The controversial politico was met with protests and opposition when he addressed a packed lecture hall in Anderson Hall.
Students crowded in front of Anderson Hall last week to protest a presentation – almost canceled due to the controversy it brought – delivered by Dutch politician Geert Wilders.
Wilders, whose controversial views resulted in a ban from the United Kingdom, traveled to Temple to discuss his opinion on radical Islam, calling it “more an ideology than a religion.”
Prior to the event, tensions were high – marked by police presence, strict rules prohibiting backpacks and an air of hostility amid the crowd outside the building.
“I’ve been verbally assaulted,” said Erik Jacobs, a freshman journalism and political science major actively supporting the event, after handing out flyers promoting free speech on campus.
Others said the event posed a threat to the security of Temple’s Muslim students.
“The reason All Sides is protesting this event is because we see it as decreasing the peace on Temple’s campus,” sophomore Jewish studies major and All Sides President Bryan Mann said. All Sides is a peace-oriented student organization that protested the presentation.
After waiting outside for several minutes, students in the audience were patted down and ushered into the lecture hall. After a brief introduction by TU Purpose, the group that hosted the event with funding from the David Horowitz Freedom Center after the College Republicans dropped their sponsorship, Wilders took moments to appear in front of the lecture hall.
After the front two rows were cleared for security purposes, Wilders approached the microphone to a mixture of claps and boos.
He then proceeded to show his film Fitna to the audience, a 15-minute documentary about Islam and its presence in Europe.
The film itself is a collection of intensely violent images accompanied by verses from the Quran, which Wilders described as “an evil book.” It argues that the spread of Islam to Europe and the rest of the world is dangerous and needs to be stopped.
Some attendees expressed disapproval of the way Wilders presented the film.
“You can take any religion and take pictures of violence and things blowing up and put them together and get people angry,” Mena El-Turky, a senior business law and political science major, said.
The presentation then turned into a speech, which Wilders opened with a joke, thanking the United States police for allowing him into their country.
Wilders focused on what he perceived as the threat of Islam becoming too strong of a force in Europe.
“Europe is in the process of becoming Eurabia,” he said. “Islam has attempted to conquer Europe before.”
Despite his predominately anti-Islam views, Wilders acknowledged that not all Muslims are extremists.
“The majority of Muslims in Western Society are law-abiding people who want to live peaceful lives,” he said.
The audience responded to Wilders views intermittently with booing, clapping and gasping.
“Our Western culture is far better than the Islamist culture,” Wilders said during the middle of his speech, prompting a particularly mixed and intense reaction.
When he insisted that constitutions be based on Judeo-Christian values, one student laughed loudly and walked out, met with applause by the audience.
The atmosphere remained civil until the question-and-answer session, which some students used as an opportunity to express their dissent.
The question-and-answer session quickly became heated, ending after remarks accusing Wilders of being one of the same fascists who he’d visually compared Islamists to in his documentary.
Most Temple students opposed Wilders’ views immediately following the event.
“I think the most hypocritical part of his argument was that he was fighting intolerance, but he’s fighting intolerance with intolerance,” Amanda Young, a junior English major, said. “I don’t understand what kind of reaction Temple Purpose expected.”
TU Purpose was founded this year to “attempt to bring social cohesion to the campus through awareness,” said President Alvaro Watson, a senior social work major. “We wanted this to be an overall educational experience for everyone.”
Watson said he hoped Wilders’ speech would be an opportunity for Temple students to learn something from what he had to say, even if they did not agree with it.
“We provide an open forum for conventional and more importantly, unconventional views,” he said. “We are not forcing Mr. Wilders’ words down anyone’s throat.”
He said the night was an overall success, despite the unruly behavior of a few individuals.
“We should be proud as Temple students that we were able to be part of this.”
Abe Rosenthal can be reached at abraham.rosenthal@temple.edu.
My comments between the lines of Mr. Rosenthal article.
The controversial politico was met with protests and—support–opposition when he addressed a packed lecture hall in Anderson Hall.
Dutch politician Geert Wilders calls radical Islam “more an ideology than a religion.” Wilders’ speech last week stirred emotions among students–some students who opposed his visit left the lecture hall during the event.
Students crowded in front of Anderson Hall last week to protest a presentation – almost canceled due to the controversy it brought – delivered by Dutch politician Geert Wilders.
Wilders, whose controversial views resulted in a ban from the United Kingdom—ban which was removed last week by a UK judge—traveled to Temple to discuss his opinion on radical Islam, calling it “more an ideology than a religion.”
Prior to the event, tensions were high – marked by police presence, strict rules prohibiting backpacks and an air of hostility amid the crowd outside the building—ready to fight knowing only one side of the story.
“I’ve been verbally assaulted,” said Erik Jacobs—what about the rights and safety of this student? Why no one is condemning the verbal assault—a freshman journalism and political science major actively are supporting the event, after handing out flyers promoting free speech on campus.
Others said the event posed a threat to the security of Temple’s Muslim students.“The reason All Sides is protesting this event is because we see it as decreasing the peace on Temple’s campus,”—“All sides” needs to know that not all sides are the same and the other sides can express their opinions—sophomore Jewish studies major and All Sides President Bryan Mann said.
All Sides is a peace-oriented student organization that protested the presentation—to be peace oriented does not mean that one cannot stand for what is right and constitutional. In addition, to be peace oriented does not mean that freedom of speech should be compromised to the point of denying the freedom of speech of others.
