Fitna The Movie
Coming Soon to a website near you!
The Dutch politician Geert Wilders is at the center of a firestorm over a
short movie he created that is highly critical of Islam and the Qur'an.
The movie's title, Fitna, means "strife",
"ordeal", or "challenge" in Arabic. In the Islamic vernacular,
fitna, typically refers to challenges to the faith based on logic and
rationality. Wilders uses the term Fitna to describe the challenge that he
believes Islamic Fundamentalism poses to Western culture. Wilders is
outspoken in his disdain for the effect that the rise of Islam in Holland is
having on the traditional culture there and he has referred to his film a
"call to shake off the creeping tyranny of Islamicization." He
has also referred to Qur'an as a Fascist document, equating it to Mein Kampf.
Wilders heads the
Dutch Freedom Party which has nine seats in the 150-member Dutch
parliament, elected on an anti-immigration platform.
Fitna is scheduled to be released in late March and the controversy has accelerated
as that date approaches. Muslim groups throughout the world have condemned
Wilders and labeled Fitna as xenophobic and a dehumanization of Muslims. More
interesting perhaps is the reaction of governmental and religious organizations
who have mobilized in anticipation of the film's release to prevent a repeat of
the violence that followed the publication of cartoons depicting Muhammad in a
Danish newspaper two years ago. According to Radio Netherlands Worldwide,
The anger felt by some people in the Muslim world has already
reached such a level that a delegation from the Dutch Protestant church, the
Dutch Council of Churches, the Muslims and government contact organization (CMO)
and the Islamic contact group is to go to Egypt in a joint effort by these organizations to
ward off possible disaster. 1
Dutch television stations have refused to air the movie citing fears of
Muslim backlash, and the initial reactions from the worldwide Islamic community
suggests that those fears may be justified. According to FoxNews,
A senior Iranian lawmaker warned the Netherlands on Monday not to allow
the screening of what it called an anti-Islamic film produced by a Dutch
politician, claiming it "reflects insulting views about the Holy
Koran." Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of the Majlis National Security
and Foreign Policy Commission, promised widespread protests and a review of
Iran's relationship with the Netherlands if Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders' work
is shown.
No one has yet seen the final version of Fitna, but the New York Times has
published descriptions of it "juxtaposing excerpts of the Koran with
execution scenes." Adding to the controversy, a nationalist party in
Czech Republic has offered to host the film as a response to “Islamic
terrorists whose blackmail and attacks damage our countries.”
The Dutch government is grappling with concerns for the political
violence that the film may provoke as well as their responsibility to offer
personal security for Wilders. Wilders has previously received Islamic
death threats and has been under heavy guard since the 2004 murder of Dutch
director Theo van Gogh, who made a film critical of Islam's treatment of
women. Floris van Hovell, a spokesman for the Dutch Embassy
in Washington, reported that "The government is taking the announcement
of this movie quite seriously. Obviously, because the movie hasn't been made, we
cannot say anything about the movie until the movie has been shown, but the
message Mr. Wilders has told us he wants to portray is disturbing."
The American Internet service provider Network
Solutions announced today that it had suspended the film's official website www.fitnathemovie.com
while they were, " investigating whether the site's content is in
violation of the Network Solutions Acceptable Use Policy." A
Network Solutions spokesman said that company guidelines prevent it from
allowing "any
material in violation of any applicable law." The Network
Solutions' terms of service include a prohibition against "objectionable
material of any kind or nature." A Network Solutions spokeswoman Susan
Wade said "We felt it was best to take it down while we continued our
investigation."
Free speech advocates have disdained Geert Wilders' inflammatory views but
have offered support for his right to have them heard. The conservative website
AmericanThinker.com frames their perspective on the subject as follows:
Should Wilder be granted the
freedom to spout his ideas about Islam to the world? Given the freedom radical
Islamists enjoy to spout their hatred on the internet one wonders why Wilders
unseen film should suffer from being banned arbitrarily.
Fitna was released on 27 March 2008
Fitna was first released for public viewing on Liveleak.com and within the first 24 hours it had been downloaded 3,157,386 times. The staff at Liveleak.com had the following comment to share:
“To many of us involved in LiveLeak.com, some of the messages therein are personally offensive. That being said, our being offended is no reason to deny Mr. Wilders the right to have his film seen.”
Islamic Response
In less than 24 hours, the the British Internet hosting service that originally posted Fitna for public viewing succumbed to "serious" threats and removed it from their site. According to LiveLeak.com:
"Following threats to our staff of a very serious nature and some ill-informed reports from certain corners of the British media that could directly lead to the harm of some of our staff, LiveLeak.com has been left with no other choice but to remove 'Fitna' from our servers. This is a sad day for freedom of speech on the Net, but we have to place the safety and well being of our staff above all else. We'd like to thank the thousands of people from all backgrounds and religions who gave us their support. They realized that liveleak.com is a vehicle for many opinions not just for the support of one."
As of this time, the YouTube.com link to Fitna is still working.
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Liveleak.com Release of Fitna: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=7d9_1206624103
Youtube Release of Fitna, Part 1: http://youtube.com/watch?v=5kcev1K-NOc
Youtube Release of Fitna, Part 2: http://youtube.com/watch?v=TdLMFs4fv4E
1 Radio Netherlands Worldwide: http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/region/netherlands/080324-fitna-wilders-egypt-mc
2 Unofficial Fitna website: http://www.fitnathemovie.info/
3 Official Fitna website: http://www.fitnathemovie.com