Watching Fitna

Friday, March 28, 2008 at 4:30 | Posted in censorship, Freedom of speech | 8 Comments
Tags: film, Fitna, geert wilders, islam

On Monday I urged everybody to watch Fitna by Geert Wilders before passing a judgement about the film, just so that everybody would know first hand what they are talking about. I just did that. It is a shocking film but it is not something which would justify censorship of any sort.

The film includes some very shocking scenes and images including footage of the Twin Tower Crash, the Madrid subway explosions and some executions. If you are sensitive about extreme violence you should not watch the film. If you think you can cope with that sort of material, watch it by all means.

Most of the film actually consists of Quran quotes and statements made by islam fundamentalists. There is a tendency of emphasizing views of extremists who wish to impose strict interpretation of sharia allover the World regardless of religion or believe. Mr Wilders carefully avoids mentioning that far from all muslims want to force their religious beliefs on others and that is the week point of the movie. Just as “exporting islam” by force is flat wrong, it is equally wrong to suggest that all muslims would want to export it by force.

Fitna is by no means an objective film and it does not even seek to be objective. It is a strong statement which we may not agree with but nevertheless a statement made within frames of freedom of speech. Which is why I do not understand why Mr. Wilders’s domain is still blocked by Network Solutions.

Dispite its shortcomings the film is not offensive but it is shocking. It is here for you to watch if you think you are comfortable with watching. You have been warned about violent scenes and images.

Vodpod videos no longer available. from watchedbylarko.vodpo

Edit: Unfortunately LiveLeak staff members have received serious threats of violence which is why they have decided to pull off Fitna. Not only is threatening flat wrong, trying to stop people from seeing this controversial film and making up their own mind about it is totally against every notion of freedom of speech. At the end of the day, those responsible of these coward threats are explicitly damaging the World wide muslim community as the threads tend to increase prejudice about them as untolerant people.

The Internet can not be censored. Here is Fitna through YouTube.

8 Comments »

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What I deplore most is that the moderate Muslims don’t speak out loudly enough against these neo-Nazi barbaric acts. If you are a moderate Muslim, speak up now! Let me quote the poem attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller, a survivor of Dachau Nazi concentration camp, who described the political apathy of German intellectuals to the Nazi rise to power:

In Germany, they came first for the Communists,
And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists,
And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews,
And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;
Then they came for the Catholics,
And I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant.
And then . . . then they came for me . . .
And by that time there was no one left to speak up.

Roby
roby5167@fastmail.fm

Comment by Roby— Friday, March 28, 2008 #

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Just for the record: I have no religious belief whatsoever but I did speak up and shall continue do so.

Comment by Larko— Friday, March 28, 2008 #

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Asalam Aliekom (Peace be upon you all)…

Unfortunately, the versus in the Quran has been misinterpreted in this film, even the use of the word “Fitna” also shows the ignorance of the film-maker to the meaning of this word. The real Quran and Muslims are not those in this film, even these shots by Imams are subjects related to certain events, such as the Israeli massacre in Gaza, US invasion to Iraq and Afghanistan, and the bombing of Somalia, and the Israeli bombing of Lebanon and Syria. So, certain and specific views and demonstrations are related to certain incidents and not to be generalized just like that!

These horrible scenes are similar as the scenes of Palestinians killed in Gaza or Lebanese bombed in Beirut by Israelis. The same happens for Iraqis in Baghdad killed by US & UK troops, Did the world forget that too!…The world!!!… I mean decision makers do remember what they want and forget what they don’t want people to remember. I’m personally against any harm to civilians whatever religion he/she is belonged to.

Just remember that everyday there is a Palestinian, Afghanis and Iraqi killed, 1000 Somalia’s have been dead, 650,000 Iraqi’s are dead and 5 million displaced, 2 million Palestinian refugees, Gaza under siege,…and lots more horrible scenes everyday in Muslim and Arab countries…..I’m saying here the word “everyday”….if you don’t believe me…go and watch the news right now and on the spot!!!

