Wilders' side

Islam: Controversial Dutch politician brings his anti-Islam message to Britain and America | Emily Belz

Associated Press/Photo by Steve Parsons

Right-wing Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders has a shock of blond hair and words that shock to go with it. "Where Islam sets roots, freedom dies," he said in comments at Temple University in Philadelphia on Oct. 20—his first speech to an American university. He added that Muslims should not be allowed to immigrate and that Muslim women should pay an excise tax for wearing a hijab, which he has termed a "head rag tax."

Comments like those elicited condemnation from the British government in February when the home secretary banned Wilders from the country for inciting religious hatred, which is forbidden by law in Britain. Then on Oct. 13 a tribunal overturned the ban on Wilders, and he immediately flew to London, after spending about £10,000, or $16,600, on the legal battle. (Wilders had a Muslim lawyer.) The government has banned other pot-stirrers like radio host Michael Savage.