Office Today

The Dutch court that has tried the Dutch anti-Muslim leader, Geert Wilders, for incitement to hatred and discrimination, today dictates judgment. The decision may mark a milestone in the land of tolerance. And not because the public prosecutor’s Office has changed its opinion in a process designed to mark the limits of freedom of expression in the Netherlands. It is that prosecutors never saw signs of crime in the speeches of Wilders, who describes Islam’s ideology is dangerous for Western values. They were judges, in view of the particular complaint filed by anti-racist groups and immigrants, which prompted the statement. In the hands of the Court is now to decide if a politician can express whatever he wants in the context of their work. Or, as the plaintiffs claim, whether to stop him because his ideas are insulting and promote segregation of communities resident in the country.