jan

More often than not, I don’t agree Hirshi Ali’s ways and politics, but in Nova she said something that I totally agree with:

Original

Translation

Want als Balkenende een echte leider zou zijn, dan zou hij nu zijn minister Verhagen naar de groot-moeftie van Syrië toesturen om hem in heldere woorden te verstaan te geven dat een film hem absoluut niet het recht geeft een eventueel bloedvergieten te legaliseren. Deze theocratische dictaturen organiseren zich om Nederland te vertellen dat zij geen film mogen maken. Ik vind dat de wereld op zijn kop.

If Balkenende (MP) would be a real leader, he would send minister Verhagen (foreign affairs) to the grand-mufti of Syria to tell him very clearly that a movie absolutely does not grant him the mandate to legalize a bloodbath. These theocratic dictatorships organise themselves to tell Holland that they are not allowed to make a movie. That’s the world upside-down in my opinion

I think this is very true. Just one person making a movie with a different opinion, doesn’t justify a bloodbath. And besides, it wouldn’t help: it would only give Geert Wilders the opportunity to say: “You see, I was right. Muslims are a violent bunch, they should be banned from Holland and their religion should be forbidden”.

I hope that Muslims in the world don’t let Geert Wilders and his movie provoke them. If they react aggressively, they would just give Geert Wilders plenty of ammo for the next couple of years of his anti-Muslim politics. Just consider him as a little kid asking for attention; if you don’t give him any, he will soon move on again…

And besides: unlike what Geert Wilders says, islam is based on a foundation of love:

“Worship Allah and join none with Him (in worship); and do good to parents, kinsfolk, orphans, Al-Masakin (the poor), the neighbour who is near of kin, the neighbour who is a stranger, the companion by your side, the wayfarer (you meet), and those (slaves) whom your right hands possess.” (Quran, 4:36)

and

Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet (PBUH) said, “By Allah, he is not a believer! By Allah, he is not a believer! By Allah, he is not a believer.” It was asked, “Who is that, O Messenger of Allah?” He said, “One whose neighbour does not feel safe from his evil”.
[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].

And if you feel angry: sure… that’s understandable. But instead of rioting and killing, let’s talk, not fight!

“O my Lord! bestow wisdom on me, and join me with the righteous.” (Quran, 26:83)

I think it was about a month ago that I was trying to watch the movie “Blood Diamond” with Haseenah. Being parents ourself, we eventually couldn’t see all the cruelty that was happening in the movie and half-way shut if off. This was actually the first time that we shut a movie off, even though we’ve went through the entire Saw sequel, Texas chainsaw massacre and all kinds of other bloody movies. The terror and powerlessness of the people and children in that movie was just too much.

Yesterday, I heard that Charles Taylor, one of the leading actors in the real version of the movie, was on trial in The Hague. They moved his trial from Africa to the international court here, and I heard how he found that he didn’t find his trial fair. He supposedly didn’t get enough preparation time and refused to attend. The international community where this trial came from should be ashamed…

I wonder what the “international community” was thinking when they heard about that. Especially those folks that were put to slavery, of which family and friends have been killed, were forced to join the army even though their age was below 10, have been raped, have been looted, had their limbs chopped off… They didn’t have a trial at all!

And the culprit is calling foul… Sad.

Not sure why I’m writing this post. It’s not even really a post, but rather a picture. Maybe it’s because I’ve been in Milan this weekend, that he was sleeping when I got back and was still sleeping when I left this morning.

I miss him.

Yup, the blog is up again. I’ll try to make some very careful first steps again after some pretty stressful experiences.

Note to self: The corporation vs the individual never ends in favor of the individual…