OVO

Trevor Blake: Fitna and the United Nations [LINK-ZUM]

From Wikipedia: "Fitna is a film by Dutch politician Geert Wilders, leader of the Party for Freedom (PVV) in the Dutch parliament. The movie offers his views on Islam and the Qur'an." The film is available online from Wikileaks, Google Video, and via bittorrent.

Jorge Sampaio is the UN High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations. Mr. Sampiao issues a call for respect and calm:

The recent release of an insulting film on the Holy Qur'an seems to serve no other purpose than to cause offence. The film may provoke and prompt social unrest, and encourage extremist groups within European societies whose agenda is to discriminate against and marginalize Muslim immigrants. Similarly, this offensive film may add to tensions between different cultures and may give rise to the idea that Europe or the West as a whole are hostile to Islam. So let us always remember that misrepresentation fuels extremism and extremism appears to validate misrepresentation. That is the vicious circle we have to firmly oppose and avoid. We will all be the losers if we fail to immediately defuse this potential crisis, which will only serve to entrench already polarized opinions and to feed stereotypes and misconceptions that deepen patterns of hostility and mistrust among peoples and societies.

At the core of this situation is a trend towards extremism in many of our societies. We should indeed beware of overemphasizing it, because extremism anywhere is extremism everywhere, thanks to new media technologies. Few people think of themselves as extremists, but many can be pushed towards an extreme point of view, almost without noticing it, when they feel that the behavior or language of others is extreme. We therefore deeply regret this offensive film.

Mr. Sampaio's statement continues and may be read in full here. Fitna presents the words of the Qur'an as text, then shows Muslims and Muslim leaders reading that text and explaining what it means, then shows Muslims and Muslim leaders acting on that explanation. If the words, explanation and acts are murderous, it is not the fault of a film that reports such murders that is to blame.

The tension between different cultures presented in the film are as follows. In the West there is a pluralism in which filmmakers can make films and cartoonists can make cartoons without the threat of State-sanctioned death; a pluralism in which homosexuals can be homosexuals without the threat of State-sanctioned death; a pluralism in which women can be women without the threat of genitals mutilation. In the Muslim world, there is a monoculture in which filmmakers and cartoonists and authors and people in buildings and people on buses and people on trains and people just about anywhere can be put to death; a monoculture in which homosexuals can be put to death; a monoculture in which women can have their genitals mutilated. The pluralism of the West tries to include the monoculture of the Muslim world, tries to greet as friends those who are murdering them. The Muslim world contains no such contradiction. Mr. Sampaio uses ideas of culture, race and religion interchangeably. To condemn Islam is to be racist, he seems to say. It is not the case that culture, race and religion are so interchangeable, and to make that claim is deceptive.

This film may cause offense. The ten thousand men, women and children killed by Muslims since 11 September 2001 causes me more offense. How can it be that murder is a matter of culture while art is a criminal offense? The pluralism of the West has been perverted into cultural relativism.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has made the following statement about Fitna:

I condemn, in the strongest terms, the airing of Geert Wilders' offensively anti-Islamic film. There is no justification for hate speech or incitement to violence. The right of free expression is not at stake here. I acknowledge the efforts of the Government of the Netherlands to stop the broadcast of this film, and appeal for calm to those understandably offended by it. Freedom must always be accompanied by social responsibility.

The United Nations is the centre of the world's efforts to advance mutual respect, understanding and dialogue. We must also recognize that the real fault line is not between Muslim and Western societies, as some would have us believe, but between small minorities of extremists on different sides with a vested interest in stirring hostility and conflict.

This reads to me like nothing so much as a man encouraging his neighbors to continue paying 'protection money' to the gang that controls his neighborhood. The plain words of the Qur'an, the recorded speeches of Muslims and Muslim leaders, the video of Muslims using a hand knife to saw off the head of kidnap victims... somehow these are worthy of mutual respect, understanding and dialogue. It is a film that accurately portrays these that is hateful, not the acts themselves. It is a film that is to blame for inciting violence, not what the film portrays. This film should be banned by law, but somehow that is not a violation of the right of free expression. And once again we are offered the claim that the pluralism of the West is to be found in the Muslim world if the West will only keep quiet about the Muslim world's vested interest in stirring hostility and conflict. Once again we are told that the extremists are to found on both sides. But from where I'm sitting one side made films and cartoons and books, the other side kills people.

I am disappointed by these two statements by United Nations representatives regarding the film Fitna and regarding Islam.

Labels: art, books, comics, film, islam, theocracy, video