Dutch MP Geert Wilders' film Fitna which includes very
disturbing scenes of violence (including 9/11,the aftermath of Madrid and London bombings, beheading and execution), incitement to violence and hate speech
carried out by Muslim extremists in the name of their religion,
juxtaposed with verses from the Koran and an 'anti-Islamisation' message
is on YouTube in two parts here.
Wilders implicitly generalises from what some extremists have done in
the name of their religion to the idea that Islam in every aspect is an
evil. There is no sense that there could be a moderate Muslim. This is
not a balanced documentary treatment. Islam is presented as a ticking
bomb within the Netherlands (and presumably elsewhere). There is no serious suggestion of how this alleged threat to Western democracy can be addressed. This is why
this film is so controversial and why the British Government has
prevented him from entering the UK despite his being a democratically
elected politician from an EEC country. There are also links
immediately after this movie to response videos of various kinds including by Muslims.
On the free speech issue here, the easy availability of the video on
the Internet means that his rather crude message is not, as yet,
censored in the UK. To that extent his freedom to communicate his ideas
does not seem to have been radically curbed. In fact the UK
Government's refusal to let him enter the country means that many more
people will now watch this video in order to try to understand the ban.
So indirectly they are increasing the number of people who watch
Wilders' movie - which is presumably the opposite of what they intend.
Whether the UK Government can now consistently apply the principle on
which his ban on entry was made - that his presence is likely to incite violence - remains to be seen.
More on Free Speech at www.vsi-free-speech.com
Read Oliver Kamm on why he thinks we should support Wilders (written prior to this ban)
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