Anti-Koran Film Gets TV Deal Amidst Firestorm
THE HAGUE, Netherlands - Protesters already have torched Dutch flags in Afghanistan ahead of a new Dutch film portraying Islam’s holy book as a “fascist” text that incites violence and preaches the oppression of women and homosexuals.
A Dutch Cabinet minister postponed his trip to Somalia on Friday due to “specific threats” linked to the film, and the Dutch government has urged lawmaker Geert Wilders to scrap his film for the safety of its citizens abroad.
But Wilders said Monday he has begun negotiations with Dutch broadcasters about airing the 15-minute film, “Fitna.” He said he will only allow them to show it in its entirety, and if they refuse, he plans to show it to the media and post it on the Internet.
“We have never learned to be intolerant toward people who are intolerant toward us, toward cultures that are intolerant toward us,” he said in a recent Associated Press interview.
The right-wing legislator previously warned of a “tsunami” of Islam swamping the Netherlands and said Muslims should tear up half of the Quran if they want to live here.
Wilders has lived under round-the-clock security since the 2004 murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh by an Islamic radical enraged by his short film, “Submission,” a fictional study of abused Muslim women with scenes of near-naked women with Quranic texts engraved on their flesh.
The film “Fitna”—an Arabic word meaning discord—puts the centuries-old Dutch traditions of religious tolerance and freedom of speech on a collision course.
If it airs, Dutch Muslims are expected to file criminal complaints for racial or religious vilification. Prosecutors would then have to decide whether to charge Wilders with any offense.
“Our law is very clear—anybody can make a film. We have freedom of expression and you cannot restrict that,” says Moroccan-born Sadik Harchaoui, chief of the Forum Institute for Multicultural Development.
“Can you offend people? The answer is yes. I’m not saying you should do it or it is desirable, but you can,” he added. “But if the film is insulting and preaches hate, then the law has to take action.”
The Dutch government says it cannot ban the film but is attempting to distance itself from Wilders, the leader of the Freedom Party, which holds nine of Parliament’s 150 seats.
“It is our responsibility to make clear to everyone that the views and actions of this one elected representative are not those of the government,” Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende told reporters last week. “We defend the core values of freedom and respect. We guarantee freedom of expression and of religion, for Muslims as for everyone else.”
Already the film has provoked reactions from Damascus, Tehran and other capitals of predominantly Muslim countries.
Pakistan’s government ordered Internet providers to restrict access to YouTube, allegedly to prevent Pakistanis from accessing a clip of Wilders in which he makes derogatory remarks about Islam. The move inadvertently caused a brief worldwide outage of the video sharing site.
In Afghanistan, protesters set fire to Dutch flags over the weekend and Islamic clerics called for the withdrawal of Dutch troops.
NATO’s Dutch secretary-general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, says he too is worried about the “potentially serious consequences” for alliance troops in Afghanistan, where 1,500 Dutch troops serve in the NATO-led force in the volatile south.
“If they are put in the line of fire because of the film, I am concerned,” he told Dutch television news show “Buitenhof.”
De Hoop Scheffer says people around the world, including some in the U.S. administration, have been asking him about the film.
So far, the reaction among the 850,000 Muslims living in this country of 16 million has been muted, but the Dutch government has warned municipalities to be on alert for rioting if and when the film appears.
The moderate National Moroccan Council has said it is trying to “neutralize the threat” posed by the film, but cannot rule out violence at home.
“We will have succeeded if, after the film, Mr. Wilders is frustrated,” chairman, Mohamed Rabbae said at a news conference in January. “If he sees there are no riots and Muslims are cleverer and more democratic than he thinks.”
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“We will have succeeded if, after the film, Mr. Wilders is frustrated,” chairman, Mohamed Rabbae said at a news conference in January. “If he sees there are no riots and Muslims are cleverer and more democratic than he thinks.”
The problem is there will be violence and potentially riots and in my eyes he will be vindicated in his portrayal of the dark side of Islam. More voices like his needed. Courage in the face of an intolorant islam!
