This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/555

EU Assembly cancels showing of Van Gogh film" Submission"- fears Islam critical film will 'provoke disturbances'

Italian parliament shows film and television station defies producers broadcast ban
April 20, 2005

http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/339

Still from Submission: Koranic verses justifying wife beating together with bruises on a women's body

http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/411

Column Productions vs. Fifth Column Productions

MIM: Thanks to Theo van Gogh's co producer Gijs van Westerlaken, the EU has a convienent legal excuse to cancel the screening of Theo van Gogh's film Submission and pretend they are not bowing to fears for their own safety. The co producer of Van Gogh's Column Productions has withdrawn the film from distribution and refused to give anyone permission to screen it. In reality many left wingers in Van Gogh's artistic circles objected to his views on Islam and decided that the film should be forgotten as soon as possible. These artistic 'free spirits' appear to have made the concern for Van Gogh's image their priority, which is a travesty of the memory of a man whose delighted in courting exactly the kind of 'scandal' which his co producer claims he is trying to avoid.

"...Plans to show it (Submission) at the Rotterdam Film Festival had to be dropped at the request of the production company, who says it doesn't want Theo Van Gogh's image, because of the scandal, to remain linked to this work, which was made to be shown in a particular televisual context, accompanied by discussion on the subject. They believe that screening the film at an event with major media exposure, such as a festival, could be dangerous for all of those linked to it..."

MIM: Instead of championing his murdered colleague, Westerlaken has effectively censored the film and collaborated with the Islamofacists who murdered Theo van Gogh . Gijs van de Westerlaken lamely justified his surrender by declaring "...in a telephone interview that he had withdrawn the film because he did not want "to take the slightest risk for anyone of our team."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 artistic colleagues of Theo van Gogh, (whom one would expect to be the first to protest against censorship), are doing to Theo van Gogh what his murderer could not.

Under Gijs van de Westerlaken's leadership Van Gogh's film company, Column Productions, has become 'Fifth Column' Productions.

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Security concerns cancel another van Gogh screening

http://www.cbc.ca/story/arts/national/2005/04/20/Arts/submissioncancel050420.html

Last Updated Wed, 20 Apr 2005 CBC Arts

BRUSSELS - A screening of slain Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh's film Submission has been cancelled because of security and legal concerns, the European Parliament said Wednesday.

The short film, which criticizes the treatment of women under Islam, was to be shown Wednesday by Italian politician Mario Borghezio at the European Union assembly's press centre in Brussels.

"We don't understand why this can't be shown," Borghezio told reporters, as he criticized the parliament's security and legal advisors for their censorship of the film. "It has been shown to millions of people and is freely available on the Internet. This is incomprehensible."

Jaume Duch, a parliamentary spokesperson, said both the assembly and Borghezio received warnings about screening Submission from the film's owner and producer, Gijs van de Westelaken, who was against the screening and said it would have "severe legal consequences."

"The controversial nature of the film is apt to provoke disturbances of the public order within the parliament and might even put essential long-term [parliamentary] security at stake," Jim Nicholson, a member from Northern Ireland who is also responsible for the parliament's security issues, told the Associated Press.

Borghezio said he planned to hold a private viewing of the film in his office in Brussels.

A man suspected of being an Islamic extremist is awaiting trial for van Gogh's murder in Amsterdam last fall, a few months after Submission was broadcast on TV. The Nov. 2 murder prompted several weeks of arson attacks against mosques and counterattacks against Christian churches in the Netherlands.

In January, a scheduled screening of the film at the Rotterdam Film Festival was also cancelled because of security concerns.

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ITALY: VAN GOGH FILM SCREENED AT ITALIAN PARLIAMENT

http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=CultureAndMedia&loid=8.0.153175456&par=0#

Rome, 19 April (AKI) - The short, but highly controversial film which cost its Dutch director - Theo Van Gogh - his life on November 2, has been screened in the Italian parliament. 'Submission', which lasts almost eleven and a half minutes, is about the treatment of women in Islamic society. It was aired in full in the Italian lower house on Monday and was being shown in the Senate on Tuesday, organised by a member of parliament from the successionist Northern League party, Edouard Ballaman, as part of what he calls a "campaign against censorship".

The film also forced its writer, Somalian-Dutch refugee-turned-MP, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, into hiding. She is now living under police protection. Van Gogh was shot and had his throat cut in Amsterdam when he was attacked as he cycled to work. His killer also left a letter pinned to his chest with a knife, in which he threatened Hirsi Ali. Last week, Mohammed Bouyeri, a 27-year-old Dutch-Moroccan man charged with the murder, made his first appearance in court.

The film features a young woman, naked, but covered from head to foot by a transparent veil. She has writings from the Koran drawn on her back and legs, which are scarred from the 100 lashes she says she received for adultery after telling Allah of her love for a young man she met called Rahman. She also talks of the man she was forcibly married to at 16 who hits her, and says: "Allah, I obey his commands, sanctioned by your words." She also talks of being raped by her uncle in her parent's house and of her dream of feeling the wind through her hair and the sun on her skin. At the end she prays, saying: "I have done nothing my whole life but turn to you and now that I pray for salvation under my veil, you remain silent, like the grave I long for."

'Submission' - which was broadcast on Dutch television in August last year - is due to be screened at the European parliament on Wednesday. Parts of it are also due to be aired on Tuesday night by a TV channel in the north of Italy, despite the film's producers banning it from being publicy broadcast. Plans to show it at the Rotterdam Film Festival had to be dropped at the request of the production company, who says it doesn't want Theo Van Gogh's image, because of the scandal, to remain linked to this work, which was made to be shown in a particular televisual context, accompanied by discussion on the subject. They believe that screening the film at an event with major media exposure, such as a festival, could be dangerous for all of those linked to it.

While some members of the Muslim community in Italy are opposed to Ballaman's initiative to air the film, others believe hiding the film away is wrong. Saida Ahmed Qacle, a Somalian immigration lawyer who lives in Turin and knew Hirsi Ali's sister - who used to study and work in Italy - told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera: "Not giving into terrorism is a matter of principle. I am against any kind of censorship. The film should be seen." Souad Sbai, a leading figure in Italy's Moroccan community is equally adamant that the film should not be censored: "Not screening Van Gogh's film would be like killing him twice. It would be a grave error to give in to the ransom of the terrorist who killed him," he said.

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EU Parliament Scraps Screening of Dutch Van Gogh Film


The European Parliament said today it had scrapped the screening of murdered Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh's short film criticising the treatment of women under Islam because of legal concerns over copyright.

Submission was to be shown by Italian euro-sceptic politician Mario Borghezio today at the European Union assembly. However officials said the showing was not authorised by the owners of the film.

"It's a question of copyright," said parliament spokesman Jaume Duch, adding that the film's Dutch producer, Gijs van de Westelaken, was opposed to the screening.

A suspected Islamic extremist allegedly shot and stabbed Van Gogh to death in November, shortly after the release of the movie. Many Muslims were outraged by the film, which gives a fierce critique of the treatment of women under Islam and is written by an anti-immigration member of the Dutch parliament.

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MIM: Police examine the body of Theo van Gogh after he was murdered by a Muslim terrorist . Van Gogh had received death threats after making the film Submission but declined security never thinking he would be shot and have his throat slashed on the way to work at Column Productions.

When asked in an interview if he feared for his life he jokingly replied; "The bullet won't come for me"."Who would want to harm the village idiot?".

Image


This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/555