The Restriction of Free Speech

Amsterdam - The Dutch public prosecution said Friday that a Dutch cartoonist going by the name Gregorius Nekschot has produced at least eight cartoons that violate Dutch anti-discrimination legislation and that incite people to commit violence. The eight cartoons have meanwhile been removed from the Internet, the statement said. The police also tracked down the man transferring money to Nekschot on a monthly basis to finance the cartoonists' website http://www.gregoriusnekschot.nl/, although don't bother clicking on the link... his work has been taken down.

The arrest of the cartoonist and search for his sponsor follows an investigation by the public prosecutor after Imam Abdul Jabbar van de Ven, a well-known Dutch convert to Islam, filed a complaint about Nekschot's cartoons in 2005.

There is plenty in this world that many of us would take offense at, yet you don't generally hear widespread condemnation of the artist... or his murder. Consider the following (and fair warning: chances are pretty good you will be offended by at least one of these):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piss_Christ
http://www.ohlson.se/utstallningar_ecce.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Strelnikoff-Bitchcraft.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Mary_%28South_Park%29

The difference here is that despite the controversy surrounding their artwork, all the artists are still alive, which is more than can be said for Theo Van Gogh, director of the movie 'Submission'.

Van Gogh, who felt political Islam was a threat to western liberal societies, said that if he were younger, he would emigrate to the United States, which he viewed as a beacon of light in a darkening world.

His ten minute movie, Submission, can be viewed below, be patient, it does eventually go English... Ayaan Hirsi Ali wrote the script and provided the voiceover for the movie.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7106648073888697427

Mohammed Bouyeri murdered Theo Van Gogh by shooting him eight times, cutting his throat nearly decapitating him, and affixing a note to his body with a knife. He is currently in prison for life without parole. Those who supported him and gave him widespread acclaim on their Islamo-fascist propagandist websites are not!

To quote Bouyeri "Armed Jihad was the only option of Muslims in the Netherlands and that democracy was always a violation of Islam because laws cannot be produced by humans but only by Allah." At his trial he was quoted as saying to the victim's mother: "I don’t feel your pain. I don’t have any sympathy for you. I can’t feel for you because I think you’re a non-believer." Bouyeri also said "in the fight of the believers against the infidels violence is approved by the prophet Muhammad". Bouyeri was a member of the Hofstad Network, the name given by Dutch intelligence to an Islamist group, members if which have been convicted of conspiring to kill government officials, attack the national airport, and a nuclear power plant.

The cartoonists in jail, the Imams preaching hatred from the pulpit! I guess freedom of religion trumps freedom of speech!

Let us hope that Gregorius Nekschot (and yes, it's a pseudonym) fairs better than Theo Van Gogh



~Pelagius~
~S P Q R~