The Entourage That Keeps Geert Wilders Alive

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The photo above is a stark reminder of the conditions under which Geert Wilders has been forced to live for more than ten years.

Mr. Wilders no longer has the option of living a normal life. Wherever he goes, whatever he does, he must be surrounded by a squad of alert, well-trained bodyguards. All because angry Muslims and their allies on the Hard Left are ready to kill him as soon as an opportunity presents itself.

I don’t know whether all six of the men surrounding Mr. Wilders in the photo are his bodyguards, but they certainly appear to be. I recognize some of them from previous events I attended where Mr. Wilders spoke. You can see them standing at strategic locations around the room, looking closely at everyone who enters or moves around. They resemble lighthouses, with the beam of their gaze swiveling methodically in all directions.

And they’re nice guys. When their boss is in a relatively safe location — a meeting room with a single well-guarded entrance, for example — they’re relaxed enough that you can approach them and chat. But they never stop watching, not for a second. While they’re answering you, their eyes are roving around, tracking the movements of people in the crowd.

When the location is less secure — on the open sidewalk, say, or in a more public venue — they form a tight phalanx around the man they’re charged with protecting. Next time you see a crowd photo with Geert Wilders in it, take a look at the people surrounding him. The alert tough-looking guys with their backs to him are probably the bodyguards. They’re always there.

They’ve kept him alive for more than a decade. For that reason they have earned my deepest respect and gratitude.

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One additional note: the conditions described above give the lie to the assertion that Geert Wilders is a cynical opportunist, adopting his anti-Islamic stance in order to advance his political career.

No one who wants simply to gain power and enjoy the perks and privileges associated with it would deliberately put himself through ten years of the routine nightmare that Mr. Wilders’ life has become. Cynical opportunists don’t have that kind of grit.

Only someone who is passionately dedicated to a cause higher than himself would voluntarily subject himself to such conditions.

10 thoughts on “The Entourage That Keeps Geert Wilders Alive”

  1. Reminder to who would rather forget: those “allies on the Hard Left” can be just as bloody and deadly as the islamists themselves. Ask Pim Fortuyn, who was shot and killed in 2002 by a selfdescribed “environmental and animal rights activist” with no religious motivation in the first political murder in Dutch history since the 17th century.

    • It could be said that there was an oblique “religious motivation,” in that Fortuyn’s killer was worried that his election, which seemed imminent, would adversely affect, specifically, Muslims.

  2. This photo also tells another story Baron.

    I encountered it last week on GeenStijl (literally No Style, a Dutch anti-progressive blog).

    It’s in BLACK AND WHITE.

    And why’s that?

    Because that’s how Dutch MSM chose to portray Wilder’s arrival on the scene of the Vlaams Belang colloquium.

    It’s in black and white, to make Wilders and Co., and especially the Vlaams Belang, look sinister.

    Link: http://www.geenstijl.nl/mt/archieven/2016/03/zwartwit_fotos_want_wilders_bi.html

    • Thanks for that additional info. It’s very interesting — because it didn’t have that effect on me, quite the opposite, in fact. The stark black and white image with those determined watchful faces around a smiling Geert — that showed the ominous danger that is always around him, in the face of which he is always cheerful.

      So the picture may have backfired on them, at least with some people.

    • That is possible I suppose but Black and White is very effective. Some of the greatest photos of all time are Black and White. I think this one is very compelling and shows things that color would not.

  3. I don’t know the size of his protective detail but I can attest to the just how exhausting it is to protect a high risk protectee. Geert is certainly a high risk protectee.

    • Brave and decent men protecting a brave and decent man. Just think how this protection necessity must impact on his personal and family life. The Netherlands should be proud that they have him and appreciate the sacrifices he is making to protect his countrymen and countrywomen

  5. The very *fact* that such extraordinary security measures are necessary is a glaringly obvious indication that something is seriously wrong with Dutch society (and, in fact, with Western society in general). But for so many people, it seems that this this is not at all obvious. They cannot (will not?) even *recognize* that there is a problem (or more accurately, a crisis) let alone identify it.

    • PaulW, when you go to Disneyland, as I did yesterday, and undergo the same security checks as you do at any airport, you realize how much we have been forced into a cringing defensive posture.
      This isn’t a problem with Dutch society alone. As you say, it’s a glaring problem with Western society.

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