Controversial Dutch MP Geert Wilders has been forced to cancel the Perth date of his speaking tour after he was unable to find a venue to host him.

The right-wing MP, who wants a ban on Islamic immigration and says the religion is incompatible with freedom, is stirring controversy with his tour of Australia, which began in Melbourne today.

An unnamed four-star CBD hotel had been set to host Wilders but pulled out late this afternoon. Host of the tour, the Q Society, said finding another venue at short notice was almost impossible because of security needed for the MP and the threat of possible protesters.

Organisers of the planned Perth protest rejected the claims. "We utterly reject the accusation that we have intimidated any venue or that we ever posed a physical threat to Wilders or any of his associates," said protest organiser Alex Bainbridge. "Any decision by a venue to pull out indicates that they do not want to be associated with him."

Mr Wilders is still scheduled to travel to Perth.

News.com, 19 February 2013

Update:  See "No Perth press conference for Wilders", AAP, 20 February 2013

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White supremacists are urging Australian "patriots" to gather at public meetings by the controversial Dutch MP Geert Wilders, ready for trouble and a no-holds barred fight.

Tensions have been mounting over the impending visit of the far right-wing politician who has been accused of Islamophobia and racism.

One group, Australian New Nation, has been encouraging followers to react to any threat or sign of violence from Muslim protesters who might attend.

On its website, the group has posted an audio from "Radio Free Australia, the voice of white revolution in Australia" warning them to "expect an Islamic rent-a-crowd outside screaming and foaming at the mouth like the evil bastards they are".

"We encourage all patriots to exercise their legal right of self defence if any ragheads try to prevent them accessing the venue, or threaten, or use violence against their person once they try to strike the first blow, everything that follows is self defence on your part," it said.

The vitriolic broadcast, which lasts almost 10 minutes, goes on to say, "go . . . and be prepared to defend yourself and if they take a swing at you, they push at you, they spit on you, don't hold back. You have a legal right of self defence do what should be done to this rag-head camel f--- . . . Islamic filth who have no place in civilised society.

Social media sites protesting against Mr Wilders's visits to Sydney, Melbourne and Perth have also been the target of hate messages.

The Age, 2 February 2013

In response the Q Society, the "counterjihad" group at whose invitation Wilders is visiting Australia, have issued a press release trying to distance themselves from threats of violence.

"Any anti-Islam protests or demonstrations are not associated with Q Society in any way...," they state piously. "Q Society and Geert Wilders distance themselves from any white supremacism and racism in all forms; as we distance ourselves from all groups advocating violence."

The Q Society has invited a raving anti-Muslim bigot to visit Australia in order to incite fear and hatred of Islam, but apparently they have no responsibility whatsoever for any anti-Muslim violence that his visit may inspire.

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The Senate has rejected a Greens motion calling on parliament to condemn the "hateful anti-Muslim views" of controversial Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who is seeking an Australian visa for a speaking tour.

Greens senator Richard Di Natale [pictured] said on Thursday it was "critically important" his motion be supported, particularly after last week's protests in Sydney by members of the Muslim community angry about a US film on Islam.

The senator took a swipe at Liberal senator Cory Bernardi, who in 2011 admitted extending an invitation to assist Mr Wilders with "his schedule or arranging appropriate meetings" in Australia. "Not to support this motion is to condone Senator Cory Bernardi's support for Geert Wilders (who is a) hateful, spiteful and corrosive figure," Senator Di Natale told the Senate on Thursday. The Greens senator later withdrew his comments for "reflecting on a member of the Senate".

Manager of government business in the Senate, Jacinta Collins, said Labor would not support a motion that condemned a member of parliament of another country for their views. "The parliament has legislated a visa regime that ensures that all visa applications are assessed appropriately and other provisions of domestic law related to racial and religious vilification," she told the Senate.

