Tensions are growing over the expected release of a film by Geert Wilders, leader of the right-wing populist Freedom Party. At the end of last year Mr Wilders announced he was working on a film about the Koran as "a source of inspiration for intolerance, murder and terror". Dutch ministers have apparently been holding secret meetings about the film for some time. They are concerned about its possible repercussions in the Netherlands and abroad.
During a visit to the European Parliament in Strasburg this week, Syria's Grand Mufti Ahmad Badr al-Din Hassoun said that if the Freedom Party leader tears up or burns a Koran in his film,"this will simply mean he is inciting wars and bloodshed. And he will be responsible. It is the responsibility of the Dutch people to stop Wilders."The Muslim cleric's tone is reminiscent of the crisis that followed the publishing of the Danish cartoons of Mohammed two years ago. His words are all the more ominous considering that the most violent protests took place in Syria.
Secret meetings
Geert Wilders, leader of the Freedom Party, which has nine seats in the 150-member Dutch Lower House
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The Dutch authorities are concerned about the possible repercussions of the anti-Koran film which Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders plans to release at the end of January.
On Wednesday it was announced that Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, Interior Minister Guusje ter Horst and Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin have been holding secret meetings about the expected consequences for some time. The National Coordinator for Counterterrorism, Tjibbe Joustra, is also involved in the discussions.
Mr Wilders announced his plans last November. He said he was making a film to show that the Koran is a fascist book which incites believers to violence and hatred.
Mr Wilders' remarks about Islam have become increasingly radical since the beginning of 2007. In February last year he said that if Muslims want to stay in the Netherlands they should tear out half the Koran and throw it away. In parliament he then called for the Koran to be banned, a proposal that was promptly rejected.
Mr Wilders now appears to be continuing his campaign against the Koran with this film. However, its exact content and where it will be shown remains shrouded in mystery. The big question is whether he will publicly desecrate the Koran, perhaps by tearing it up or burning it.
Tensions
Shortly after Mr Wilders had announced the making of his film, the interior and justice ministers held an interview with him, warning him of its possible repercussions and the associated risks to him personally. It appears that in November the interior minister also sent a letter to all mayors in the Netherlands, asking them to be 'extra alert' to the tensions that might arise, even before the film is released. "The announcement of the film," she wrote, "could lead to unrest in society and tension between population groups."
Police forces in major cities such as Amsterdam and Rotterdam say they are preparing for possible disturbances after the premiere of the notorious film, and seeking the cooperation of imams and other leading figures in the Muslim communities.
Danish cartoons
The Dutch authorities are also concerned about the reaction abroad, bearing in mind the spectre of the Danish cartoon crisis two years ago, when in many Muslim countries demonstrations were held, some of which turned violent. Dutch embassies in Islamic countries have received instructions on how to respond to possible violent protests against the film, and Dutch citizens abroad have been asked to register with their embassies in case evacuation becomes necessary.
Earlier this week Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen was in Madrid to attend the Alliance of Civilisations, an international forum aimed at reducing tensions between the Islamic world and the West. He was repeatedly questioned about the film. Addressing the forum he spoke about freedom of religion and expression. "It is difficult to anticipate the content of the film, but freedom of expression doesn't mean the right to offend."
If the film is unacceptable, said Mr Verhagen, the Dutch government will express its disagreement in no uncertain terms. After the Danish cartoon crisis, various experts said they believed the wave of protest around the world might have been prevented if the Danish government had immediately distanced itself from the cartoons of the prophet Mohammed.
*RNW translation (mb)
Tags:
Ahmad Badr al-Din Hassoun,
cartoons,
Danish,
film,
Geert Wilders,
Islam,
Maxime Verhagen,
Mohammed,
Prophet
Danial,
25-01-2008
- USA
So where were you freedom of speech advocates when Bill Maher was fired from ABC after his comments on 9/11? Where were you knights of freedom when the Christian Right forced the cancellation of an NBC show titled "God, the Devil, and Bob" in 2000? Where were you advocates when Holocaust deniers are in jail? Where were you when the Spaniard authorities put a cartoonist in jail for depicting the Spanish Royal Family in a crude manner? Or when the Dixie Chicks in early 2003 were the subject of death threats due to their opposition to Bush and the Iraq war at a concert in London? You all are nothing but hypocrites that advocate causes that suit your agenda and discard it when it doesn't. Freedom of speech doesn't mean to pick and choose; it's all or none.
