The head of counter terrorism warns of increased threats to the Netherlands. One reason he suggests for this likelihood is the impact of Geert Wilders' documentary, fitna*.
I saw the documentary.
It shows the worst of Islam and could be considered by some as inciting rather than allaying fears in the country.
However, like the cartoons in Denmark's Jyllands-Posten in 2006 or, or Theo van Gogh's film Submission just two years earlier, should these voices be silenced?
Index for Censorship, a journal dedicated to free speech addressed this question in a most derisive manner by Rohan Jayasekera** while here we see the same writer examining the issues related to balance in a ever-growing multicultural world.
It is a conundrum--silencing the voices of dissent on either side is censorship. But violence against the voices is more than censorship, it is terrorism.
Last year Germany altered its opera schedule to avoid Islamic backlash within the country.
Is silence the answer to the threat of terrorism?
Is a change in immigration policies the answer to decreased terrorism as Wilders asserts?
What is the answer?
* Warning, film is very graphic.
** The article does not appear to be in the archive.
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