This is no invitation to brutalism. Islam has forbidden the killing of innocent people, even war has certain rules in Islam (e.g. no civilians, women, children and elder people are to be harmed at all)…that doesn’t happen in the US illegitimate war on Iraq especially to what happens in the Abu-Gharieb prison ! Isn’t the US the country that made Bin Laden and his followers for certain purposes …it seems it fired back towards them in such a way.

The personal views of this film do not reflect Muslim views or proper interpretation of Quran versus; unfortunately, this film shows a certain message from the film-maker to evolve hatred, which I could see increasingly evolve against Islam and Muslims all over the world. This film is simply an insult to Islam by the Film-maker.

The simple solution is to first immediately stop the war on all Muslims and Muslim countries (e.g. Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and Palestine), before launching a war on all Muslims. These wars could simply be resolved by the UN but it would not happen until the propaganda stops which is the approach of the Decision Makers, Mega Oil Corporate, Central Banks, Mainstream Media using a very small group of extremists to engage in even more bloody wars and even make more money on the back of the built up hatred and fear among Europeans and Americans and so it goes on and on…

Just a comment that “Islam will conquer the world”……Bush said that the war on Iraq is a “Crusade War” and will continue…I forgot to say that Iraq is a Muslim country….so it is always a fight with words and phrases among leaders….. I didn’t see Bush in this film or any film saying his words of Christianity and crusade wars ! People forget what they don’t want to remember. Olmert (Israeli PM)announced that Israel has weapons of mass destruction, nuclear war heads, so who are to be afraid (I think Muslim countries). Will Bush invade Israel for the same reason he invaded Iraq (searching for weapons of mass destruction)?….nice joke isn’t it! Some will think what is the relation of all that with this film, there is …directly and indirectly relation, ….so just go on and read, watch and listen from all sides of the story and come up with the right decision…

I’m really waiting for a TV channel which could show the correlation of the views of different sides just to make the populace take the right decision against certain groups in a civilized manner.

Just a last quick comment, circumcision is an African tradition more than a Muslim one. Muslim men circumcise, so as Jewish men and some Christians as well, ask Australians after the Anzac war, what men started to do? Circumcision is not common among women but happens in tribes with African traditions, such as North African Countries, it won’t be found in Saudi Arabia, or Gulf countries.

Sorry that I have took so much space, even though could not comment on all parts of the film, it needs a lot of time to do so! Let me see when I have time I could continue my comment…

It seems that Wilders brings out his very narrow scope, which he wants people to watch, believe and act with its personal directed and narrow understanding.

May Allah bless us all and save this world from hatred, evil, conspiracy and the utmost of war that consequently evolves resistance and more war goes on!!! where resistance is always to blame as terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

Comment by Mohamed Asar— Friday, March 28, 2008 #

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Mohamed, I agree that hatred should be stopped. May I nevertheless point out that injustice can not be justified with another injustice? The evil circle of violence must be broken.

Also, US and UK are not the only who kill people in Iraq. Sad as it is, if US and UK left Iraq tomorrow, the violence and killing would not stop but it would immediately increase.

Comment by Larko— Friday, March 28, 2008 #

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Larko,

I didn’t really mean that people should go on killing each other even if injustice occurs, but at least spectators must speak out with justice and somebody should listen to them.

If the UN entered Iraq from the start, this mess would not be there right now. US & UK pumped lots of aid to all groups Shiite, Sunni and Kurds to use as play cards at the right time….again this is a new fire back to what US & UK has done from the start.

Democracy, freedom and justice can not be imposed on a certain community by F-16’s and military operations.

Comment by Mohamed Asar— Friday, March 28, 2008 #

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Sure, president Bush cheated about weapons of mass destruction but we did not know it at the time. It is easy to be wise afterwards but speculating about what should or should not have been done for five years ago does not take us anywhere. The issue is how to get forward from where we are, not how we got there. That said, mistakes must naturally be learned from.

Comment by Larko— Friday, March 28, 2008 #

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[…] pulls off Fitna after threats Fitna is not a “politically correct” film. It is a very controversial film with a statement […]

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[…] Alankomaiden parlamentin jäsen Geert Wilders julkaisi islamiin kriittisesti suhtautuvan filminsä Fitna. Mitenköhän hollantilaisilla juuston tai tulppaanien tuottajilla lienee ollut […]

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