Chris,
25-01-2008
- Canada
"This will simply mean he is inciting wars and bloodshed. And he will be responsible." Fail. The murderous psychopaths who carried out the bloodshed will be responsible. It's impressive to me the extent to which Muslims (and many non-Muslims) misunderstand the concept of freedom of speech. Freedom of speech DOES MEAN freedom to offend. You find it offensive to criticize the Koran? I find it offensive not to. Why should you get your say and me not get mine? Only in an open market place of ideas can all ideas be effectively evaluated and critically judged. Our societies are built on this principle, just as Islamic societies are built on the unquestioning faith in the incoherent rantings of a delusional pedophile. In other words... Welcome to the West. We do things differently here.
Wildertje,
22-01-2008
- Holland
http://www.filmwilders.magnify.net/
George,
21-01-2008
- NL
The wake up time for the Western civilzation has come! We assist powerless how the Islam is taking over the West and we are not allowed to say anything. Here in NL, in less than fifty years everybody will pray to Allah and wear the scarf (every muslime female gives birth at at least three cildren). The minority people of genuine Dutch origin will be declared protected against extinction, but not by goodwill of the Muslim majority. For centuries the Western civilization was defended and preserved with the blood of our ancestors against the Arab and Otoman invasions. They destroyed civilizations, kiled and burnd everybody and everything that was not in line with their Koran, because these are the Koran commands! (Do you know that before Arab invasion, Egypt was a Christian contry? Nowadays 95% are muslims and only 5% Christians of Koptic religion and they are becoming fewer because of the Muslim "tolerance") Remember the burning of the Library of Alexandria and all the Christians masacred because they did not accept to convert to Islam in Balkan Peninsula!
Western Europe was not affected by the Ottoman Empire expansion because at Europe's boundaries on the Danube's shores (actual Romanian and Serbian teritories) were brave people to fight and die for Christianity. All this time the Kings from the West were just watching the show and enjoying life! Remember that in the XVI century the Ottomans besieged Vienna!
After the Second WW and the postcolonial Era, they received free access to come and settle in west. Nobody asked the Muslims to abide by the laws of the adopting countries and now they are making the law in the countries breeding them. They abuse of the human rigts provisions, but only in theyr favour. How many Christians are allowed to have churches and practice freedom of belief in the muslims countries. People of Eurpe wake up, the civilizations' war never sttoped! The mater of the fact is that Islam is victorious and we, the Christians, are sleeping our death sleep together with the Pope and other Christian churches! It will come the time when the Vatican will be the Headquarters of Islam and San Pietro becomes a mosque. Something should be done and strong rules have to be put in place. The Muslims who want to live in West have to abide by the modern civilizations' rules or to go to the Muslim ports from where they have come. Europe and the Western civilization will survive without them and their culture! They have to go and apply their Sharia there, not in UK or in Europe! We are to shy in front of their violence and intolerance. They ask us to give up our freedom of expression but they behave like wilde predators. Remember their reaction at published Danish cartoons and at Pope remarks a year ago about the Profet teaching by quoting a Constantinopol Emperor. Every time when they react violently, the West civilization steps back and this will be our destruction! Let give them more rights and our heirs will have no future! The European race is disapearing under migration waves, this must be because of the lack of courage to set the things clearly.
I am awaiting with intrest to watch Mr Wilders' movie and to see the Islamic hysteria. If this time again the civilised world steps back, then we deserve our destruction. It is a pity that there are no more brave people like him. It was one more, I am reffering at Theo van Gogh and he was murdered by a criminal who believed in his "tolerant Koran teaching"!
Mouaz alkhatib,
21-01-2008
- syria
Mr wilders has the full right to say what he believes about Qur'an, Islam ... Muslims respect a man when he makes sense, but no one in the world has the right to talk about any religion in an unsavoury or dishounorable way. Mr wilders likes to return people back to the savagery of forest life... let him have some culture first and then let him talk.
