The movie Fitna
Recently a Dutch ultra-right politican called Geert Wilders made a movie in which he critisiced the the Islam…it caused emotional reactions througout the world. Dutch flags were for example burned in Iran, and several people with the family-name ‘Wilders’ were treatened (even though they were not relatives of him at all).
It my Malaysian friend Nadia wonder what is really happening here, and what is the true story behind it…Since I could imagine more people would have this question, I added our correspondention in this blog. Morale: the movie is just the expression of one indivudual, and definitely not of a country.
Nadia wrote:
> hi jop! wat are you up to these days? im just dropping by to say hi and umm, maybe ask you some questions, if you dont mind. as u are aware, the film fitna is really a big issue here. our ex-primer already called a ban on dutch products. to be frank, the average malaysian dont really care, especially the educated ones. but the issue is being politizied as usual. whats happening in the netherlands? what do u personally think of the video?
Jop wrote:
Hi Nadia,
It is nice and interesting to hear from you…I was not aware the movie was an issue as well in Malaysia. I heard there were protests in countries like Iran and Afghanistan…
The whole story with this movie got quite of proportions, if you ask me.
it has been made by Geert Wilders, who is leader of a very right oriented political party in the Netherlands. Geert Wilders is always trying to make people who are not so well educated afraid for the Islam. He tells about a future in which the Netherlands will be dominated by the Islam, in which it will lose its own values, and he also keeps on telling things that all Muslims are terrorists and so on.
His reasoning behind it is really poor and any educated person will consider his statements as ungrounded, but sadly there are always people who are influencable by such words and becuase of that he still has quite some followers. Like in your country, often those are also the less educated people.
When he announced he was going to make a movie in which he would critisice the Islam, it resulted in a shock. Rumour were there that in this movie he would burn page from the Koran and so, and the Dutch government feared it could result in conflicts between the Muslim communiniies and the autochtonous groups in the Netherlands. They also feared it could bring Dutchmen in Islamic countries into danger, and harm political and business relaitons.
So, they asked Geert Wilders to stop making this movie, but like ussual he loved the attention and the commotion so he continued. He said that everyone has the right to express his opinion, and that that right never should be given up under threat of violence or conflicts. Another important value, that one should respect other people, was completely ignored by Mr Wilders.
When the government realised Wilders would like ussual only think of his own pathetic interests, they made an official declaration that they are not supporting or agreeing with this movie in any way. The movie was not broadcasted on any TV-channel, and thus has been the expression of one individual instead of The Netherlands.
In the end, both the Muslim and autochtonous communities did not take the move very seriously here, and I think Wilders has made quite a fool out of himselve in the end. A lot of people and celibrities here went on the street to protest about his provocations, and to show they respect the Muslim-religion and support a multicultural society.
Personally I never took Mr Wilders seriously and even though I have not seen it, I dont take his movie seriously as well. Personally I always have find the Islam and its culture very interesting, and I believe we Dutch could learn a lot from it. I always believe that a multi-cultural society can bring a lot of goods, as long as all are open-minded and respectful to each other. We all can learn from each other.
Another funny thing is that if Wilders would have replaced ‘Islam’ in his movie and statement into ‘Jewish’, he probaly would have been arrested and put in jail (Because of the second world war). It just shows that ‘Freedom of Expression’ is quite subjective and that the Dutch sometimes are a bit hypocrite.
I foun this correspondention meaningful and i am going to put it in my blog…Just to show that movie is the expression of one individual (who sadly has a political function), but definitely not of a country.
Take good care,
Jop
