DUTCH MUSLIMS FOR RESTRAINT ON ANTI-ISLAM FILM

Several Dutch Muslim organisations have decided in favour of a restrained handling of far-right lawmaker Geert Wilders’s plan to broadcast an anti-Islam documentary. The film would show the Holy Qur’an as “a horrible and fascist book” that inspires people to commit “awful acts.” Wilders is infamous for his anti-Islam tirades. In August, he described the holy book as a “fascist” text which exhorts followers to kill and rape, comparing it to Mein Kampf, which outlines Adolf Hitler’s racist ideology. Meanwhile, EU justice ministers expressed deep concern over this plan to produce an inflammatory anti-Qur’an movie. EU ministers said they are doing their best to avoid such a movie leading to a crisis similar to that of the Danish cartoons. Further, Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende has said the Netherlands is ready to act quickly if the film causes unrest, and stressed that “provocations” have no place in the Dutch tradition of tolerance.