Fitna فِتْنَةٌ‎

Geert Wilders goes on trial today, accused of incitement and discrimination against Muslims. His film, Fitna, presents suras from the Qur'an... and scenes of atrocities committed by people inspired by them. He could be fined or jailed if convicted.

Really?

Hideous pandering and audiovisual aids after the jump.



An article from the Times Online reports:

Mr Wilders, 46, who is accused of incitement and discrimination, asked for 18 witnesses to be called in his defence, including Mohammed Bouyeri, the man who stabbed and shot Theo Van Gogh in an Amsterdam street in 2004.

Theo Van Gogh was a Dutch filmmaker (great-grandnephew of the one-eared genius) who worked with the remarkable Ayaan Hirsi Ali to produce the film Submission, which criticized the treatment of women in Islam (genital mutilation, honor killings, etc.). He was shot dead in Amsterdam (an old hometown of mine) in broad daylight. Wiki has the details:

Bouyeri shot van Gogh eight times with an HS 2000 handgun, and Van Gogh died on the spot. Bouyeri then cut Van Gogh's throat, nearly decapitating him, and stabbed him in the chest. Two knives were left implanted in his torso, one attaching a five-page note to his body. The note (Text) threatened Western governments, Jews and Ayaan Hirsi Ali (who went into hiding). The note also contained references to the ideologies of the Egyptian organization Takfir wal-Hijra. The murder of Theo Van Gogh bears similarities to the fates of 7th century poets Abu 'Afak, Asma bint Marwan and Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf who were all murdered after having written critically about Muhammad. 

It's a good move by Wilders. I don't want to hear Bouyeri vomit incoherent hatred all over the courtroom floor, but I want the jury to. I want them to hear it and absorb it and think really, really hard about what they want the future to look like.

Banners declaring 'Islam will dominate the world' at a protest during Mr Wilders' visit to the UK. "Freedom go to hell."

Wilders can be kind of a douchebag about it, but I share his passionate revulsion at the prospect of the cradle of the Enlightenment turning into a place where the price of free speech is a horrible death. Just one more outpost of medievalist savagery in a demon-haunted world. 

Disingenuous accusations of racism fly like shrapnel every time someone critiques Islam. I can't think of anything less conducive to meaningful debate. Crying racism is the refuge of cowards. It reduces what might have been an enlightening airing of differences to an "I'm purer than you" shouting match. Yes, most Muslim immigrants to the Netherlands have darker skin than the native Dutch. It has to do with vitamin D and differential historical exposure to solar radiation at different latitudes. There are certainly plenty of people who don't like Muslims because they're xenophobic, bigoted idiots, but it is my sincere hope that there are those out there who object to Islam purely because it is scary.

On that note, here's your dose of blasphemy for the day. First, the cartoon that launched a thousand fatwas, caused more than one hundred deaths, and led to an attempt on the artist's life and family. Wiki on the publication of the Danish cartoons:

This led to protests across the Muslim world, some of which escalated into violence with police firing on the crowds (resulting in more than 100 deaths, all together), including setting fire to the Danish Embassies in Syria, Lebanon and Iran, storming European buildings, and desecrating the Danish, Dutch, Norwegian and German flags in Gaza City. While a number of Muslim leaders called for protesters to remain peaceful, other Muslim leaders across the globe, including Mahmoud al-Zahar of Hamas, issued death threats.

Your god needed defending from this?

Finally, here's Fitna in its entirety.






It's the worst kind of sentimental propaganda, and poorly made at that, but does that warrant jail time in the Netherlands now? That's up to the Dutch.