Gregorius Nekschot

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Gregorius Nekschot is a Dutch controversial cartoonist. His cartoons are published on the internet and are seen as very extreme. He focuses on ridiculing Islam and left-wing parts of Dutch society. Theo van Gogh supported Nekschot by putting his cartoons on his website, before being murdered by an Islamic fundamentalist.

Gregorius in the name of the cartoonist's pseudonym refers to Pope Gregory IX, who instituted the Papal Inquisition. Nekschot means literally "shot in the neck," a method used by "fascists and communists to get rid of their opponents."^[1]

Nekschot has met with strong resistance from Dutch society. The media would not publish his cartoons. A book with his cartoons has been published by Xtra (publisher), but the distributor would not distribute it. The Koninklijke Bibliotheek must purchase every book published in the Netherlands, including this one. It is treated similarly to Mein Kampf and other works by Adolf Hitler (accessibility limited to serious students).

Nekschot is an advocate of complete freedom of speech, as was Van Gogh. Nekschot is opposed to all religions and strong ideologies including socialism, liberalism, Nazis, Christians, Jews, Muslims, conservatism, capitalism and all others.

Nekschot has been threatened by fundamentalist Muslims and Dutch anarchists. Dutch Jews ('just like Der Stürmer') and a parliamentarian of the CDA emailed him because they had strong objections to his cartoons. A psychiatrist voluntarily diagnosed him via email as scary, dangerous with pathological sexual aberrations.

In 2005, the cartoonist was nominated for a Clickies, a Dutch web-comic award.^[2]

However, in order to maintain his anonymity, he announced that he would not attend to the ceremony, in case a prize were to be awarded to him.