The Dutch MP Greet Wilders, his film "Fitna", and the Canadian Response
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Posted by Sergei Bourachaga on 16:15:16 2008/03/29
The Dutch MP Geert Wilders, his film "Fitna", and the Canadian Response
By Sergei Bourachaga
This week two key events, both originating in Europe, have brought back to the public arena several critical issues that have been periodically addressed in the past, but often remained short of practical solutions that can diffuse the tension between Muslim minorities attached to the instructions of Allah, clearly expressed in The Koran, and their host countries where freedom of expression and freedom of the press are sacred principles that should not be undermined in the name of any noble cause.
The first event was the publication by the BBC (March 24/08) of an article written by Henri Astier, titled "Speech row rocks multi-ethnic Canada". Mr. Astier devoted the opening paragraphs of his article to the painful consequences a Canadian columnist,
Mr. Mark Steyn, had to face following an essay he wrote in the Maclean's magazine titled "The future belongs to Islam". Mr. Steyn, based on a range of statistical figures and demographic trends in European countries, argued that Europe is inevitably heading in the direction of an Islamic dominance of its political and cultural landscapes, and the continent is "too feebled to resist its remorseless transformation into Eurabia. Mr. Steyn also pointed out that the militant religious fanaticism displayed by young Muslims worldwide, will impose on all countries where a significant Muslim minority exists the following formula: "Youth(Muslim)+Will(Fanaticism and Militancy)= Disaster for whoever gets in your way".
For Toronto law student Mr. Khurrum Awan, Mr. Khaled Mouammar of The Canadian Arab Federation, and a variety of Canadian Islamic organizations, Mr. Steyn's views were perceived as "quite inflammatory" and "insulting" because they were promoting in Canada Islamophobia-the fear of Muslims by virtue of their numbers and militancy. Mr Awan and his Muslim cohorts made an attempt to extract an apology from Maclean's editor. His response was very explicit and bold. He courageously insisted that "he would rather go bankrupt than let outsiders dictate the content of his magazine". Unsatisfied with the response, The Canadian Islamic Congress took the Muslim demand for an apology and a full-length rebuttal, to The Federal Human Rights Commission and similar provincial bodies arguing that "Maclean's article promoted hate against Muslims".
The second event that triggered a wave of fear in Europe, bringing back to the average person's mind the images of the bloody bombings of Madrid and London, was the release by a Dutch MP, Mr. Geert Wilders, of a movie titled "Fitna" (Arabic term for strife). The film documents acts of Islamic terrorism that bloodied the streets of New York (9/11), London, Madrid, etc The movie also shows Muslim demonstrators in a variety of different countries holding up placards saying "God bless Hitler". It depicts as well the beheading of a white Caucasian man by a bunch of Muslim terrorists dressed in black reciting verses from The Koran. Near the film's end the following message appears: "The government insists that you respect Islam, but Islam has no respect for you. Islam wants to rule, submit, and seeks to destroy our Western civilization ".
Muslim groups immediately sought judicial orders to prevent the release of the movie on the ground that " the film violates the country's hate speech". Muslim intimidation managed to convince several internet providers to refrain from releasing "Fitna". But one UK-based provider did not comply with Muslim demands and posted "Fitna" online.
Decision makers in the company pointed out to the British media that "LiveLeak.com has a strict stance on remaining unbiased and allowing freedom of speech so far as the law and our rules allow".
To what degree the claims made by Mr. Geert Wilders are accurate, and how should Canadians deal with the hatred promoted by The Koran and the intimidations imposed on our media by Muslim militant groups and Islamic organizations functioning in Canada?
The issue of accuracy related to the hatred promoted by The Koran against Jews and Christians (people of the book or Ahloul kitab in Arabic), has been extensively covered in an article I published last year in this very forum. My article appeared under the title of
"The Koran, a "holy book" or a hate literature?". Those who are interested in a full review of the article can go to: canadiancoalition.com/forum/messages/21320.shtml. For the purposes of this article I will reproduce certain paragraphs to support with facts the claim that The Koran under Canadian Hate Laws can be labelled as a "Hate Literature.
