Western Resistance

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March 19, 2007

Netherlands: Memorial To Islamist's Victim Is Unveiled

From Expatica, news comes that yesterday, a memorial to film-maker Theo van Gogh was publicly unveiled. On November 2, 2004 van Gogh, a descendant of the family of artist Vincent van Gogh, was shot and stabbed by 26-year old Mohamed Bouyeri, a Moroccan with Dutch citizenship. At the time of his murder, which happened in broad daylight on the Linnaeusstraat, an Amsterdam street, 47-year old van Gogh was working on a film about anti-Islamic politician Pim Fortuyn, who had been shot dead in 2002.

The murder happened because the film-maker had produced a TV documentary on the appalling treatment of women in the Islamic world, entitled Submission. This film, which had been scripted by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, had featured projected texts from the Koran adorning the bodies of naked and beaten women. This "insult" to Islam (which insults most values cherished by the West) was deemed sufficient reasoning for Bouyeri to kill the film-maker.

Bouyeri nearly decapitated his victim, and using a knife plunged into van Gogh's chest, he pinned a five page letter, which threatened to murder politicians such as Geert Wilders and others, including Ayaan Hirsi Ali. During his court case for the killing in July 2005, Bouyeri said: "I take complete responsibility for my actions. I acted purely in the name of my religion. I can assure you that one day, should I be set free, I would do the same, exactly the same."

He said to Theo van Gogh's mother, who was sitting in the gallery: "I don't feel your pain. I have to admit that I don't have any sympathy for you. I can't feel for you because you're a non-believer."

Yesterday, members of Theo's family were with the mayor of Amsterdam, Job Cohen, and the chairman of Oost-Watergraafsmeer city district Martin Verbeet to see the unveiling of a memorial sculpture to the film-maker. The sculpture, by artist Jeroen Henneman, is situated in the Oosterpark, a short distance from the scene of Theo's murder.

Entitled "The Scream" (pictured), the sculpture is made of tubular steel, depicting a profile of the film-maker's head, morphing into a scream, echoing the screams for mercy that Theo made when he was attacked, screams which were ignored.

One resident of Oosterpark had tried to prevent the statue being placed. Whether this individual was a Muslim or an appeaser of Islam is not mentioned. The sculpture should have been unveiled on the anniversary of the murder, but because of an error in the request for a planning permit, the placing of the artwork had been delayed.

Jeroen Henneman said the event yesterday was "an end to all the red tape. Not much else."

There are plans for a second memorial, which will feature a cylindrical kiosk in which cacti which will be offered for sale for 2 Euros ($2.66). This artwork will be named "Een Prettig Gespre" - or "a pleasant chat". After every interview he gave, Theo van Gogh would give his interviewer a cactus.

Cacti seem to represent Theo van Gogh's personality well - he was undoubtedly "prickly". Despite this, he was outspoken, and a champion of the rights of the oppressed, and an exponent of free speech with no fake respect for hateful religious ideologies - the antithesis of the religious bigot who killed him.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at March 19, 2007 1:51 PM

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Posted by: Catawhumpus at March 21, 2007 11:09 AM

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