Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > Theo van Gogh : "The Academy Avoids"
Theo van Gogh : "The Academy Avoids"
Terrorist murder of Dutch filmmaker who warned against radical Islam is ignored by Tinseltown
March 11, 2005
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MIM: Theo van Gogh at Book signing of " Allah Weet Het Beter" - Allah Knows Best | ||
http://www.tiscali.nl/entertainment/0605/default.asp
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www.theovangogh.nl/ theofilms3&4.html
MIM :While countless articles appeared about a dubious 'Al Qaeda kidnapping plot' involving Russell Crowe, (which the actor himself 'intimated' might have been a publicity stunt), the terrorist murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh was ignored by the media in the pre Oscar hype, and did not get so much as a mention at the recent presentation of the Academy Awards.
Theo van Gogh was shot and had his throat slashed by a Muslim terrorist three months after receiving death threats when film he made which depicted the abuse of women in Islam was broadcast on television. He was murdered on November 2nd, while cycling to his office to finish work on a film O6/05 about the assassination of his friend, the politician Pim Fortuyn. The fact that Theo van Gogh's killing was linked to his film work and sparked an ongoing political upheaval which exposed the threat posed by radical Islam worldwide, still has had no impact on the Hollywood community.
In Holland, Submission, the short film which Van Gogh made that 'enraged' Muslims and may have cost him his life, was withdrawn from the Rotterdam Film festival by his co producer Gijs van Westerlaken, who cited "security concerns". Column Productions, Theo van Gogh's film company, has halted distribution of Submission until 'further notice'.
The Hollywood film community, which claims to champion free speech, has reacted with deafening silence to the 'censor by murder' of Theo van Gogh.
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Theo van Gogh :
Murdered 133 days ago
Do you recall ?
http://www.zachtei.nl/2004/11/07
The Daily Illini - Opinions
Issue: 3/4/05
http://www.dailyillini.com/news/2005/03/04/Opinions/Column.The.Academy.Avoids-885836.shtml
Column: The Academy avoids
By David Johnson
I usually find the Oscars insulting to my intelligence and moral sensibilities. But this year's Academy Awards were especially offensive and guilty of omission - there was no mention of slain Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh.
Last year, Van Gogh teamed with Dutch politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali to produce the short film Submission. Ali's experiences growing up in Muslim Somalia led to her prominence as a vocal critic of the atrocious treatment of women under certain strict interpretations of Islam. Submission highlights many of the barbaric practices that practically enslave women in hard-line Muslim society. Ali has received death threats throughout her political career, but it was Van Gogh who paid with his life when he was murdered by a suspect of Muslim origin.
The treatment of women that Van Gogh exposes seems distant to us in America, but it is not in Europe. These practices include so called "honor killings," wherein a male relative murders a woman who has "disgraced" the family, perhaps by committing adultery, or even by merely deciding to divorce. Honor killings are widespread throughout Europe - the city of Berlin alone has seen six in the last four months. Under certain interpretations of Islamic law, women are considered property of men and have decisions such as marriage forced upon them. Other practices include forcing women to stay fully covered in public, a practice many Muslim women around the world are free to choose whether or not to follow. But many women in Europe are not so lucky.
According to CBS news and the New York Times, emergency personnel such as police, fire and medical won't dare venture into the immigrant ghettos in cities such as Paris and Malmo, Sweden. Such communities aren't ruled by liberal European laws, but rather by those forcefully imposed by the ruling immigrant gangs.
The Muslim communities of Malmo, Paris and Berlin are hardly isolated. Immigrants in the Netherlands form 10 percent of the population. The vast majority of immigrants are Muslim. If this seems small, imagine if a particular United States' immigrant population were twice as large, showed little interest in assimilating into broader society and were overrepresented in violent and sexual crime. Furthermore, imagine if 40 percent of it were receiving welfare benefits from the government, as is the case of the Muslim population in the Netherlands.
