22 April 2008

Dutch Film on Quran Highlights Controversy About Free Expression

Development minister calls for serious crosscultural dialogue on free speech

 

Turkish men protest the film Fitna, whose release pits offensive material against the freedom of expression. (© AP Images)

Turkish men protest the film Fitna, whose release pits offensive material against the freedom of expression. (© AP Images)

By Stephen Kaufman
Staff Writer

Washington -- The release of the controversial film Fitna, which attacks Islam’s holy book, the Quran, has brought new attention to the debate over the right of free expression and how that right can be manipulated to insult communities and inflame tensions.  Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation Bert Koenders argues that dialogue and debate urgently are needed between moderates on both sides to prevent extremists from determining relations between Islamic and Western societies.

In remarks at the Brookings Institution in Washington April 11, Koenders said the distribution of films such as Fitna, by Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders, puts to the test fundamental democratic principles such as the freedom of expression and the freedom of religion.

“My government had to take its responsibility [in] standing for the freedom of expression but reconciling it with the need to warn for the repercussions the announcement of this film and its showing could have for our society and elsewhere in the world,” he said.

The right to express views freely is the basis for all other freedoms, he said.  “Open debate is the heartbeat of our society.  If only one way of thinking is permitted, the continuous flow of ideas and opinions, the lifeblood of our democracies, will dwindle.”

At the same time, freedom of speech “does not mean that there is a right to insult,” he said, and “there is also no right not to be insulted, not to be hurt and not to be disrespected.” The same freedom that allows some to create and distribute offensive and hurtful material also “enables those who feel offended to speak out and to defend themselves.”

A democratic society does not necessarily require its people to use their freedoms wisely and responsibly, Koenders said.  “It presupposes respect of the view of the minority; it assures that the voice of the weak is also heard,” he said, adding that democracy “cannot force respect, only teach it.  It cannot force listening, but presupposes real dialogue.”

THE NEED FOR SERIOUS DIALOGUE

At the heart of the Dutch minister’s remarks was a call for serious dialogue to address issues such as integration and economic and educational opportunities between Western governments and their citizens, Muslim and non-Muslim alike.  More widely, he called for an end to the “simplification” in the views many in Western and Islamic countries have of each other and the use of free speech by what he described as a “coalition of reason” on both side as a means of bridging the cultural divide.

“Exactly because we don’t want to forbid certain opinions and behaviors, we should utilize the power of dialogue, debate, critique and confrontation to defend our [respective] core values and to challenge others,” he said.  “That is not always going to be easy. … But we have to try.  And we have to be prepared for very serious dilemmas.”

Lest Westerners believe they have no partner for dialogue, Koenders pointed to a recent Gallup Poll survey that indicated 93 percent of Muslims around the world want greater freedom and reject acts of violence.  According to other surveys, “Arab citizens believe … even more strongly than Europeans that democracy is the best form of government.”

He also mentioned the 2006 Arab Human Development Report, written by scholars from the Middle East, that calls on their societies to make as priorities human rights and political freedoms, including the empowerment of Arab women, and invest more in education.

Koenders quoted from an article that was written in the Arab world in reaction to the film Fitna.  The article decried that the freedom of expression “has been increasingly manipulated over the past few years and has been used as a pretext for insult.”  It also noted that the Dutch government was forbidden by its Constitution from banning the film.

The author of that article expressed his own skepticism toward attempts to silence ideas.  “Such subjective decisions open the door for totalitarian regimes to restrict the freedom of expression of their opposition,” he wrote.

The article paralleled the Dutch minister’s call for crosscultural dialogue on a wide range of contentious issues.  The dialogue would include exchange programs, seminars and the creation of self-sustaining institutions that would “guarantee continuous interaction.”

Koenders said he highlighted the article because it was written by a “prominent member of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt,” an organization he described as having “ambiguous positions to democratic principles.”  The presence of such attitudes, even among the Muslim Brotherhood, shows there is a promising chance for real dialogue and debate between cultures, he said.

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL MOBILITY IN EUROPE ALSO CRUCIAL

Former U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands Cynthia Schneider said Koenders’ call for dialogue was good, but the Dutch and other Europeans also must do more to open their societies to their Muslim minority populations, whose alienation is helping fuel misunderstandings.  Schneider, who attended Koenders’ presentation at the Brookings Institute, said that in Europe “ultimately there has to be educational and economic opportunity and mobility for there to be any real integration.”

Many Muslims living in Europe are unskilled and come from rural areas, and, as a result of living in poor neighborhoods, their children attend inferior schools and often are directed toward vocational training instead of secondary education.  Schneider praised Dutch efforts to provide more opportunities for minorities in the public sector, but said there are continuing obstacles to economic and social mobility in the private sector.

U.S. officials could play a helpful role by recounting advancements and challenges to American minorities in the country’s history, the former ambassador said.  For example, Schneider pointed to the 1954 Supreme Court ruling that outlawed segregation by declaring that separate schools for African Americans was a denial of their right to equal educational opportunities.

Schneider said others around the world could benefit from knowing how some efforts to deal with negative and difficult aspects in past treatment of U.S. minorities have been successful, and how, in many ways, the United States still struggles with its history.