Posted on 11/10/2004 12:44:56 PM PST by GulliverSwift
The assassination of Theo van Gogh, the Dutch film-maker whose funeral took place yesterday, is something new in Europe. There are, of course, antecedents. Fifteen years have passed since Ayatollah Khomeini issued his fatwa against Salman Rushdie: the first shot in the culture war between fundamentalist Islam and the West. But there is no precedent for the ritual slaughter of a prominent artist in broad daylight on the streets of Amsterdam.
For the Dutch, this murder is not only sinister: it is symbolic. Van Gogh - distantly related to Holland's most celebrated artist - was shot on his bicycle, another national emblem. As he writhed on the ground, the murderer cut his throat without mercy and left him with two knives protruding from his body: a method that is apparently common in North Africa, but unheard of here. Just in case there was any doubt about the symbolism of this butchery, a note was found pinned to his chest, containing death threats against three other public figures.
The resonance of this hideous crime, not only in the Netherlands, but across the whole of continental Europe, is difficult for the British to comprehend. We have no conception of the status accorded to the artist in countries that have known totalitarian dictatorship within living memory. The Nazis and the Communists liquidated or exiled the intelligentsia wherever they could. Persecution cast a shadow across the Continent from which it has still not wholly recovered.
Hence the reverence in which the artist is held. Hence the cult of dissent at any price, however absurd, pretentious or childish. Hence the aversion to censorship of any kind, including self-censorship. For a post-traumatic culture, the artist is a high priest. The murder of an artist for the sake of his art shocks secular Europe rather as martyrdom once shocked Christendom. Theo van Gogh is a secular martyr.
What had he done to deserve such a fate? Submission, the film that occasioned the attack, is by no means an attack on Islam as a religion. It does not, as Rushdie did, ridicule the Prophet Mohammed. What it does is to denounce the barbaric treatment of women in many Islamic societies, focusing attention on forced marriage and the penalisation of rape victims under the guise of adultery. The imagery is deliberately provocative: verses from the Koran are inscribed on a naked woman, to drive home the message that Muslim women are human, too, beneath the veil.
It does not require much imagination to see how this tableau would strike strict Muslims, who regard the Koran as the literal, uncreated word of God, and whose customs forbid the public display of the female face, let alone her body. To them, the broadcast of such an image on television is both blasphemy and sacrilege. In their eyes, it adds to the gravity of the case that the Somali woman who wrote the script of Submission, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, is a former Muslim - in other words, an apostate. She has been condemned by fatwa and survives only under police protection.
Van Gogh, as a non-Muslim, was mistakenly assumed, both by the authorities and himself, to be less at risk. In his book Allah Knows Better, however, he added insult to injury by castigating the misogyny and puritanical attitudes of local imams. Defiant to the last, he refused to alter his bohemian lifestyle, as if the Netherlands were still the haven of toleration that it had been since the revolt against Spanish rule four centuries ago.
That habit of toleration is an integral part of Dutch identity. Van Gogh's death, like that of the politician Pim Fortuyn two years ago, echoed the assassination in 1584 of the Prince of Orange, William the Silent, who is still seen as a martyr not only to the Protestant cause, but also to that of freedom of conscience. The words of the historian Motley about William the Silent - "When he died, the little children cried in the streets" - could have been said yesterday of Theo van Gogh.
In the 17th century, Holland was the only country in Europe where a Jewish apostate, Spinoza, could publish philosophical works challenging the very basis of revealed religion. The Jewish community could expel and curse Spinoza, but neither Jew nor Christian dared to harm him.
Only under German occupation was this tradition of toleration interrupted and temporarily crushed. When the Dutch Catholic bishops made a protest, the Germans responded by deporting clergy of Jewish origin, including the nun, philosopher and saint Edith Stein to Auschwitz. Anne Frank and her family were protected for four years, only to be betrayed as liberation approached. The bitter experience of occupation and collaboration has made the Dutch hypersensitive to intolerance in any form.
Now, with the manifestation of a violent form of intolerance in their midst, the iron has entered their souls. After decades of welcoming immigration and preaching multiculturalism, they now propose to expel failed asylum-seekers and to assimilate those who settle, rather than permit de facto religious segregation. If neo-conservatives are liberals who have been mugged by reality, the Dutch are fast becoming a nation of neo-conservatives.
While the Arab-European League accused the Dutch immigration minister of giving a "Hitler speech" at a rally in protest at van Gogh's murder, the Dutch know who the real Hitlers are. Even the most liberal society is illiberal when it is a question of survival. The Dutch see those who dream of Europe under a revived caliphate as a threat to their way of life. The prospect of Islamist imams imposing sharia law on Dutch cities amounts, they feel, to a new Nazi occupation.
