Other Publications
Islamphobia and the eternal Muslim
Karina Soemarwoto , Leiden, The Netherlands | Thu, 04/24/2008 12:26 AM | Opinion
In his 1922 Munich speech, Hitler stated "It is in the nature of the Jew to destroy and he must destroy. The Jew is harmful to us." Not unlike Wilders's closing message in his film Fitna, stating "Islam wants to rule, submit, and seeks to destroy our Western civilization," or the statement in his article "Enough is Enough: Ban the Koran from Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant": "(Islam) will only bring our country hell and damnation."
The week Fitna was released on the Internet, the Indonesian government banned it. However, a common view streaming into The Jakarta Post's Website disagrees with the act. But to judge how tolerable the film truly is, let's ask history.
"A moderate Islam does not exist. It does not exist because there is no difference between good Islam and bad Islam. There is Islam and that is it," wrote Wilders, quoting Oriana Fallaci's 2006 speech in his article.
In the above, Wilders supports as if it were fact, that good Islam is bad Islam, or that Islam is bad.
There are good and bad interpretations of Islam, by good and bad people. Wilders fails to acknowledge this, as his generalizations hold that whoever believes in the Islam is bad. So more than one billion people are bad?
In Fitna, Wilders quotes Koranic verses and associates them with horrifying images, such as the 9/11 attacks, the beheading of Nick Berg and the 2005 London Bombings, while eerie music lingers in the background. Clearly cheap propaganda. But let us peek into the 1940s to find similarities between Nazi anti-Semitic propaganda Der Ewige Jude (The Eternal Jew), and Wilders' Islamophobic stand in Fitna.
In Fitna, Wilders presents individuals' violent Koranic interpretations, forms a generalization on such limited samples and publishes them as if they were fact in order to attack the religion and encourage Islamophobia.
Comparably, the Nazi propaganda film Der Ewige Jude depicted a selected interpretation of the benediction to the Sabbath to manipulatively portray Judaism as a threat to the world: "The heathens, who do not keep your commandments, you have made enemies to be wiped out ... and He says, even the best among the heathens will I kill. There are none good among the peoples of the world ... but the sons of Israel are all righteous." In both cases, the technique of fear is used to generate propaganda.
Wilders draws almost baseless generalizations, referring to Muslim immigrants as liars and criminals: "*Dutch parliament members* grant a general pardon to liars and criminals."
In Der Ewige Jude, there are also poorly justified stereotypes of Jewish immigrants as materialistic characters: "They *offered* submission to the basest life of material pleasures. Incitement of the young, class warfare, and terrorism."
Wilders oversimplifies the problem with violent Muslims, and takes the easy way out -- blame the religion, base it on the Koran. Not unlike the Nazis who used the book of Deuteronomy as a basis to support their ignorant view on Jews as greedy characters. The narrator in Der Ewige Jude states, "For example, in Deuteronomy it is written -- 'Unto a foreigner thou mayest lend upon usury, but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury.'"
Wilders demonizes his opponent Islam, a common propaganda technique. He forces his opinion on others as if it were fact. He attempts to convince the public his position is common sense. The latter is particularly noticeable in the similarities between the structures of Fitna and Der Ewige Jude.
Both use horrifying images and newspaper headlines to incite fear among the audience. Both display statistics on the rising number of immigrants.
While Fitna uses images portraying an increasing Muslim population, Der Ewige Jude states: "In the course of the 19th and 20th centuries, they spread from Eastern Europe like an irresistible tide, flooding the towns and nations of Europe -- in fact, the entire world," a message not unlike Wilders' shame for "those who refuse to combat the Islamic invasion," and those "...working to transform the Netherlands into Netherlarabia as a province of the super state Eurabia."
Finally, direct messages to the audience from the propagandist conclude both films. Der Ewige Jude with Hitler's speech: "Europe can not find peace before the Jewish question is solved. Jews will just have to get used to the idea of performing some respectable constructive activity," and Fitna with Wilders's statements: "Islam does not make way for you, Islam does not respect you. Stop Islamization."
Broad generalizations, prejudice and powerful hatred were the roots of the Holocaust. Is this the beginning of another ethnic persecution or is justice able to prevent it? Had Fitna spoken ill of Judaism instead, it would have faced the same fate as Der Ewige Jude and Mein Kampf. Wilders would have been convicted of anti-Semitism.
The international community should give Wilders that equal treatment. Combat Islamophobia as seriously as Judaeophobia, raise awareness of and end the tolerant attitude towards such destructive hatred that ethnic groups have had to face and let a nation stand up for its Muslim majority.