This Islamization of Europe is leading to alarming backlashes - opinion polls suggest 75 percent of Swedes "dislike" Muslims, joining 35 percent of Dutch who harbor negative feelings towards Muslim immigrants. And this brings us back to Theo Van Gogh - the treatment of women in many Muslim communities in Europe is an anathema to Europe's liberal ideals and is thus strikingly representative of the disconnect that exists between Europe and its new immigrant population. Van Gogh's murder shocked many on the continent - emigration rates of native Dutch middle class have skyrocketed since, yet anecdotal evidence suggests that throughout the Muslim communities of Europe, the belief is that Van Gogh got what he deserved for criticizing certain Islamic practices. That Van Gogh lost his life over his views signifies the importance of this conflict and forces us to realize that we in America, and especially our friends across the pond, can't sweep the issue under the table much longer.
And sweep under the table is exactly what Hollywood did to Theo Van Gogh. One might argue that such matters aren't within the scope of the awards. Yet last year, while honoring prominent figures in film who died the year prior, the Academy Awards commemorated the achievements of Leni Riefenstahl, director of famed Nazi propaganda such as Triumph of the Will. As I see it, they either feared bringing the subject up for safety concerns (seeing where it got Theo) or are uncomfortable going near a story that violates a cardinal rule of political correctness: don't criticize Islam. Either way, it demonstrates that the entertainment industry is either morally depraved or morally bankrupt - something I could have told you before this year's Academy Awards. They honor a peacefully deceased Nazi, but ignore a filmmaker who died for his beliefs. Next year, I'll just skip this abomination.
This Islamization of Europe is leading to alarming backlashes - opinion polls suggest 75 percent of Swedes "dislike" Muslims, joining 35 percent of Dutch who harbor negative feelings towards Muslim immigrants. And this brings us back to Theo Van Gogh - the treatment of women in many Muslim communities in Europe is an anathema to Europe's liberal ideals and is thus strikingly representative of the disconnect that exists between Europe and its new immigrant population. Van Gogh's murder shocked many on the continent - emigration rates of native Dutch middle class have skyrocketed since, yet anecdotal evidence suggests that throughout the Muslim communities of Europe, the belief is that Van Gogh got what he deserved for criticizing certain Islamic practices. That Van Gogh lost his life over his views signifies the importance of this conflict and forces us to realize that we in America, and especially our friends across the pond, can't sweep the issue under the table much longer.
And sweep under the table is exactly what Hollywood did to Theo Van Gogh. One might argue that such matters aren't within the scope of the awards. Yet last year, while honoring prominent figures in film who died the year prior, the Academy Awards commemorated the achievements of Leni Riefenstahl, director of famed Nazi propaganda such as Triumph of the Will. As I see it, they either feared bringing the subject up for safety concerns (seeing where it got Theo) or are uncomfortable going near a story that violates a cardinal rule of political correctness: don't criticize Islam. Either way, it demonstrates that the entertainment industry is either morally depraved or morally bankrupt - something I could have told you before this year's Academy Awards. They honor a peacefully deceased Nazi, but ignore a filmmaker who died for his beliefs. Next year, I'll just skip this abomination.
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MIM: The Rotterdam Festival Van Gogh's film withdrawn from Rotterdam Film Festival by co producer who cites 'security reasons' for decision.
://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/31/international/europe/31netherlands....
The New York Times
January 31, 2005
Militant Muslims Act to Suppress Dutch Film and Art Show
By MARLISE SIMONS
PARIS, Jan. 30 - Can angry young Muslims dictate what is and is not
acceptable in the traditionally open-minded world of Dutch arts? In the last
few weeks, it appears, the answer has been yes.
The Netherlands' main film festival, now going on in Rotterdam, canceled a
showing of a short documentary denouncing violence against Muslim women that
was made by Theo van Gogh, who was killed 10 weeks ago. An Islamic militant
is accused of the crime.
The film's producer said he had pulled the film on the advice of the police
after receiving threats.
At about the same time, a Moroccan-Dutch painter went into hiding after a
show of his work opened on Jan. 15 at a modern art museum in Amsterdam. The
museum director said the painter, Rachid Ben Ali, had received death threats
linked to his satirical work critical of violence by Islamic militants.
