MEPs condemn anti-Islam film by Dutch politician

The Dutch vice president of the Socialist group in the European parliament has said the anti-Islamic film by Geert Wilders is “divorced from reality”.

In a statement released on Friday, Jan-Marinus Wiersma and Socialist group president Martin Schulz said, “The diffusion of this film is part of a systematic campaign to denigrate Muslims and promote a party of the far right.”

They added, “As Socialists, we subscribe to an open and active debate on religion, fundamentalism and democratic values in the framework of an intercultural dialogue that weaves links between different communities within society.

"The diffusion of a film against the Qur’an is the worst way to promote dialogue with Muslim communities.”

The 15-minute film was released on the internet Thursday, and uses passages from the Qur’an juxtaposed with clips of the 9/11 attacks in New York, the 2005 London bombings and the 2004 Atocha atrocity in Spain.

The film also uses imagery comparing Muslims to Nazis and clips of fundamentalist Muslims inciting violence against ‘non-believers’.

But Dutch MEP Erik Meijer thinks that we shouldn’t give the film itself much credit but focus on the fact that it is directed at a particular section of society.

“The film is not as horrible as it was expected to be, but it’s very offensive for a group within the population, and in this sense, it’s not a nice thing,” he told theparliament.com.

Wilders, a right-wing Dutch politician, formed the Party for Freedom (PVV) in the Netherlands after leaving the liberal VVD party in 2004 over the party’s stance on Turkey’s accession to the EU.

Wilders has

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