Unlike his great, great, great uncle Vincent, Theo van Gogh was not a genius. Was he really an artist at all? But van Gogh's murder has proved him right about the hardline Islamists. Their ideology is inimical to all that the Dutch hold dear. Last night, as van Gogh's cremation was seen on television, the tension was palpable. Holland is now the crucible of Europe. Not even the most tolerant people on earth can tolerate the Islamists.a
Welcome to da party, pal!
MV
The pinned note was a nice touch
GOOD MORNING EUROPE......
Now that you have woke up from your willful ignorace get off the bench and do something!
Let's see if this grows or dies in a wimper.
Let's hope that they didn't sleep too long.
Isn't it nice to see reality hit the multiculuralists?
I suppose telling Dutch liberals that they could have avoided the problems they now face, if they hadn't been so hung up on that diversity BS, would be a waste of time.
I wonder when clueless American liberals will finally "get it"?
"Fifteen years have passed since Ayatollah Khomeini issued his fatwa against Salman Rushdie: the first shot in the culture war between fundamentalist Islam and the West."
Ummm...note to the Telegraph: Salman Rushdie was small time compared to the seizure and looting of the American embassy in Tehran and the hostage crisis it sparked.
That event might more accurately be considered the opening shot of the war between radical Islam and the West.
I wonder if the expect the US military to come save them?
YES!!!!
After decades of welcoming immigration and preaching multiculturalism, they now propose to expel failed asylum-seekers and to assimilate those who settle, rather than permit de facto religious segregation.
YES!!!!!
If neo-conservatives are liberals who have been mugged by reality, the Dutch are fast becoming a nation of neo-conservatives.
YES!!!!
As the article says, the Dutch alone stood up to the Spanish.
They, along with the Danes, will lead the charge against this anti-European alien ideology and culture.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3994539.stm#
This has some video of the funeral. Many thousands looks like!!!
The attention span for an American on a major event is about 6 weeks unless constantly reminded. (9-11 was exceptional the attention span lasted almost two years)
Let's see where the Dutch are in 6 weeks on this event, if they don't get another reminder. -tom
Europe needs to offer the Muslums a choice, that was given to the Muslums during the first Reconquista. Die, Assilmate or Get out.
No kidding?
"The prospect of Islamist imams imposing sharia law on Dutch cities amounts, they feel, to a new Nazi occupation."
You don't say.
"Not even the most tolerant people on earth can tolerate the Islamists."
Wanta bet?
Roll on Dutchies. Looks like they had it with intolerant Islam.
Meanwhile the "conservative" President we (foolishly) worked our asses off to elect wants to keep Specter plus open the border for illegals.
One thing about the Dutch; they are a very pragmatic people.
The problem now is that many of those in the intelligentsia have fused with the Islamo-fascists. That was made clear to me when Osama brought up several points Michael Moore made in his film; a film that many in the intelligentsia applauded. While the Dutch may have woke up, it looks like most of Europe is living in a 9/10 world.
Only under German occupation was this tradition of toleration interrupted and temporarily crushed.... After decades of welcoming immigration and preaching multiculturalism, they now propose to expel failed asylum-seekers and to assimilate those who settle, rather than permit de facto religious segregation. If neo-conservatives are liberals who have been mugged by reality, the Dutch are fast becoming a nation of neo-conservatives.
Wake up and smell the coffee. While they may not have the armies of Hitler the Islamo-fascists do have modern technology. Assimilate those who settle? Will the Left stand for this?
While the Arab-European League accused the Dutch immigration minister of giving a "Hitler speech" at a rally in protest at van Gogh's murder, the Dutch know who the real Hitlers are...The Dutch see those who dream of Europe under a revived caliphate as a threat to their way of life. The prospect of Islamist imams imposing sharia law on Dutch cities amounts, they feel, to a new Nazi occupation.
They can impose their ways by creating a climate of fear where people are afraid to confront or criticize them. Also, accusing others of being like Hitler is another link between the left and the Islamo-fascists. These claims are made against Bush, Israel and now Dutch leaders, when those doing the accusing are the ones who are behaving like Hitler and his Nazis..
Just like the Dutch, American lefties wont wake up until a member of their idolized royal artistic 'iliterrati' are sacrificed on Allah's Islamic Altar.
Knowing the capabilities of the lefties when it comes to warfare however, could lead one to conclude that perhaps we are better off without em. Western Europe is in decline anyway. They have to ban together into a Euro 'Union' to project any international economic power. Perhaps the only reason we should worry about the failed Euro Socialist Countries is that some of them are still nuclear armed and of course the fact that not all of their inhabitants are lefty royal artistic ilitterati idolizers. There may still be some conservatives in western europe. When I was in England a few weeks ago, an English man joked to me that if you took the scotch out of the English military, there would not be much military left.
Hmmm ... a primal call to the pagan roots of the Germanic peoples. This is a totemic ritual. I wonder where this goes now, especially with the linked Pim Fortuyn assassination and the banning of Vlaams Blok in Flanders.
That's three sticks in the eyes of the Dutch/Flemish.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.