Standing in solidarity

Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders’ 15 minute film Fitna, which is harshly critical of the Koran and Islamofascism, was officially released today with much fanfare, not to mention condemnation from – of course – the Dutch government:

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands: Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders released a film critical of Islam on Thursday, setting verses of the Quran against a background of images from terrorist attacks.

The 15-minute film was posted on a Web site. Shortly afterward Dutch television channels rebroadcast segments of it.

The Dutch government had warned Wilders the film could spark violent protests in Islamic countries, like those two years ago after the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

“The film equates Islam with violence. We reject this,” Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said in a televised reaction.

“We…regret that Mr. Wilders has released this film. We believe it serves no other purpose than to cause offense.”

Initially, Dutch television refused to broadcast it and Wilders had difficulty finding an Internet platform.

The film showed statements from radical clerics and cited Quranic verses interspersed with images from attacks, beginning with the Sept. 11, 2001, assault in the United States, the 2004 attack in Spain, and the murder later in 2004 of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh.

It began and ended with one of the cartoons portraying Mohammed. Then there came the sound of a page being torn.

Subtitles assured the viewer it was a page from a telephone book, because “it’s not up to me, but the Muslims to tear the hate-sowing pages out of the Quran.”

After the release, Wilders told reporters he made the film, called “Fitna,” because “Islam and the Quran are dangers to the preservation of freedom in the Netherlands in the long term, and I have to warn people of that.”

“It’s five minutes before midnight and this is the last warning as far as I’m concerned,” he said.

There have been numerous links to the video posted all over the conservosphere, as the video kept disappearing off of certain multimedia websites, only to be uploaded to other sites. The Jawa Report has several vid links here, and it looks like they all work.

Consider this post to be my show of solidarity along with others who believe in the right to criticize Islam without the fear of violent retaliation.