Online videos and politics, the ‘Fitna’ story

Dutch right-wing politician Geert Wilders shocked the world when word came out that he was publishing Fitna (Link active April 5, 2008), a radically anti-Islam video. Political pressure, copyright issues and death threats towards almost anybody who has been willing to publish the video have strongly limited any publication of the controversial video. After numerous attemts to get the short film aired on television, Wilders and his cronies had to resort to the internet. Video sharing site Liveleak - which recieved some attention when it was the first to host an unauthorised video of Saddam Hussein’s hanging - was the first website to publish the film on March 27. The administrators removed the video the next day stating that they had recieved death threats “of a very serious nature”. A short time after publishing the video on the site a second time on March 30, Wilders removed it himself for editing. Though some videos on Liveleak have titles suggesting Fitna has been republished, Down The Tube has not found any real copies on the site.

Down The Tube found the full video (English version) at the following locations (both links working on April 5, 2008):
- Google Videos
- Dailymotion
We chose not to display Fitna here because of the “very shocking images” viewers are warned about at the beginning of the clip.

Fitna and the international community

The 15-minute video, which was denounced by the several governments (including the Dutch parliament of which Wilders is a member) before anybody had even seen it, has led to a worldwide discussion on freedom of expression in a world where, to put it bluntly, pissing off the Muslim community is not a good idea. Several Muslim governments warned that the Dutch would be held responsible for any insults toward Islam depicted in the film, 53 member of the Jordanian parliament have signed a petition calling for expulsion of the Dutch ambassador and an end to diplomatic relations with the country, the Pakistani government blocked its country’s access to YouTube when what was claimed to be a trailer of Fitna appeared on the site, due to an error YouTube was unavailable worldwide for about two hours. The film was denounced by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the European Union and several European governments, while these authorities acknowledged that Dutch law cannot halt its publication.

The review

The short film basically focusses on everything bad the muslim community has done over the last decade or so. Split up in three parts; the first depicting videos of terrorist attacks and their victims, the second focusing on punishments performed within the Muslim community under Sharia law and the strong anti-adultery and anti-homosexuality policies of the Islam faith, and the final part of the film dedicated to the Islam in the Netherlands and some of the controversy that has surrounded the issue. The film mostly seems to rely on shock value; bodies with severed limbs strewn across the street, videos of the 9/11, 7/7 and other attacks and depictions of beheadings, shootings and other generally gory stuff. These violent scenes are slotted together with quotes from the Qur’an, newspaper headlines and radical speeches by Muslim leaders and convicted terrorists.

In this reviewers opinion, Fitna is just another hate video, portraying Muslim society as a bunch of terrorists by using scare tactics similar to those in Mel Gibson’s medieval style Christian film The Passion of the Christ. In my eyes, the film essentially calls for a Jihad style war on Islam and ‘Islamisation’ in the western world. Though interesting enough if you have been in an eight year coma and missed every speck of media attention Islam extremism has been getting over the last decade or so, the film doesn’t really say anything new and instead just goes ahead and pisses off the entire Muslim community without really adding anything.

The future of Fitna

As the video becomes more accessible, it seems like two things are happening. Firstly the Islamic world is starting to notice that the film isn’t as offensive as expected since it doesn’t depict the predicted burning of the Qur’an or any other new directly offensive content. It seems like Wilders avoided the obvious insults, sticking to politically incorrect statements and suggestions that the religion is causing trouble. The second effect increased availability may have is an increase of threats from those who see the film and actually take it seriously (I know the makers consider the film serious but its obviously just a way to get media attention and right-wing support). We doubt that the film will actually cause or help cause an international war against the Islamic community, especially since everybody has heard its message already. The main question remains: Will Fitna cause Geert Wilders to follow in right-wing politician Pim Fortuyn and radical filmmaker Theo Van Gogh’s footsteps and become the victim of The Netherlands’ third political assasination in less than a decade?

Edit: 17 April 2008

The new edition of Fitna is now available on LiveLeak in English and Dutch