Instead of 9 seats out of 150 in their parliment, his party should hold 5-10 times that. Only then they may be able to save the Dutch identity but sadly things won’t shift that way there until it is far too late.
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:20 pmLet the burnings begin! LOL! Islamic rage boy’s head is going to blow up!
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:38 pm“Already the film has provoked reactions from Damascus, Tehran and other capitals of predominantly Muslim countries”
Yeah, nothing like having a reaction to something that you haven’t seen yet…
Islam and its associated behavior are insulting to me as a human being. Can I file a lawsuit and have a riot? Or would that be considered racist? (Oh, wait Islam isn’t a race…).
Can’t wait to see the flick!
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:06 pmThe Dutch seem to be the only people in Europe that have the balls to confront 12th Century Islamic dogma that is destroying the freedoms we use to enjoy in the West.
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Ken: It just occurred to me that Islam seems to be…dare I say, paranoid? Even the suspicion of offense against Islam and its tenets must be eliminated with overwhelming force before it turns into actual fact. There is no need for proof, the mere demonstration will suffice to maintain a rigid standard of proper Muslim conduct. One has the severe temptation to tell them that “you’re living in the 21st century: you can relax now.”
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:55 pmYo peeps,
Remember me?
I have to live in this country, remember???!!!!!
I DO understand your feelings, but hey, it’s the Dutch-man that is confronted on a daily basis whith everything that’s going on right now.
So, @ Birdddog;
“Let the burnings begin!LOL!”
You’ll be save when this actually happens. So please, give me a break
‘Cause, how many innocent people will see their cars burn? How many shop-owners will come “the day after” to witness their stores being havocked?
Yes, personally I too do hope that airing the movie will have all the Maroccan Princes and the rest of the scum into the street, behaving like the mad-men back in the Middle East.
But, fact is that NO police will be near to do anything about it. Just remember the footage of the Bezerkly police. Lame bystanders, just looking. And this will happen here in The Netherlans too.
Why?
Because we have cowards in our government. The same cowards that are nicely tucked away in their guarded houses, far away from the every-day-live a Dutchman is forced to undergo.
Because we have too many leftist in high positions. Peeps that seem to only bow their heads and give in to the crazy demands of a bunch of retards that think only their religion is good, planning to throw my country back into the dark ages.
This whole bunch of idiots will bend the riots into the next demonishing happening here. The same kind of demonishing that cost Theo van Gogh his live.
For example; the stupid backward reason Jaap de Hoop-Scheffers was talking about. Don’t know where this guy was hidding out for the last 12 months. But we already had casualtys and wounded soldiers during missions in Afghanistan. This so called “we are afraid for the safety of our soldiers” is such (and another) coward excuse.
All that’s left for the Dutch-men is cleaning up. And after that the Muslim will enter the store, laughing at the store-owner. Making him clear that the next time he and all Dutch citizens better bow their head Eastwards in stead of making clear they don’t accept domination/occupation.
My country is lost!!!
After I saw the prime-minister on tv last saturday-evening, I had to turn it off. I was foaming like a rabies-stricken dog. (Didn’t want to get rushed off to the hospital again
)But, it just struck me like lightning. The Netherlands were surrendering.
No need to burn any Dutch flags anymore elsewhere. I’ll do that for them. No need for a flag anymore, we’re already submitted, concurred AND sold out.
Thank you, lovely government and blind, deaf and stupid leftists. Sleep well and enjoy it as long as it lasts. ‘Cause it wont be long ’till you’ll be rideled awake in a very rough way.
I said it before, 3 choises;
- submit
- become a Muslim
- or….. get beheaded.
And that, fellow Dollardians, is our future.
That is, untill something drastic will hapen. “Fitna”-The Movie won’t be enough.
Dear Lord, let the Dutch-man awake on time. There will be no second chance.
(Hoping I was a bit coherent. Still got lots of difficultys do to my health-issues.)
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:05 pm