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Dutch Movie Provokes Fury from Muslims
by
findingDulcinea Staff
Some Muslims have reacted angrily to “Fitna,” a short film by Dutch filmmaker and politician Geert Wilders that argues that the Quran promotes violence.
30-Second Summary
The video-sharing site LiveLeak posted “Fitna” on Thursday. It withdrew the documentary by the following day in response to death threats, but not before the film was viewed over three million times. The footage also migrated to YouTube and Google Video.
The 17-minute film pairs extracts from the Quran with images of terrorist attacks, including those at the World Trade Center and the Madrid bombings.
Muslims around the world have expressed outrage. In Indonesia, protesters gathered by the Dutch Embassy, hurled eggs and water bottles into the compound, and shouted that Wilders should die. Malaysia's conservative Islamic party called on Muslims to boycott Dutch products.
Even the Dutch government urged Wilders not to release the documentary. The Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said, "The film equates Islam with violence. We reject that interpretation.”
Wilders is no stranger to controversy. The MP has claimed that Islam cannot be a “moderate” religion, and he has garnered praise as well as ire for his incendiary comments.
However, reactions to his film pale in comparison with the violent demonstrations following the September 2005 publication in Danish newspapers of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. More than 50 people were killed worldwide in protests that began in early 2006.
On Sunday, Germany also prompted criticism from some Muslims with the premiere of a theatrical adaptation of Salman Rushdie’s novel “The Satanic Verses” in Potsdam. When “The Satanic Verses” was published in 1988, Ayatollah Khomeini called for the author’s death, forcing Rushdie into a decade-long exile.
The 17-minute film pairs extracts from the Quran with images of terrorist attacks, including those at the World Trade Center and the Madrid bombings.
Muslims around the world have expressed outrage. In Indonesia, protesters gathered by the Dutch Embassy, hurled eggs and water bottles into the compound, and shouted that Wilders should die. Malaysia's conservative Islamic party called on Muslims to boycott Dutch products.
Even the Dutch government urged Wilders not to release the documentary. The Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said, "The film equates Islam with violence. We reject that interpretation.”
Wilders is no stranger to controversy. The MP has claimed that Islam cannot be a “moderate” religion, and he has garnered praise as well as ire for his incendiary comments.
However, reactions to his film pale in comparison with the violent demonstrations following the September 2005 publication in Danish newspapers of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. More than 50 people were killed worldwide in protests that began in early 2006.
On Sunday, Germany also prompted criticism from some Muslims with the premiere of a theatrical adaptation of Salman Rushdie’s novel “The Satanic Verses” in Potsdam. When “The Satanic Verses” was published in 1988, Ayatollah Khomeini called for the author’s death, forcing Rushdie into a decade-long exile.
Headline Links: Muslims react to ‘Fitna’ and ‘The Satanic Verses’
In response to death threats, the video-sharing LiveLeak reluctantly removed the film “Fitna” from its Web site last Friday; the documentary had already been viewed more than three million times. British paper The Register quotes from a LiveLeak press release: “This is a sad day for freedom of the speech on the net."
Source: The Register
Although there have been worldwide protests and denunciations of Geert Wilders’ film “Fitna” and the German theater production of “The Satanic Verses,” the anticipated violent reactions have not occurred. Bahman Nirumand, an Iranian writer living in exile, called the film and the play “‘psychological warfare’ under the banner of artistic freedom,” according to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle. Police kept watch at the premiere of "The Satanic Verses” in Potsdam, Germany, on Sunday afternoon, but there were no protests or violence.
Source: Deutsche Welle
A shorter version of “Fitna” is available with English subtitles on YouTube.
Source: YouTube
Background: Wilders, LiveLeak and the Danish cartoons
Geert Wilders and LiveLeak
In an interview with Der Spiegel, right-wing Dutch politician Geert Wilders claimed that moderate Islam is “a contradiction,” as violent attacks do not occur “in the name of Buddhism or Christianity.” Wilders asserted that his goal in producing the film was to “provoke a discussion.”
