Dutch MP posts Islam film on web

[emad]

Source: beeb

Dutch right-wing politician Geert Wilders has posted a controversial film critical of Islam's holy book, the Koran, on the internet.

The opening scenes show a copy of the Koran, followed by footage of the attacks on the US on 11 September 2001.

The 17-minute film was posted on video-sharing website LiveLeak.

Its planned release had sparked angry protests in Muslim countries. Dutch PM Jan Peter Balkenende said the film wrongly equated Islam with violence.


Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7317506.stm

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Expect a fatwa-filled weekend.

[DutchLiberal]

1. Wilders is a fool, but a potentially very dangerous one.

Among things he has said in the past:

"Show me the head-scarves. I'll eat them for breakfast."

"We're gonna smoke them out of their holes."

"The Quran is a fascist book."

"I wouldn't like to see more muslims in The Netherlands. I want to see less of them. If they want to return to their homelands, I'm willing to help."

"I would have a problem with a majority of the government being muslim."

And now there is a very provocative film. In The Netherlands, most public figures, reporters and politicians are stressing the fact that Wilders shows nothing new in his film; that he just put old archive footage of terror attacks in it, combined with verses from the Quran. It doesn't contain anything we didn't already know about Wilders' worldview.

But I think it's potentially dangerous. Among other things, the film shows a potential image of The Netherlands in the future, a future in which, according to Wilders, muslims will make sure the same things will happen here as in the Middle-East, including beheadings of gays, stoning of women etc. Wilders is successfully selling fear to the electorate.

The film ends with the notion that "Islam wants to dominate the world" and that "after fascism and communism, we now have to defeat the Islam".

Geert Wilders' party currently holds 9 out of 150 seats in parliament.

[Scurrilous]

2. Uproar Over Anti-Islam Film Falls Flat

<snip>

"The leader of Netherlands' anti-immigration party, Geert Wilders, posted an anti-Islam film Thursday that was expected to raise an uproar among Muslims. So far, the fallout has fallen flat.

Wilders posted his film on the Internet after local distributors declined to release it. His film entitled, "Fitna," which translates to "Discord" in Arabic, suggests the Quran promotes violence and acts of terrorism. The 10-minute film shows various verses of the Quran followed by a montage of violent photos and video ranging from the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center to photos of the Shiite ritual of self-flagellation.

Wilders concludes the film with a graphic, saying it is up to "Muslims themselves to tear out the hateful verses of the Quran. Muslims want you to make way for Islam, but Islam does not make way for you." Wilders urges his audience to "stop Islamization, defend our freedom."

So far, the protests over the film have been largely over legal issues. European news reports say Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard will sue Wilders for using his copyrighted image of the prophet Muhammad with a bomb in his turban. News reports also say Dutch rapper Salah Edin is seeking legal recourse for his picture appearing in the film mistaking him for the man who murdered Dutch film director Theo van Gogh.

Small protests over the controversial film have sprouted in the Muslim world but have remained nonviolent."

more

[DutchLiberal]

3. There *have* been 'violent' protests in the Middle-East.

A Dutch flag was burned (and also a Danish one- as long as they were burning flags anyway...); a puppet resembling Wilders was also burning and thrown off a building. Protesters from Jordan have announced they will boycot Dutch products.

[Maeve]

4. Note: it has since been pulled--See thread in link below

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3247475&mesg_id=3247475