Wilders & HM Customs - Ryanair / Aer Lingus next?

international | racism & migration related issues | other press

Thursday February 12, 2009 22:10

by no platform

As anyone in the hinterland of UK politics will have noticed, one of the House of Lords UK Independence party wanted to invite Geert Wilders the far-right Dutch parliamentarian with the ugly hair and uglier politics to show his "Fitna" vid this afternoon in Westminster.

But then the UK Home Office decided he was persona non-grata. Ooooo shock & horror a society, which like many in Europe faces an increase in far right politics and anti-migrant opinion against the backdrop of economic collapse, has now turned to debating whether or not he should have been allowed past the passport desk in the name of "Freedom of Speech".

So far the chattering classes of far and wide on the usual fora of the BBC, Guardian & Independent newspapers seem to think a politician facing trial for incitement of hatred in his home country ought to be have been allowed through the green lane & a chance to sip the Lords' whisky***.

I honestly reckon the man should have been a full body cavity search like any dodgy geezer arriving into Heathrow on a weekday afternoon flight from Amsterdam's Schiphol airport followed by a rake of stomach x-rays and just to make sure obliged to sit on the potty till he was forthcoming and evacuated all his shitty poo.

But instead the man has played the gallery for fools as usual.
Not only the British gallery who forget how selective their free speech concepts have been but also the Dutch parliamentary establishment who ensured the ambassador was present at Heathrow and the Dutch public who were treated to minute by minute updates in their press. I am minded to mention the recent Czech EU presidency art scam sculture "Entropa" which depicted the Netherlands as a flooded land with only minarets appearing over the waves - an image due in much part to Geert's politics as well as Theo Van Gogh's legacy. Perhaps many Irish readers don't know the "Entropa" sculpture depicted Ireland as a sheepskin bagpipe reflecting a land of ethnic diversity.... (**)

What works for the Brits & their vapid sensibilities quite often works for the Irish too.

Hence this little article which in addition to inviting responses and opinions on the long list of persona non grata in both the UK and Ireland would remind readers that for many years elected politicians of the Irish Republican movement were denied freedom of movement and transit and their chance to prance untouchable through the executive lounges of British airports. let us not mention full body cavity searches.

I'd suggest we formulate a quick position on how we ensure that Geert Wilders does not appear at an Irish university, Irish thinktank conference or vidnight in either houses of the Oireachtas -

neither soon nor sharpish but ever.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/12/far-right-d...ted=1
** http://www.eu2009.cz/en/news-and-documents/news/entropa...5634/

*** (I have sipped that beverage and verily it is quite excellent which is why I mention it - but only because a flatmate who was then a junior doctor serviced a peer in an A&E room and was sent a bottle as a thankyou not only for being a proper snobbish arse lick but also foregoing to mention she was 4 times over the drunk driving limit)