After waiting outside for several minutes, students in the audience were patted down and ushered into the lecture hall—please include the explanation of why individuals who attended the event had to be “patted down. Mr. Wilder, is under the constant threat of radical Muslims who have promised to behead him because he is exposing their violent religion, based on an ideology that supports physical attacks and even death to the one’s who reject Allah. Freedom of speech does not exist for people subsisting under this kind of regimes.
After a brief introduction by TU Purpose, the group that hosted the event—in support of freedom of speech and intellectual dignity—with funding from the David Horowitz Freedom Center after the College Republicans dropped their sponsorship–not very impressive–Wilders took moments to appear in front of the lecture hall.
After the front two rows were cleared for security purposes, Wilders approached the microphone to a mixture of claps and boos.
He then proceeded to show his film Fitna to the audience, a 15-minute documentary about Islam and its presence in Europe.
The film itself is a collection of intensely violent images accompanied by verses from the Quran—the film has images of real radical Muslims; with real words and verses from the Qur’an, which are full of violence and threats for the free world. Radicals, promised not to give up until Islam rules. So why are some so angry to hear what these radicals really said?—which Wilders described as “an evil book.”
It argues that the spread of Islam to Europe and the rest of the world is dangerous and needs to be stopped.
Some attendees expressed disapproval of the way Wilders presented the film—why? Those were the radicals own words and verses they chose to support jihad.
“You can take any religion and take pictures of violence and things blowing up and put them together and get people angry,”—no, you cannot take just any religion, have you read the Qur’an? I did; and the Surah’s which talk about kindness is for the ones who accept Allah’s teachings. In general, the ones who leave Islam are infidels and deserve death,according to extremists and unbelievers may be welcome until they refuse to follow Allah; it is all or nothing and the believers who kill the “pagans” are “the hands of Allah. It reads in Surah 9:14, “Fight them and Allah will punish them by your hands…” Here is another one, Surah 4:101,”…unbelievers are open enemies to you.” One more, Surah 9:5,”But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slain the pagans wherever you find them, and seize them, beleaguer them in every stratagem of (war);but if they repent and establish regular prayers and practice regular charity, then open the way for them…” Could someone explain how these words can mean something different than what they clearly say?—Mena El-Turky, a senior business law and political science major, said.
The presentation then turned into a speech, which Wilders opened with a joke, thanking the United States police for allowing him into their country.
Wilders focused on what he perceived as the threat of Islam becoming too strong of a force in Europe.
“Europe is in the process of becoming Eurabia,” he said. “Islam has attempted to conquer Europe before.”
Despite his predominately anti-Islam views, Wilders acknowledged that not all Muslims are extremists “The majority of Muslims in Western Society are law-abiding people who want to live peaceful lives,” he said—did any one noticed what Wilder said? “Not all Muslims are extremists,” “Muslims in Western Society are law-abiding people who want to live peaceful lives,” how come that no one is acknowledging this part of his statements?
The audience responded to Wilders views intermittently with booing, clapping and gasping.
“Our Western culture is far better than the Islamist culture,” Wilders said during the middle of his speech, prompting a particularly mixed and intense reaction.
When he insisted that constitutions be based on Judeo-Christian values—Mr. Wilder said Judeo-Christian and humanists—one student laughed loudly and walked out, met with applause by the audience—“ student laughed loudly and walked out,” an example of conditioned-learned ignorance.
The atmosphere remained civil until the question-and-answer session, which some students used as an opportunity to express their dissent.
The question-and-answer session quickly became heated, ending after remarks accusing Wilders of being one of the same fascists who he’d visually compared Islamists to in his documentary.
Most Temple students opposed Wilders’ views immediately following the event—how do you know with certainty that “most Temple students opposed Mr. Wilder? It was only a loud minority, that sadly, was more outspoken than many students who did not oppose.
“I think the most hypocritical part of his argument was that he was fighting intolerance, but he’s fighting intolerance with intolerance,” Amanda Young, a junior English major, said. “I don’t understand what kind of reaction Temple Purpose expected,”—what? What kind of comment is this one? “I don’t understand what kind of reaction Temple Purpose expected,” since when individuals and organizations who stand for what is right and constitutional, are doing it only to expect a reaction? I do not think that the passion, character, and willingness of the Temple University Purpose to stand for something in the midst of such opposition is just to expect a reaction. What were the Founding Fathers thinking when they wrote the American Constitution? Are we going to say, “We do not know what kind of reaction the Founding Fathers expected.” I do know that their reaction would be one of disappointment if they could see the “rape” of the American Constitution.
TU Purpose was founded this year to “attempt to bring social cohesion to the campus through awareness,” said President Alvaro Watson, a senior social work major. “We wanted this to be an overall educational experience for everyone.”
Watson said he hoped Wilders’ speech would be an opportunity for Temple students to learn something from what he had to say, even if they did not agree with it.
“We provide an open forum for conventional and more importantly, unconventional views,” he said. “We are not forcing Mr. Wilders’ words down anyone’s throat,”—this is correct, but many students and maybe some faculty, refuse to learn because they will have to relearn the right information, and it is easier to stay the way they are than to be exposed to the truth that they reject.
He said the night was an overall success, despite the unruly behavior of a few individuals.
“We should be proud as Temple students that we were able to be part of this,”—yes it was a success thanks to the brave students like Alvaro; Britanny, Liz, Megan, Erik and many more who stood for what is right; and they are an example of leadership and strength.
Reina Howard
Abe Rosenthal can be reached at abraham.rosenthal@temple.edu.
Tags: 10-27-09, Geert Wilders