Posted on 06/27/2005 2:53:40 PM PDT by Cincinna
PARIS, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- A second author Wednesday went to trial in Paris in as many months on charges of inciting racial hatred for a book that has denigrating passages on Islam.
The latest case involves "Rage and Pride," a best-selling novel by Italian writer Oriana Fallaci.
One plaintiff, the anti-racist group MRAP, wants the book banned from France altogether. Two others, including the Human Rights League, simply want disclaimers that its disparaging passages on Islam don't accurately reflect the Muslim religion.
Fallaci, 72, who has cancer, was not present during the opening hearing. But her lawyer, Christophe Bigot, denounced the trial as a campaign for political correctness, to the detriment of free expression.
Fallaci "has been very shocked by recent events, notably Sept. 11," Bigot told France-Info in an interview Wednesday. "She wanted to raise a cry of alarm against fundamentalism."
In her book -- a best-seller in Italy and Spain -- Fallaci characterized Muslims as "vile creatures, who urinate in baptistries" and "multiply like rats."
But Bigot argues Fallaci was targeting extremism, rather than the Muslim religion as a whole.
"She's attacking a certain manner of expressing it," he said.
The anti-racist associations argue otherwise.
"When one finishes reading the book, one recognizes the right to kill any Muslim on the street," argued Hacen Taleb, the lawyer representing MRAP, in a statement to the court.
In June, another French judge refused MRAP's request to ban the book in France.
The Fallaci trial echoes another opened last month against controversial French novelist Michel Houellebecq. Like Fallaci, Houllebecq faces charges of "provoking discrimination, hatred or violence" toward a group because of their religion.
But this time, the charges revolve around Houellebecq's anti-Muslim statements during an interview, rather than the passages in his book. A verdict is expected on Oct. 22. Copyright © 2001-2004 United Press International
http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20021009-121437-7274r
Next, it will be a crime to read a book.
It is in school. The bible!!
I want to read this book sound like something I would read and enjoy.
I see a certain irony that her lawyer's name is Bigot.
Inciting racial hatred? Here's an idea: Go to downtown Paris wearing a sign that says, "I'm from Brooklyn!" See how many times you hear "Juif!" either whispered or said outright. Just wait until an iron fist takes over France in response to all of this garbage. Vichy II.
Worth the read.
Worth the read.
OK, so he wouldn't have been my first choice as defense counsel in a racial hatred prosecution.
Isn't that a juvenile attitude to take on a national level? Isn't "accuracy " a matter of opinion when describing primitive murderous behavior on a cultural level?
Are they really trying her on a 4 year old book or is this trial over her new book, The Force of Reason?
Isn't that a juvenile attitude to take on a national level? Isn't "accuracy " a matter of opinion when describing primitive murderous behavior on a cultural level?
Are they really trying her on a 4 year old book or is this trial over her new book, The Force of Reason?
Isn't that a juvenile attitude to take on a national level? Isn't "accuracy " a matter of opinion when describing primitive murderous behavior on a cultural level?
Are they really trying her on a 4 year old book or is this trial over her new book, The Force of Reason?
"Rage and Pride" is about three years old and is already available here. I think it's her knew book that isn't yet available in the USA (in English, that is).
Proof positive that European society is degenerate. It hasn't been so bad since the third century.
"I see a certain irony that her lawyer's name is Bigot."
It's Beee-GO, dammit... Bee-GO!!! (cue up Millicent Bucket, errmm, Bouquet, LOL)
"Inciting racial hatred? Here's an idea: Go to downtown Paris wearing a sign that says, "I'm from Brooklyn!" See how many times you hear "Juif!" either whispered or said outright. Just wait until an iron fist takes over France in response to all of this garbage. Vichy II"
How about wearing a yarmulka or a Star of David? Prohibited in government offices, schools, etc. Jews in France have been attacked and hassled in a tremendous upsurge of anti-semitic incidents.
I guess that is not racial hatred.
"Are they really trying her on a 4 year old book or is this trial over her new book, The Force of Reason?"
Signora Falacci os obviously on their hit list. Her first book was actually a novel.
Shades of the fatwah put on Salman Rushdie by the Ayatollah Khomeini for writing Satanic Verses.
I seem to recall this writer being heavily praised by certain liberals pre-9-11; I definitely recall her books being given lots of room in bookstores, as she could be seen as a feminist by those who choose to see everything in that way. Funny how I don't seem to see such attention from those corners these days.
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