The Prague Post Online: News: Muslims address film controversy

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July 5th, 2008

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Muslims address film controversy

Screening of Fitna seeks to dispel its anti-Islamic message

By Markéta Hulpachová
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
May 14th, 2008 issue

Around 30 people gathered at the Islamic Foundation in Brno, south Moravia, May 5 for the screening of Fitna, a controversial new film by Dutch right-wing Deputy Geert Wilders.

The film starts off with the first lulling tones of the Arabian Dance from The Nutcracker ballet as a mock-up of a page from the Koran appears onscreen, along with an English translation of an excerpt from a verse: “Prepare for them whatever force and cavalry ye are able of gathering / to strike terror ... into the hearts of the enemies, of Allah and your enemies.”

After several seconds, the Nutcracker music stops, replaced by news clips depicting the destruction of the events of Sept. 11, 2001. The remainder of the film follows a similar pattern, interweaving violence-oriented excerpts from the Koran with footage of terrorist attacks, beheadings and Islamic extremist rhetoric.

Since its March release, Fitna — which comes from an Arabic word used to describe discord — has spurred worldwide protests by both Muslims and non-Muslims who denounce the film for spreading xenophobia and anti-Islamic propaganda.

When Dutch television stations refused to air the film, members of the Czech right-wing National Party began streaming the film on their official Web site with Czech subtitles, evoking sharp criticism from government officials.

“The stupid ideas of a couple of idiots won’t get any attention,” Interior Minister Ivan Langer told the Czech News Agency in April. “Every able-minded person knows that [the National Party members] are a bunch of dimwits that don’t have the support of the Czech public, and that the Czech Republic distances itself from them.”

In response to the actions of the National Party, the Islamic Foundation in Brno organized its own screening of Fitna.

“We wanted to illuminate the parts of the Koran that were left out of the movie,” said Brno Islamic Foundation Chairman Muneeb Hasan, an Iraqi immigrant who has lived in the Czech Republic for 23 years. “The film depicts Muslims as people who are rigid in their views, so we wanted to show that we are not afraid of criticism, that we are open to discussion.”

For Hasan, Fitna is particularly dangerous because it instills the idea of a link between Islam and terrorism into the audience’s subconscious. “The film alleges that Muslims lack the ability to live in peace with other cultures, that women have an inferior position in society than men,” he said. “It’s biased and xenophobic.”

While the texts mentioned in Fitna — such as “Those who have disbelieved our signs / we shall roast them in fire” — are undeniably a part of the Koran, they exist in a particular context without which they lose their original meaning, said Hasan.

To illustrate his point, Hasan followed the screening of Fitna with his own film, which he calls the Anti-Fitna, and uses violent passages in the Bible out of their original context to vilify Christianity.

The Anti-Fitna ends with a disclaimer: “This film is the same type of garbage as Fitna.”

Islamophobia

While the police’s organized crime unit is investigating the legality of the National Party’s streaming of Fitna, its members appear to be stepping up their anti-Islamic rhetoric by calling the May 5 discussion in Brno an “unsuccessful tomfoolery.”

“Logically, there was no one in the screening room with the guts to raise their voice, let alone a finger,” party Chairwoman Petra Edelmannová wrote in a statement. “The Muslims in Brno are cowards. Unlike their compatriots abroad, they are afraid of a direct confrontation because then the Czechs ... would discover who these people who hide under the shroud of peaceful co-existence really are.”

The National Party isn’t alone in its anti-Islamic views.

“It is evident that Muslims often experience various levels of discrimination and marginalization in employement, education and housing, and are also victims of negative stereotyping and prejudicial attitudes,” a 2006 EU report on discrimination and Islamophobia in European states.

As one of Europe’s best-known critics of Islam, Wilders himself has repeatedly spoken out about the dangerous teachings of the Koran and submitted bills for its banning in Holland.

“It is possible, even today, for Muslims to view the Koran, which they regard as valid for all time, as a license to kill,” he said in an address to the Dutch Parliament last November.

Despite such sentiments, Hasan believes informing the public about Islam and remaining open to discussion will combat xenophobia.

“When a Czech person has the opportunity to learn more about Islam, 98 percent of the time his opinion about Muslims becomes more neutral,” he said.

Markéta Hulpachová can be reached at mhulpachova@praguepost.com

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