Before going into the actual gist of the article: can't these authors get their facts on Dutch happenings straight? OK, some opinion on it to boot too:
Geert Wilders, conservative Dutch politician and provocateur,
Personally, I think "conservative" is a far too decent word to label Wilders with. "populist" is better suited.
Witness the free world's response to Fitna: The Dutch government sought to ban the film outright,
The Christian-Democrat Foreign Minister had his civil servants look into that. When that leaked, the Labour ministers revolted. So no, not a government opinion.
Dutch television refused to air Fitna unedited
So what? Wilders refused them to see it before airing it. They were damned right to refuse that. An option that was never discussed, BTW: Wilders' party, as every other political party in NL, regularly gets a 5-10 min. slot to air their view. He could have used that slot, couldn't he?
When Wilders declared his intention to release the film over the internet, his U.S. web-host, Network Solutions, took his website offline.
Boohoo. He had a "coming soon" page on that website for
weeks before the website went offline. It was blatantly obvious that the reason given was not the real reason.
Of course, there were immediate calls for a boycott of Dutch products throughout the Muslim world. In response, Dutch corporations placed ads in countries like Indonesia, denouncing the film in self-defense.
Yeah, trade is this country's second name. When we fought our war of independence, most trade was done with Spain, the evil oppressor
. Let's be real: Wilders pretends this movie was only about Dutch muslims. Why then stir the pot world-wide about your upcoming movie?
In Afghanistan, women in burqas could be seen burning the Dutch flag;
Indeed. The most funny about it was that they didn't have the flag right: with a purple strip instead of a blue one
the Taliban carried out at least two revenge attacks on Dutch troops, resulting in five Dutch casualties
Now was that really about Fitna? The Taliban were on the offensive there anyway.
First, and most important, my friend and colleague Ayaan Hirsi Ali happens to be among the hunted. Because of the failure of Western governments to make it safe for people to speak openly about the problem of Islam,
What does he mean with failure? How does he think governments can somehow prevent people from being violent? And both people mentioned here, Ayaan and Wilders, have every opportunity they wish to speak in public and say what they want. Yes, Van Gogh was murdered - the government had offered him protection, urged him to accept it, but he refused. Ehsan Jami was beaten up - he also had been offered protection after asking for it, but then he changed his mind and refused it.
I and others must raise a mountain of private funds to help pay for her round-the-clock protection.
Either Harris is lying or Ayaan is defrauding him. Ayaan's round-the-clock protection - which indeed costs some 80,000 EUR/month - is paid by the Dutch government. Not by his "mountain of private funds", but by my tax money. Lying about money is a cardinal sin here!
The problem is not, as is often alleged, that governments cannot afford to protect every person who speaks out against Muslim intolerance. The problem is that so few people do speak out. If there were ten thousand Ayaan Hirsi Ali's, the risk to each would be radically reduced.
Ten thousand? Where do you get so many people whose opinions matter? Does he really think that you or me get death threats too when we go stand on the market square and shout that Muslims are intolerant? Get real. By the way, that is very much what is happening over here. Muslim-bashing is the new national sport, even more popular than bashing the coach of the national soccer team. Thank <insert deity> we'll return to that in a few months.
Given our shamefully ineffectual response to the fatwa against Salman Rushdie
I'm a bit at a loss what he refers to here. Can someone clarify? I mean, I know Salman Rushdie was in hiding for quite some years. Nowadays, I see him at least once a year at the TV show of the Dutch Book Gala with another gorgeous blonde at his side. That fatwah has been lifted - was that
despite "our" response?
Maybe you should look that up.
