Fitna

“Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder.”

Arnold Toynbee

Fitna is a film released on the Internet by Dutch MP Geert Wilders which has caused great controversy across the world, with many people condemning it before it was even released (so, of course, before they could possibly pass any valid comment on it). The fundamentally religious don’t even need to see or read things any more before condemning them: so thin skinned are they that just the mere whisper that things might be offensive (perhaps because they state uncomfortable truths) is enough for fatwas to start flying.

Usually western nations capitulate to this pressure, and the Dutch government accordingly disassociated itself from Mr Wilders’ film very quickly. Many others have too. Even the cartoonist who originally drew controversial cartoons of the alleged prophet Mohammed seems to have treated this as an opportunity to “clear his name” and nullify any outstanding fatwas, by drawing a cartoon of Mr Wilders instead.

I saw the film on the first day it was released, just before website LiveLeak removed it from its servers due to death threats against its staff from Muslims (who thereby ironically endorsed the film’s message). But the funny thing is that Mr Wilders (who is of course in hiding and under armed guard 24/7) actually says very little in the film. Most of the words shown are quoted directly from the Koran, and it is those words – and the images of those following them – that offend. The trouble is, Muslims are obliged to follow this text fundamentally. Like Christians when it comes to the bible’s more difficult passages advocating stoning, they’re not at liberty to pick and mix – if it’s the word of God it’s the word of God – and this is the problem to which Mr Wilders wishes to alert us.

Fitna is a disturbing and offensive film, certainly, offensive to anybody who values modern humanist morality, but it shows mostly news footage and verses from the Koran already known, so should hardly be banned. Whether Mr Wilders has an ulterior right-wing motive is another matter, but this film as it stands is merely an exercise in free speech, one that has been crushed by a creeping totalitarianism to which we in the West continue to capitulate.