There is nothing hyperbolic in stating that a trial which has just started in Holland will have unparalleled significance for the future of Europe. It is not just about whether our culture will survive, but whether we are even allowed to state the fact that it is being threatened.

The trial of Geert Wilders has garnered hardly any attention in the mainstream press here. Fortunately the blogosphere can correct some of this.

TORONTO – On the same day that the Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders appeared before a court in the Netherlands on charges of incitement to hatred and discrimination against the religious beliefs of Muslims, about 150 people filled a room in Toronto’s Zionist Centre to show their support for Wilders and view his controversial film, Fitna.

Although the public prosecutor’s office in The Netherlands had already declined to charge Wilders, the appeals court reviewed the complaints made against him and decided that he should stand trial. According to the web site of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal, Wilders will be tried for statements that he has made in public and in his film, Fitna (which means strife in Arabic). He is also accused of insulting the Islamic community by comparing the Koran to Mein Kampf.

A Dutch court is forced to compare Hitler's 'Mein Kampf' and the Quran.

What started as a trial against Geert Wilders for alleged Islamophobia has nearly turned into its opposite: a historical case about the message of the Quran. The Amsterdam court trying the controversial Dutch politician is now preoccupied with the question of whether this book, sacred to more than a billion believers, can be compared to one of the most vile publications in the history of Western civilization—Hitler's "Mein Kampf." What could possibly go wrong?

Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders goes on trial in Amsterdam on Wednesday, January 20, on charges related to his political campaign to stop and reverse the Islamization of the Netherlands. The International Free Press Society has asked an array of legal experts, authors and journalists to reflect on this momentous event, and we present their comments below.