Over at Samizdata it’s reported that Gert Wilders is on trial for his film Fitna. A film which saw him banned from the UK despite not having broken any law and being invited here by the Lords. The BBC cover the matter briefly when you consider the precedent this trial will have on freedom of speech across Europe – as so eruditely expounded by Archbishop Cranmer (from where I’ve shamelessly stolen the image used here).
After all as has been said many many times, freedom of speech is an all or nothing affair, and even if you disagree with Mr Wilders he should still have the right to speak to be disagreed with.
I would note that the verdict is expected to come down on the 4th of November, just in time for some sort of response on the 5th maybe?
Update Catching up on reading I came across an article from Counting cats which seemed particularly apt for this post. If we can’t debate both sides of a situation then we can’t understand the situation. So if no one points out “perceived” problems with Islam where do moderate Muslims get the chance to say “actually that’s wrong”? If they do it unilaterally then that will come across as prosletising.