Section 319.(1) of Canadian Hate Laws states that:
" Every one who, by communicating statements in any public place, incites hatred against any identifiable group where such incitement is likely to lead to a breach of the peace is guilty of (a) an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years "
Let us dissect Section 319.(1) and start with the notion of "public place". A mosque is a public place where hundreds are gathered to listen to a religious leader. Then let us move to the notion of "inciting hatred" in the same Section. The Koran incites hatred by demonizing and dehumanizing Christians and Jews. Because of time and space restraints, I will use few verses from well over 150 verses spread over hundreds of pages in the Koran to incite in the name of Allah acts of violence directed against Jews and Christians.
" Know that we send down to the unbelievers (Jews and Christians) Devils who incites them to evil. Therefore have patience: their days are numbered".
Koran 19:87
This verse is often chanted during the beheading rituals we often see on radical Islamic websites. For the pious Muslim beheading his defenceless hostage, it is an act of heroic proportion, because he is slaughtering the Devil incarnated in the human form of an Infidel.
" Satan has gained possession of The People of The Book (Jews and Christians) and caused them to forget Allah's warnings. They are the confederates of Satan; Satan's confederates shall assuredly be lost in hell. The Believers are the confederates of Allah (Hizbollah); and Allah's confederates shall surely triumph". Koran 58:19
Another verse recited frequently in the background of beheading rituals, to reinforce the view that by slaughtering Christians and Jews, a pious Muslim is killing Satan not an innocent captive.
"We will put terror into the hearts of the unbelievers (Jews and Christians). They serve other Gods for whom no sanction has been revealed. Hell shall be their home; dismal indeed is the dwelling place of the evil-doers". Koran 3:149
A verse often used by Islamic radicals to encourage their followers to kill indiscriminately innocent children, women, and seniors attending a wedding or using the public transit system. After all Jews and Christians worship Gods that have not been sanctioned by the Allah of Islam, and they are all classified as evil-doers who shall perish in an earthly hell of Muslim design, make, and timing.
"Do you fear the unbelievers (Jews and Christians)? Surely Allah is more worthy of your fear. If you are true believers make war on them; Allah will chastise them through you and humble them. He will grant you victory over them and heal the spirit of the faithful". Koran 9:14
A favourite passage of Hizbollah fighters in Lebanon, who scored with the help of Allah a victory against the mightiest army in The Middle East. Radical preachers exploit this passage extensively to remind Muslim followers that Allah's will for the believer is very clear; his or her primary religious duty should be to wage war on Jewish and Christian unbelievers, and thus impose on the "Kouffar" Allah's agenda for the salvation of humanity.
"Cast into hell every hardened unbeliever, every opponent from the people of the book (Jews and Christians), and every doubting transgressor who has set up another God besides Allah. Hurl him into the fierce tormenting flames of hell". Koran 50:21
Jews do not worship Allah. They worship Adonai and Elohim Christians are no better. Their Allah is known as Christ. Suicide bombers use this verse to justify the blowing up of their explosive charges on buses and in a variety of public places frequented by Jews and Christians. By becoming a "Shahid" (Arabic for martyr) and securing a place in Allah's heavenly kingdom, the suicide bomber is hurling his victims (hardened unbelievers) into the fierce tormenting flames of hell-the inferno created by the explosion in a confined space.
"Strongest among men in enmity to the believers wilt thou find the Jews " Koran 5:82
"Believers, do not make friends with any men other than your own people. They will spare no pains to corrupt you. They desire nothing but your ruin. Their hatred is clear from what they say, but more violent is the hatred which their breasts conceal". Koran 3:117
For a Muslim fanatic the noblest religious duty is to exterminate from this planet the Jews who have not honoured their covenant with Allah and refused to accept His messenger Muhammad as "The last of the monotheistic prophets". If scholars and academics thought that "Mein Kampf" written by the psychopath Adolf Hitler
was the first literature demonizing and dehumanizing Jews, they should go for an in-depth study of the Koran, before making such claims.
I can go on and on-ad infinitum, with the verses of hatred spread over hundreds of pages in the Koran. But the key obstacle, preventing law enforcement agencies from terminating the activities of radical Muslim preachers, disseminating casually the venoms of hatred in their mosques, is not the lack of incriminating statements made to indoctrinate young minds, and very critical to secure convictions in a court of law. The critical problem centres on the reality that law enforcement agencies cannot use hate laws in Canada to prosecute, jail, or deport radical Muslim preachers "without the consent of the Attorney General". A Canadian politician who often dismisses Islamic fanaticism and hatred as the act of misguided naïve individuals who are experiencing difficulties adapting to the Canadian way of life. A politician who for the sake of political correctness refuses to believe in the math placed forward by an Environics poll published on Feb.13/07 and reported by the Canadian media following the arrest of 18 Muslim radicals in the GTA.
