General News
Freedom of Expression or the Right to Insult: Could the Wilders Film Have Been Banned?
Calls from countries with a largely Muslim population to ban Geert Wilders film Fitna have fallen on deaf ears in the Netherlands, where freedom of expression is seen as an unassailable right. NRC Handelsblad’s legal affairs correspondent, explains the options. No, at least not in principle. The Dutch constitution does not allow censorship, which is…
Opinon: Wilders’ Political Propaganda
Geert Wilders has kept his word. He has circulated his film Fitna before April 1 and has, as he puts it, been ‘properly’ restrained. The film, which nevertheless appeared unexpectedly on the Internet on Thursday, is indeed not as shocking as expected during the hyped-up prelude to the premiere. This might still prove a problem…
UN rights council passes Islamic resolution on religious defamation
The top United Nations rights body passes a resolution proposed by Islamic countries saying it is deeply concerned with the defamation of religions and urging governments to prohibit it. The European Union claimed the text was one-sided, however, because it focused primarily on Islam. Over the opposition of Europe and Canada, the U.N. Human Rights…
Bin Laden Threatens Europe Over Mohammed Cartoons
In his most recent audio recording, Osama bin Laden warned Europe of a reckoning for publishing controversial cartoons of the prophet Muhammad. In the message, which was addressed to intelligent ones, bin Laden said that the publishing of the insulting drawings was a greater crime than Western forces targeting Muslim villages, and killing women and…
Polemics by Henryk M. Broder: How a Film Triggered a Global Panic
It is the kind of stunt that has many fearing the worst: Dutch right-wing populist Geert Wilders plans to release a film about Islam. Politicians worldwide are already trying to stop the project, before a single scene has been shown. Critics fear the film could lead to bloodshed in many countries. Let us summarize what…