Dear John,
Regarding the murder of Theo van Gogh there is an interesting twist.
It
seems that "Thou shalt not kill" is now offensive hate speech in Holland
and
it is offensive to say this to Muslims.
Regards,
Brian
Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2004 8:06 am
Post subject: "Thou shalt not kill" racist credo in Rotterdam
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Photo:
http://www.2525.com/log/archives/2004/11/rotterdam_de_da_1.html
Quote:
Rotterdam, the day after.
One of the friends with whom i
protested in favor of Salman Rushdie against
muslim-fundamentalists 15 years
ago, was then-VARA colleague Wim Nottroth.
He just sent me the below e-mail.
"Thou shalt not kill" is, according to the
Rotterdam authorities a
'provocative racist creed' worthy of arrest.
Read, shiver and look at the
bizarre videoclip.
"Hi Francisco,
Suddenly i found myself in a jail-cell this morning. I had to think
about
you because of your once "I am Rushdie" shirt, remember?
This morning the following happened:
A Rotterdam artist, Chris Ripke, made an artwork to express his
horror of
the murder on Theo Van Gogh. A nice expression with an angel and
the text
"Thou shalt not kill" (See photo)
Chris is an artist with integrity whom has made nice statues near
Angelo
Betti (famous pizzeria). His studio is directly next to the mosque in
the
Insulinde-street. The mosque found the text "Thou shalt not kill" to be
offensive. So they called Opstelten (Rotterdam mayor). As a journalist for
the local TV station Cineac North i went there this morning to film it.
At first, i was asked not to film there because it would rise
tensions in
the neighborhood. I was in a discussion when a cleaning-vehicle
came which
was about to sandblast the art from the wall. I couldn't bear
look at that
and decided to stand in front of it (kind of like "I am
Rushdie" protest).
After a scuffle with the police i was arrested. I am now free, but
the art
is gone and i don't understand mayor Opstelten at all. My colleague
Mireille
was forced by the police to erase some of her footage.
What a country. Its just unbelievable.
Chris as well as i have been working with Turkish and Moroccan
children and
adults for many years, trying to get them involved with our
projects. What a
cramped authorities. How beautiful is that credo "Thou
shalt not Kill!" It
can't be more universal. Yet you can't even put it on
your own wall.
I am outraged!
I hope you are doing better
Greetings,
Wim Nottrith!
Here is the footage. I hope the bandwidth allows the footage to
play.
http://www.noord.kw.nl/video/wim/wim.ram
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