The two incidents have reinforced fears among many Dutch that fast-growing
non-Western immigration is having a negative impact on social attitudes in
the Netherlands. Newspaper columnists and members of Parliament have warned
in recent days that if people capitulated to intimidation, they would only
encourage Islamic militants.
Some have pointed to the recent events as signs that militants are trying to
impose their agenda and are undermining the constitutional right to free
speech in the Netherlands. A few people have quietly asked if
self-censorship might be acceptable to keep the social peace.
"It would be very regrettable if we had to start accepting self-censorship,
if we could not show this kind of protest art," said John Frieze, the
curator of Mr. Ben Ali's show at the Cobra Museum. "We've been pleased with
the show, not only because the work is good, but also because it generated
much debate with young Muslims attacking and defending it."
The exhibition, part of a series of cultural events called
Morocco-Netherlands 2005, was opened by a prominent Moroccan-born politician
in Amsterdam, Alderman Ahmed Aboutaleb, who delivered a strong plea for
freedom of expression. But in a sign of the times, he was accompanied by
bodyguards, and he has had police protection since he received death threats
from Islamic militants.
In Amsterdam, a city known for its ebullient cultural life, local people say
threats to painters have not been heard since the occupation by the Nazis
during World War II.
The Cobra Museum said it had no intention of removing any of Mr. Ben Ali's
work, about 40 recent paintings and drawings. The artist, who had been
criticized earlier by some Dutch-Moroccans for homosexual themes in his
work, has now apparently infuriated his critics with angry sketches that
include suicide bombers and "hate imams," evil-looking preachers, vomiting
excrement or spitting bombs.
Since the opening of the show, the artist has stayed away from his home and
his workshop. "He has been very overwhelmed by the threats and the
controversy," said Mr. Frieze, the museum curator. "His work is very topical
and controversial, but that is part of the nature of modern art, and we
mustn't shy away from it."
In Rotterdam, where the annual film festival devoted mainly to young,
independent filmmakers opened last week, the anger over the withdrawal of
the van Gogh film continued. The short film, titled "Submission," used words
of the Koran written on the back, stomach and legs of partly dressed women
to denounce oppression of women in the name of the Koran. It provoked
widespread Muslim anger when it was televised last fall.
The writer of the documentary, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a member of Parliament who
was already under police protection, was sped out of the country on
government orders. But Mr. van Gogh, who directed it, declined protection
and ignored threats against him. He was killed on an Amsterdam street by a
man who shot him and then slit his throat.
Mohammed Bouyeri has been charged with murder in the killing, and the police
say he left a letter on his victim, listing others who would be future
targets.
The Rotterdam film festival intended to show "Submission" as part of a panel
on Sunday called "Filmmaking in an Age of Turbulence." The panel included
filmmakers who had suffered censorship in Russia, Indonesia and Serbia.
But the producer, Gijs van de Westelaken of Column Films, said in a
telephone interview that he had withdrawn the film because he did not want
"to take the slightest risk for anyone of our team."
"Does this mean I'm yielding to terror?" he asked. "Yes. But I'm not a
politician or an antiterrorist police officer; I'm a film producer." Those
behind Mr. van Gogh's killing, he said, had already achieved what they
wanted, "to frighten the country."
The withdrawal of the film has set off many reactions, among them a letter
from several members of Parliament to the mayor of Rotterdam asking him to
intervene. The producer said that the mayor had indeed called him, but that
he was sticking by his decision.
"This is not a freedom of speech issue," he said. "The film has been shown
on television, fragments have been replayed, and the text has been
published. It's just the wrong moment right now."
Ms. Hirsi Ali, who spent three months in the United States and is now back
in Parliament, has announced that she will not give up her criticism of the
mistreatment of women in the name of Islam. She said she was writing a new
film, "Submission Part II, and perhaps even three and four."
Pressed by her party, the conservative People's Party for Freedom and
Democracy, to tone down her work, she said she would not attack Islam as a
religion. But Ms. Hirsi Ali, an immigrant born in Somalia who said she had
abandoned her Muslim faith, announced that she would continue to "fight
against the excesses of Islam."
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