Avi Davis - Journalist

For anyone paying close attention, a historic event occurred this week in Europe. As we go to press, polls reveal that Geert Wilders’ party, the Party for Freedom, has won a sweeping victory in the Dutch section of the European electorate, swamping its nearest rival by nearly 20%.

Today’s elections to the European Union parliament are vitally important. The European parliament in its next session is likely to vote on a number of issues which could affect trade alliances, the sovereignty of its constituent states and the Trans- Atlantic Alliance.

How has Geert Wilders, labeled by his enemies a racist and bigot, whose pronouncements against Muslim extremism are widely reviled by the European intelligentsia, media and political class, won such an extraordinary level of popularity?

The answer is that Wilders reflects a profound disenchantment with those elites men and women who are blindly leading that continent to catastrophe. A willingness to hide behind multicultural slogans and politically correct nostrums, has led to a continent wide rise in anti-Semitism, incipient violence and a vicious anti-democratic movement, led by an empowered Muslim minority.

Wilders recognizes both the seriousness of the threat and the depth of the disenchantment and it is for this reason his popularity has soared. He is courageously spearheading a movement, at great risk to his own life, to alert his corner of the world to the perils of accommodating fundamentalist Islam.

Across the English Channel another man similarly toils against great adversity and the similar willing denial of the deep problems his country faces from appeasement to Muslim demands. Alan Craig, a councilman in one of London’s inner suburbs, is fighting a successful campaign to force a secretive fundamentalist Muslim group to bend in its plans to construct a mega mosque near the heart of the under-construction 2012 Olympic village. Craig’s pertinacity, not just in the face of Tagblihi Jamaat’s campaign of vilification but in defiance of his many political adversaries, is a case study in courage and determination. There are few men of his caliber today in England who state plainly what all can see – that British identity and national character is in a state of free fall and that no less than national survival is at risk if something is not done to rescue that country from the grip of its multicultural swoon.

These two men exemplify the spirit of the hero of conscience – unafraid to start plainly and unashamedly that they are sons of the enlightenment and will resist any attempt to deny that legacy.

For that reason the American Freedom Alliance is proud to offer both men its 2009 Heroes of Conscience Awards. This year’s annual dinner, to be held on Sunday, June 7, at the Reagan Library and Museum in Simi Valley, will offer us the opportunity to pay tribute to their commitment to Western values and to celebrate with them the glory of our heritage.