Bob,
20-01-2008
- US
It is wake up time not just for Europe but all the world Islam has invaded and we have let them, its time to take a stand. I reccomend this book ISLAMIC INVASION, Dr. Robert Morey
Sandeep,
20-01-2008
- England
Mr Wilders ought to be free to express his opinion, no matter how extremist it might seem, if it does not involve libel. It seems to me that a general critique of Islam as a religion should be considered libel, unless it involves specific references to current people. Wilders is an activist who has the courage to face up to the Islamic extremists who use media extremism with impunity. I'm sure the Dutch people are mature enough to take it in their stride.
Kevin Williams,
hummerstrand@yahoo.com,
20-01-2008
- SA
Why did the Dutch government not stand up when " The da Vinci Code" came out. Let's be democratic and lets see this movie, if the Da Vinci Code was good to be viewed, this should be too.
Thomas Lane,
20-01-2008
- USA
Stop provoking Islam??? I think the message can be inverted towards the Muslims of Europe and around the world...Stop provoking the West! This characterization that Geert Wilders is somehow a far-right demagogue because he desires to maintain European and national identities that are threatened culturally by malcontented Muslims who are gaining a huge foothold on Europe is akin to us saying the Muslims of the world need to accept western culture...it is reverse discrimination against Europeans. If Muslims do not like what is happening in Europe, they should return to their countries of origin. There is nothing preventing their return to their homelands. As a citizen of Nederland, a free, democratic state, Geert Wilders has the absolute right to show his movie. It would be wrong to censor his movie just because it would offend some fanatic religious malcontents. The next thing you know, should his movie be banned, the Muslims will seek a ban pork products because it ofends them...Where will it all end??? The eradication of European culture? I must say that the EU is the single most dangerous enemy to Europe next to the Islamification of European states. Turkey must not be allowed into the EU!!!
Hugh E Torrance,
20-01-2008
- England
Muhammad married a six year old girl named Aisha...what kind of people would believe he has anything to do with God???
Dr. Bukk,
19-01-2008
- US
"Freedom of expression is not freedom to offend"?
Absolutely wrong. More correct is that freedom of expression is not freedom to libel. If the truth is told in the film, then the man should be protected and encouraged for his bravery. I hope he isn't killed.
Her Royal Whyness,
19-01-2008
- USA
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION - USE IT OR LOSE IT.
When Wilders' film is released, every main stream media outlet should simultaneously run the mo cartoons.
Mosques practice their unfettered right to freedom of expression through their sermons of hate and violent jihad against all non-believers. As much as you'd like to ignore it, wish it away, Islam is the most intolerant doctrine facing mankind. Geert Wilders' film is fair play.
James Vernon,
19-01-2008
- England.
<<Vera Gottlieb, 18-01-2008 - Germany >> <<For Heaven's sake!!! Stop provoking Islam The Holocaust did not teach us anything?>>
Vera, Yes the world learned from the Holocaust. The world united to put an end to an insane cult. Islam is the present day cult of death. It gets no free pass just because it calls itself a "religion"
Vera, you have have learned nothing from history
Hiram,
19-01-2008
- USA
The leaders of the period from the 1920's and 1930's didn't stand up against Hitler and his plans ( Mein Kampf ) and the results were disastrous. Mein Kampf contained the plans of a mad man and his beliefs. He and his people carried out the plans to almost perfect precision. It was almost perfect; but due to the fact of concerned people and nations such as the U.K. (Churchill) and U.S. (Roosevelt), the plans of genocide were stopped. With this said, Geert Wilders, and individuals like him, just might be a little like Churchill and Roosevelt. He sees the dangers and terrorists acts being committed by one specific religion and he is trying to avoid a repeat genocide. People shouldn't be too quick to condemn him. There might be some truth to his beliefs. If he is correct and the EU fails to respond accordingly, there might be repercussions, and just like Hitler, a lot of people will suffer especially when they didn't have to do so. If his film is shown and repercussions happen in "the Netherlands and abroad", as stated, the repercussions will validate his claims. No repercussions will reflect a positive image of Islam. The film will be a litmus test.
syed imamuddin,
imamuddin@gmail.com,
19-01-2008
- India
Geert Wilders, this [person] is a fool, looking for cheap publicity. The [Dutch] government should take steps to avoide such type of foolish acts by fools like Geert Wilders.