"Fully 12% of Muslim Canadians polled by Environics said the alleged terrorist plot (known as The Toronto 18) that included kidnapping and beheading the prime minister and blowing up Parliament and the CBC -- was justified". In other words 84,000 Canadian Muslims think it's justifiable to behead our democratically elected prime minister and blow up the very symbol and centre of our democracy!
We know also from published reports in the media that calls to martyrdom and jihad have been made from Canadian mosques, including one in B.C. and the one in Ontario the 18 alleged wanna-be beheaders attended and systematically listened to sermons urging pious Muslims to cast into the fierce fire of hell Jews and Christians who for centuries have rejected the revelations of the prophet Muhammad. Only a politician willing to bury his head in the sand will consider 84.000 potential radicals as "a few" misguided individuals. Any person with a sound mind will acknowledge that Muslim zealots represent a serious threat, especially when they have openly displayed a strong disposition to ruin the Canadian way of life by cherishing the religious duty clearly stated in the Koran:
"Leave to me those that deny this revelation. We will lead them step by step to their ruin, in ways beyond their knowledge". Koran 68:41
I strongly urge the citizens of Canada, who genuinely love our Democratic system, our values and way of life, to contact and petition The Attorney General of each and every province and territory in Canada, The Federal Human Rights Commission and the provincial and territorial Human Rights Commissions, and pressure them to ban from Mosques and Muslim Religious schools the conventional version of The Koran casually promoting hatred against Jews and Christians and masquerading it as "The unquestionable word of Allah".
Muslim communities in Canada in particular and all Western Democracies in general, if they want respect of their rights and an end to the contempt The West has for an Allah who advocates the slaying of innocent lives simply because the teachings of prophet Mohamad have been rejected by the West as an insult to human logic and reasoning , should display the courage to remove any passage from The Koran that demonizes and dehumanizes Jews and Christians. Muslims must become the very change they want to see in Western liberal societies. Respect of rights is a reciprocal affair. You want respect from others who do not share your religious convictions, you have to extend respect first, and the first thing Muslims should respect is the freedom of expression and the freedom of the press. Like many Westerners have said it and done it before they should adopt the maxim : "I may not like what you said about me, but I will sacrify my life for your right to say it". They should stop justifying every butchery of innocent civilians by finger pointing the injustices imposed by the West on Muslims in Iraq, Palestine, etc India has endured the brutality of British imperialism for centuries, yet it managed to liberate itself from the yoke of British brutality without firing a single bullet. It did so by relying on the spiritual power of a giant named Mohandas Karamachand Gandhi. Despite the presence of a huge Indian community in Britain since the early days of British colonialism in India, not a single Indian strapped explosives into his body and walked into a London subway to settle scores with the British population for all the injustices heaped on the children of India. The same tragedy applies to the Blacks or Afro- Americans. Despite centuries of slavery, oppression, and bloody exploitation of innocent blacks by white European settlers looting North America, not a single black committed an act of suicide bombing inside a white restaurant in the Southern States where racial fanaticism was the dominant reality of the region. The same applies to the Native Indians of North America. Uprooted by European settlers, starved, and massacred like animals, never they drove a truck laden with explosives and rammed it against an airpost terminal full of innocent travellers.
The time has come for Muslims who honestly reject the violence promoted by radicals from within the ranks of Mohamad's followers, to adopt an attitude of courage and remove the passages in The Koran advocating violence against Jews and Christians. In the Native Indian tradition "Courage is not the absence of fear. It is the dedication to do the right thing despite the presence of fear". All Canadians should stand united in their fight to contain Islamic fanaticism, and systematically pressure Attorney Generals, MPs, and political decision makers at all three levels of government to ban the 'holy Book', to throw in prison or deport those who use the book to justify violence against other religions simply because they don't adhere to the same religious principles promoted by Islam. Failure to do so will precipitate the ruin of this country in ways beyond our knowledge.
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