Source: Der Spiegel
The Dutch political press named Geert Wilders politician of the year in 2007, but “his opponents see him as a provocateur,” according to the BBC. He became a Dutch MP in 1998, and he defected from his liberal party in 2002 because he disagreed with the party’s support for Turkey’s application to join the European Union. His new Freedom Party (PVV) earned nine seats in the Dutch parliament in 2006.
Source: The BBC
LiveLeak, based in Manchester, England, “is a kind of uncensored version of YouTube, used notably by soldiers to share footage from warzones.” The video-sharing site gained attention in 2006 by posting a video of Saddam Hussein’s hanging. Ever since, according to The Times (of South Africa), it “has become the main outlet for U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan to show the world what is happening from their point of view, unedited by the mainstream media.”
Source: The Times (of South Africa)
The Danish cartoons
Al-Qaida’s Web site Al-Sahab released a video clip over a week ago in which Osama bin Laden lambastes the West, and the Pope in particular, for the decision by Danish newspapers to reprint the Muhammad cartoons in February. Bin Laden called the cartoons “the greater and more serious tragedy” when compared to the bombing of Muslim villages, and he appeared to threaten retaliation against the West.
Source: findingDulcinea
In February, Jyllands-Posten and 10 other Danish newspapers reprinted the cartoon of Muhammad that had incited outrage and riots in February 2006. According to findingDulcinea, the newspapers chose to reprint the cartoon as a way of expressing the importance of free speech, the day after police broke up a plot to kill the original cartoonist.
Source: findingDulcinea
Opinion & Analysis: Displaying the film
In defense of ‘Fitna’
Robert Spencer of conservative Web site Human Events defends the points made in Wilders’ film: “For all the indignation that 'Fitna' has caused around the world, and for all the angry claims that it ‘equates Islam with violence,’ that equation has already been made, many, many times, by Islamic jihadists around the world.”
Source: Human Events
Before the documentary was released, Michael C. Moynihan of Reason supported the showing of Wilders’ film “Fitna," not because he agrees with it, but because he believes in free speech and the importance of not responding to “bullying.” Moynihan writes, “Regardless of the substance of the film, and however much one disagrees with his interpretation, Wilders should be defended, without reservation, by free speech advocates both in Holland and abroad; a position made even more necessary considering the lukewarm defense proffered by Western governments and intellectuals.”
Source: Reason
In opposition to ‘Fitna’
In a blog from The Independent, Jerome Taylor sees the airing of the film as an inflammatory measure that will probably result in bloodshed similar to that following the publishing of the Danish cartoons. “Personally I just feel for the world's Muslims who, once the violence starts, will no doubt have to be wheeled out and forced to condemn the actions of a violent few that have nothing in common with their own belief system.” He further states, “And whether people die or not, Mr. Wilders will no doubt keep a close eye on his poll ratings.”
Source: The Independent
In Asharq Alawsat, Hussein Shobokshi argues that there is a double standard in the West when it comes to free speech and religion. According to Shobokshi, offensive material is not always tolerated when is directed toward Jews or Christians. “There are many ‘precedents’ in the Western judicial legacy illustrating that there is no absolute ‘freedom’ without a ceiling and there are many precedents supporting the view that the punishment of any crime against any religion or a symbol of it should be as the one for this kind of crime,” writes Shobokshi.
Source: Asharq Alawsat
Related Link: Danish cartoonist calls film copyright infringement
Wilders will remove the references to the Danish artist Kurt Westergaard’s Muhammad cartoon, depicted twice in the film “Fitna.” The Danish Union of Journalists had threatened to sue Wilders for copyright infringement. “I don't want my drawing to be used in something that I don't know anything about. Had Mr. Wilders contacted me, we could have talked together and I could have found out what he wanted with the drawing," Westergaard said.
Source: USA Today
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