Geert Wilders, the anti-Muslim, anti-EU, Dutch politician today released "Fitna," a propaganda film condemning Islam as inherently violent and evil.
According to the AP the film shows:
Graphic images from the bomb attacks on London in July 2005 and Madrid in March 2004 are shown. Pictures of a woman being stoned, scenes from a beheading and images of the Dutch director Theo van Gogh, who was murdered by a radical Islamist in 2004, are also included. And pictures appearing to show Muslim demonstrators holding up placards saying "God bless Hitler" and "Freedom go to hell" are also featured. The film shows a young girl in a headscarf making derogatory comments about Jewish people. It also displays a graph showing how the number of Muslims in the Netherlands and Europe has grown. The film ends with someone turning pages of a Koran, followed by a tearing sound. A text that appears on the screen says: "The sound you heard was from a page (being torn from a) phone book.
Dutch news sources and various interested spokesmen in the Netherlands are attempting to play down the message of the film as not as bad as expected. But it is worse than bad. It is a hate-filled polemic that makes the Danish cartoons depicting the Muslim prophet appear tame. I fear that the film will lead to violence, which Wilders wants, and it potentially puts Dutch troops in Afghanistan at risk as well as Dutch citizens living in Muslim countries.
The threat of religious extremism is real, and the role of women within Islamic culture remains a troubling issue, but fanning the flames of hatred against “the other” will only lead to more hatred. As a proponent of free speech I hesitate advocating legal action against Wilders. Apparently, he skates precariously along the line of Dutch law. However, there is no doubt that this film must be condemned by the international community for what it is--hate speech.
"Fitna" is available on LiveLeak here. You might want to see it, but I don't feel good about spreading it around. So I won't embed it.