9 News, 20 September 2012

See also "Senate fails to defend multiculturalism: Greens", Greens press release, 20 September 2012

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A former councillor for the anti-immigration PVV in Noord Holland has close ties to the neo-nazi group Stormfront and submitted 2,200 items to the organisation's website, the Noord-Hollands Dagblad reported on Friday.

Monica Nunes is one of three provincial councillors who left the PVV earlier this year to go it alone.

In her writings on the site, which ended around three years ago, Nunes says all Muslims should be sent back to their country of origin and "Jews have a good nose for money", the paper said. Nunes used the name Doubt while active on the site. Her role was uncovered by anti-facist research group Kaftka.

In a statement Nunes said she had been a member of the Stormfront website, but with the aim of persuading other members to think differently.

"I might have been stupid to join a debate with these nazis," she said. "But I argued against their most insane racial theories and always defended the Jewish community and existence of Israel."

Dutch News, 5 July 2012

See also "Monica Nunes, (oude) medestander Brinkman actief op neonaziforum", Antifascistische Onderzoeksgroep Kafka, 1 June 2012

Nunes' comments on Stormfront included the following, which gives an indication of her motives for joining the PVV: "I wish we had a leader who would expel Muslims from the country, back to their country of origin. I don't want to smash or kill these people. I just want them to go away .... far away."

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By the end of Marked for Death, we see what Wilders is leading up to – a horrifying vision of a fortress Europe, defending "freedom" through the deployment of totalitarian state powers to expunge Islam from the continent. His recommendations are reminiscent of the discriminatory social control measures taken against Jews and other minorities under Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

Wilders, of course, is careful to disavow violence and reiterate he hates Islam, not Muslims. But it is difficult to deny the implicitly violent subtext of his sweeping proposals, including a halt to all Muslim immigration, payments to settled immigrants to leave, cessation of building of mosques, and taxation of Muslim religious practices such as the headscarf. Most disturbing is his endorsement of Israeli-style "administrative detention" (indefinite internment without trial on security grounds) in Europe as part of criminal operations in Muslim communities; not to mention the forcible deportation of tens of millions of Muslims from Europe for "thinking" about "crime" or "Shari'ah".

Yasmin Qureshi and Nafeez Ahmed examine the political programme presented in Geert Wilders' Marked for Death: Islam's War Against the West and Me.

Independent, 4 June 2012

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A new book by Geert Wilders aimed at the American market is not due to be officially launched until May 1, but details gleaned from advance and review copies are already doing the rounds.

The book is entitled Marked for Death, Islam's war against the West and me and according to Wilders' own website 'tells the story of Geert Wilders' fight for the right to speak what he believes: namely that Islam is not just a religion but primarily a dangerous ideology which is a threat to Western freedoms.'

The book will be officially presented at an as-yet secret location in the US, and is regarded by some as Wilders' calling card to America. The Dutch MP has made no secret of his international ambitions and is keen to launch and International Freedom Alliance, he said last year.

Magazine HP/De Tijd looks at one incident in the book in which Wilders writes how he was robbed by "three Arab youths" in the Utrecht district of Kanaleneiland – an area of poor housing and high unemployment.

In fact, the robbery took place in a more upmarket part of town several kilometres away the magazine says, citing references to the incident in a biography of Wilders published several years ago.

Tom Kleijn, Washington correspondent for television show Nieuwsuur says the book is a dry, almost academic recount of "how Wilders has become what he is". The book even contains an index and sources, he points out. "Wilders has a small, rich and fanatical group of followers in America," Kleijn said. "But it remains to be seen if this book will boost Wilders' popularity."

Current Dutch president Mark Rutte is not mentioned once, but Wilders states five times that he and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Dutch Somali Muslim critic who now works for a US think-tank, are of the same opinion, Kleijn points out.

Nos correspondent Eelco Bosch van Rosenthal describes how Wilders emphasises his admiration for former US president Ronald Reagan and states current president Barack Obama is a dhimmi – a submissive non-Muslim in a Muslim state.

Dutch News, 21 April 2012

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