tax­pay­ers’ money on euro­zone countries, such as Gre­ece. Let those who have cheated us, who have mis­ma­na­ged their eco­nomy or who have foo­lishly lived beyond their means, take care of them­sel­ves.
More­over, the EU trea­ties for­bid bailouts.

The Party for Free­dom oppo­ses every bail out. The Dutch minority govern­ment will never be able to count on our sup­port in this regard. Today its wrong­hea­ded euro poli­cies are sup­ported by the europ­hile left­ist par­ties. I repeat: We will never sup­port the Dutch government’s approval of the bailouts, not even if the govern­ment would lose the sup­port of the left.
We have voted, and we will vote, against every plan to bail out other countries. Sover­eign countries have to take care of their own needs. That is what sover­eignty is about: free­dom and the abi­lity to take care of oneself.

Our peop­les resent the fact that they have to pay for others. Our peop­les resent the per­ma­nent alie­na­tion of power from their nation-states. They care about their nation because they care about democracy and free­dom and the well­being of their child­ren. They see their democra­tic rights and their age-old liber­ties sym­bo­lized in their natio­nal flag.
But there is more. Natio­nal iden­tity also ties an indi­vi­dual to an inhe­ri­tance, a tra­dition, a loyalty, and a cul­ture. Natio­nal iden­tity is also an inclu­sive iden­tity: It con­si­ders eve­ryone to be equal, whate­ver his reli­gion or race, who is wil­ling to assi­mi­late into a nation by sha­ring the fate and future of a people.
My fri­ends, we need to give poli­ti­cal power back to the nation-state, in the name of democracy, in the name of free­dom, in the name of human dig­nity. By defen­ding the nation-states we defend our own iden­tity. By defen­ding our iden­tity we defend our liber­ties. By defen­ding our liberty we defend our dig­nity.
I urge you: Stand up for the nation-state. Be proud of your country!

In his Farewell Address as Ame­ri­can Pre­si­dent, Ronald Rea­gan said that the thing he was most proud of in his pre­si­dency was – I quote – “the resur­gence of natio­nal pride that I cal­led, ‘The New Patrio­tism.’” – end of quote.

Europe needs new patrio­tisms. Europe needs dozens of new patrio­tisms. We need True Finns, and True Danes, True French­men, and True Irish­men, True Dutch­men, and, my fri­ends, we need True Germans!

Rea­gan said that we had to teach our child­ren what our coun­try is, what it stands for and what it repre­sents in the long his­tory of the world. He said that Ame­ri­cans need – I quote – “a love of coun­try and an apprecia­tion of its institutions.”

Reagan’s words apply to us, Euro­peans, too. We need a resur­gence of natio­nal pride, a love of coun­try and insti­tu­tions. Our natio­nal par­lia­ments are our democra­tic insti­tu­tions. We must defend them.
Ladies and gent­le­men, dear fri­ends, I have said enough. It is time to act. We must make haste. Time is run­ning out for Ger­many, for the Net­her­lands, for all the other great nations of Europe. As Ronald Rea­gan said: “We need to act today, to pre­serve tomorrow”.

Here is a short sum­mary of five things which we need to do in order to pre­serve our freedoms.

First, we must defend free­dom of speech. It is the most impor­tant of our liber­ties. Second, we must end cul­tural rela­ti­vism. Our Western cul­ture is far superior to other cul­tu­res. Third, we must stop Isla­miza­tion. More Islam means less free­dom. There is enough Islam in Europe alre­ady. Immi­grants must assi­mi­late and adapt to our values. Fourth, we must restore the right to decide about our own money. We should not pay the debts of others. The sur­vi­val of the euro should not be used as an excuse to rew­ard countries which have shown that they were not worth to belong to the euro­zone. Fifth, we must restore the supre­macy and sover­eignty of the nation-state. Our nations are the legacy which our fat­hers bes­towed on us and which we want to bes­tow on our child­ren. We are the free men and women of the West. We are the true men and women of the West. We do not stand for a super­state. We stand for our own coun­try.
You stand for Ger­many. I stand for the Net­her­lands. Others stand for Swit­zer­land, Den­mark, Fin­land, France, Spain, and all these other beaut­i­ful freedom-loving nations of Europe. Toget­her we repre­sent the nations of Europe. Toget­her we stand.

We will stand firm. We will sur­vive. We will defend our free­doms. We will remain free.

Thank you very much.

Speech of Geert Wil­ders in Ber­lin 9/3/2011
The Threat of Euro­pea­niza­tion and the Need to Defend the Nation-State