[güttsfükk]

Fitna is a 2008 short film by Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders. Approximately 17 minutes in length, the film shows a selection of Suras from the Qur'an, interspersed with media clips and newspaper clippings showing or describing acts of violence and/or hatred by Muslims. The film wishes to demonstrate that the Qur'an, and the Islamic culture in general, motivates its followers to hate all who violate the Islamic teachings. Consequently, the film argues, Islam encourages, among others, acts of terrorism, antisemitism, violence against women, and Islamic universalism. A large part of the film deals with the influence of Islam on the Netherlands.

The film's title, "fitna", is an Arabic term used to describe "disagreement and division among people" or a "test of faith in times of trial". Wilders, a prominent critic of Islam, described the film as "a call to shake off the creeping tyranny of Islamization".

On March 27 2008, Fitna was released to the Internet on the video sharing website Liveleak in Dutch and English versions. The following day, Liveleak removed the film from their servers, citing serious threats to their staff. On March 30, Fitna was restored on Liveleak following a security upgrade, only to be removed again shortly afterwards by Wilders himself because of copyright violations. A second edition was released later.


Release
The exact nature of Fitna's release had been uncertain up until its official launch. This was due to concerns of the legality of its content and anticipated acts of terrorism. The Dutch press centre Nieuwspoort offered to release the film, on the condition that Wilders would pay for the increased security required during the press conference and the weeks after it. Wilders declined to do so, citing prohibitive costs.

Having failed to successfully negotiate a transmission of the film with any Dutch television station, Wilders created a website, www.fitnathemovie.com, on March 5, 2008 with the intention of releasing the film. However, this was subsequently suspended (see below).

On March 22, the Dutch Muslim Broadcasting Association (NMO) offered to air the film, on the proviso that it could be previewed for any possible illegal material and that Wilders would take part in a debate with proponents and opponents afterwards. Wilders declined, quoted as saying "No way, NMO."

Wilders released the film on March 27, 2008 on the video website Liveleak. The following day, Liveleak removed the film from their servers after receiving threats which they described as being "of a very serious nature". The film soon appeared on various BitTorrent and video sharing websites.

Liveleak reinstated Fitna on March 30, after security upgrades offering increased protection to its staff had been implemented. Soon after, Wilders withdrew the film to make some minor edits, such as removing the copyrighted Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons and the photograph of Salah Edin, a rapper wrongly identified as Mohammed Bouyeri, in response to lawsuits. Kurt Westergaard, the cartoonist, was pleased with the news and believed the lawsuit would be dropped.

A revised edition, containing a new cartoon in place of the contentious one, and a corrected picture of Bouyeri, was released on Liveleak on April 6.


Reaction
International reaction to Fitna consisted of condemnation in the Muslim community, a Fatwā by Al-Qaeda against Geert Wilders, and attempts by Southeast Asian countries to censor the film. The Dutch government immediately distanced itself from the film. Several Muslim organizations and political parties have organized boycotts against Dutch products.

Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country, has conducted a ban on several web sites, such as YouTube, MySpace, Rapidshare and Metacafe, as directed by the Ministry of Communications and Informations. On April 11, the Indonesian government lifted the ban. Indonesian communications minister Muhammad Nuh apologised to the public for the inconvenience.

Geert Wilders' film failed to generate much controversy in Iran although the government did express its outrage on the day of its release and conservative websites complained about it for a while. By and large, Fitna elicited indifference among the general public. There was an anti-Fitna demonstration, but just 30 people turned up and they were carrying signs that had nothing to do with the film.

In response to the film on Sunday March, 30 an op-ed by the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, Maxime Verhagen, was printed in the Arabic Newspaper Asharq al Awsat. In the article, he asks of the readers to "keep the head cool and the relations warm". He urges the need of dialogue, instead of provocation, as a means to bridge the differences between cultures.

On April 1, a debate was held about the film in the Dutch parliament. In this debate, the government and Geert Wilders accused each other of lying about facts of their previous communication. According to various members of the government, Wilders had told in previous conversations about his intentions to tear parts out of the Qur'an and setting them on fire. Wilders denied this.

In November 2008, a pamphlet that was distributed to children aged 10-12 years compared Fitna to Mein Kampf, stating that "Geert Wilders’ film Fitna and Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf are based upon one-sided points-of-view. Fortunately there are also other books and plays that -on the contrary- show respect for people with other ideas or faiths or that look different."

[dooflotchie]

Thanks, para, I really wanted to see this. Now I see why muslims are pissed about this film. Because it tells the truth.

[chris]

This sure pissed off a bunch of people

[güttsfükk]

Originally Posted by dooflotchie ↗

Thanks, para, I really wanted to see this. Now I see why muslims are pissed about this film. Because it tells the truth.

yeah, i love this film
no sugar coating, just facts

[GODREKR]

I've been saying this for a long time now. Europe needs to grow some balls and stop bowing to every whim and fancy these muslims and other foreigners come up with. I don't get it. Why has europe allowed it to get this far? "The Dutch government immediately distanced itself from the film." Grow some fucking balls already and stop letting yourselves be raped and bullied by the undesirables of the world!

[güttsfükk]

the reason the government distanced themselves from the film is they had no idea what was going to be put into the film,

Geert Wilders is a politician who's very outspoken, he wants to change the law so any muslim who commits a crime gets deported. there were some other things, but i forget.


but where you're coming from godrekr is why the national parties in all the countries have been gaining so much popularity in recent times

[GODREKR]

Originally Posted by parasyte ↗

the reason the government distanced themselves from the film is they had no idea what was going to be put into the film,

Then they should watch it before leaving the man high and dry by his own government.

Geert Wilders is a politician who's very outspoken, he wants to change the law so any muslim who commits a crime gets deported. there were some other things, but i forget.

Fuck, every country who harbors muslims should be expected to do just that.

but where you're coming from godrekr is why the national parties in all the countries have been faining so much popularity in recent times

Popularity from who? Probably the same wankers who this video is about. It's a simple matter of prevention. It's not fucking complicated. Then again, leave it to the governmental scum to complicate everything.

[güttsfükk]

gaining popularity form the people, if you look at the national elections in a few countries you see over the last 5 years that the national parties have been getting more n more votes

the govenrment in holland thought this film was going to be an all out attack on islam, which it wasnt, just some facts.

i doubt any government would be willing to deport immigrants just for breaking some random laws though.

[GODREKR]

IT'S ABOUT TIME!!!

[Sharon]

(added to faves to watch later!)