The author is an International Baccalaureate School Rijnlands Lyceum student, The Netherlands. She can be reached at ka.ps.xx@gmail.com
What's On
- Indonesia Furniture Fair
11/14/2009 11/22/2009 Jakarta Convention Center - Indonesia Maternity & Baby Expo 2009
11/20/2009 11/22/2009 Jakarta Convention Center
- Festival of India
10/29/2009 12/15/2009 Balai Kartini & Umar Ismail Hall, Jakarta
- Imagemakers of the Future: Photography exhibition
10/10/2009 11/30/2009 Alila Ubud Desa Melinggih Kelod Payangan, Gianyar 80572, Bali - Timeless Change
11/05/2009 12/07/2009 Ganesha Gallery, Four Seasons Hotel Jimbaran, Bali. - Choreography of Colours; Sardono W. Kusumo's first solo painting exhibition
11/12/2009 12/12/2009 vivi yip art room Annexe Ciputra World Marketing Gallery Jalan Prof Satrio Kav 11, Casablanca
Rafiq Mahmood (not verified) — Thu, 04/24/2008 - 2:23pm
Karina Soemarwoto is to be congratulated on her comparison of the film Fitna with Nazi propaganda. When I saw Fitna my first thoughts were of Joseph Goebbels - it fitted his style well, particularly at the end of the film. Unfortunately in Indonesia it seems that people know little about the methods and history of the Nazis; preferring to cite Lenin as the model for despotism. There is a lot of, to European eyes, highly offensive Nazi memorabilia available in the streets and outside the schools here.
I do not think it helps protect Muslims by trying to hide the film from them any more than it would have protected the victims of the holocaust by hiding Der Ewige Jude from the citizens of New York. Far better is to show the film and compare it, as Ms Soemarwoto does, with similar propaganda and point out the manipulative techniques used.
There are three levels at which Fitna should be examined:
1. The theological level
Fitna quotes five ayats and claims that they provide a doctrinal basis for violent excesses by Muslims. It is a trivial matter to examine the verses themselves, show the inaccuracies in translation (which are obvious) and show their context in the surrounding verses.
2. The factual level
Most propaganda has some basis in fact. It is true that ghastly acts are carried out in the name of Islam. People in positions of power, such as in Iran, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, inflame the passions of people with hate speeches and they do carry out appalling acts such as state murder for "crimes" such as alleged blasphemy and not complying with sexual mores. Women are oppressed and there are severe restrictions on free discourse.
We should not bury our heads in the sand. If someone offers us a mirror and what we see in it is horrible we should not break the mirror but rather put right the defects. The Danish cartoons, for example, were such a mirror.
The main criticism of the west is not that the terrorists and bigots represent Islam (although that is obviously Wilders' message) but that the moderates in the Islamic world do not do enough to speak out, condemn and oppose the murderers and hate mongers in their midst. That is a justifiable criticism. Acquiescence to a lie is the same as lying.
There is a lot of hope - perhaps the only hope - for the world in Indonesia. It has an inclusive and secular state ideology and constitution as well as the largest Muslim population. There is a vigorous debate going on before us about whether to close the door to thought and submit to a political pseudo-Islamic caliphate or to maintain Indonesia's tradition of tolerant and productive openness. On the negative side, the government and judiciary are foolishly and dangerously moving into the arena of personal belief. On the positive side, thinking people are beginning to get the courage to speak out against dangerous stupidity, for example in the pages of newspapers such at this.
3. The level of argument
At the end of the film Wilders appeals to the nationalism of the Dutch people and invokes fear of foreigners. Wilders' platform has always been anti-immigration. This is a dangerous message because it too closes the door to diversity and discourse.
The Dutch people suffered tremendously under the Nazi yoke. The danger of right wing European nationalism is just the same as right wing "Islamic" religionism. Both are evil and both must be fought with sound and open argument.
Guile (not verified) — Thu, 04/24/2008 - 8:58am
This essay is an excellent critique of Fitna as a piece of propoganda, but it also proves why simply banning it is wrong. Clearly the author saw the film, and because she had the ability to watch the film, she could analyze all the things that were wrong with it. But if she had followed the ban and not watched it at all, she wouldn't have been able to write this essay.
The government that respects its people will give them the chance to come to their own decisions and conclusions. Censorship of political and religious messages that go against the majority view is the mark of a government that regards its citizens with fear. Fear that they are either not intelligent enough to react responsibly, or that the censored materials might undercut their political power.
As I have said before, the reason that many people in the West perceive Islam in such a negative light (the perception that gives rises to distorted worldviews like Wilder's) is not just because they so often see the acts of violent and extremist radicals, its because they so rarely hear the voices of the vast majority of moderate Muslims condemning the acts of the extremists. If moderate Muslims really want to improve relations with the west, they will make a more a more strongly concerted effort to let their views be known and to condemn and shame the extremists who do their religion and culture so much harm.