It may seem absurd that a former half-term governor of Alaska and a former representative from Georgia have emerged as the most prominent voices on whether or not the people of Manhattan should allow American Muslims to exercise their First Amendment freedoms.
But as though that kind of outside meddling weren't enough, those opposing the Islamic community center near Ground Zero have now outsourced their efforts to a foreign country, inviting Dutch MP Geert Wilders to speak against the project at a rally planned for September 11, of this year, according to the website of conservative blogger Pam Geller. Who is Geert Wilders? Well, he wants to ban the Koran, which he's compared to Mein Kampf, and he has said that "the right to religious freedom should not apply to this totalitarian ideology called Islam."
In fact, Wilders is so extreme that he's been charged with hate speech. I've spoken out against the idea of criminalizing speech, and in Wilders' case in particular, but the perspective of those demanding government intervention to stop the Park 51 project has never been more clear. These people aren't opposed to terrorism. They aren't opposed to extremism. They're opposed to Muslims having the same rights as everyone else. Wilders' views shouldn't be criminalized, but they shouldn't be legitimized either.
The Anti-Defamation League has rejected the characterization that by speaking out against the project on the grounds that it was "insensitive" to the families of the victims of the 9/11 attacks, they were enabling or standing with the bigots. They've condemned Wilders for his hate speech in the past, describing his "message of hate against Islam as inflammatory, divisive and antithetical to American democratic ideals." What will they say now that Wilders is on their side, that he's merely sensitive to the feelings of those who died on 9/11? ADL leader Abraham Foxman said he was "stunned" by Fareed Zakaria's recent decision to return an award he received from the ADL several years ago over their stance on the project. Perhaps he would be less stunned if he looked around at the company the ADL could be keeping.
Wilders' potential presence also begs the question of how far Republicans are willing to go in legitimizing Islamophobia. Will mainstream Republicans continue to align themselves with the bigotry of the Islamophobic extreme right in Europe? Will Democrats continue to stay silent or make it clear that this kind of hatred has no place in mainstream discourse?
The notion that this was about sensitivity toward the victims of the 9/11 attacks was always thin gruel -- American Muslims also died on 9/11, and al-Qaeda has killed more Muslims than Westerners. But by requesting Wilders' presence, those protesting Park 51 project are proving that this isn't about some wrongheaded notion of sensitivity -- it's about fear and hatred.
*edited for clarity Wilders is an MP, not a "minister."
