Dutch cartoonist arrested on suspicion of violating hate speech laws

Dutch cartoonist arrested on suspicion of violating hate speech laws

www.iht.com

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands: A Dutch political cartoonist was arrested this week on suspicion of insulting people because of their race or religion through his work, authorities said Friday.

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I don't know where you know Holland?the netherlands from, but next to drugs, windmills and cheese (and the national football team of course) we have something we (at least I do) hold in high value here: freedom of speech. It's what the the Dutch are renowed for: anyone can say anything here, anything is open for debate.

The last couple of years, since 2000 I would say, a suffocating could is starting to grow over Holland. The dutch leftwing politcal party PVDA is now in the covernment with the centrum liberal crstian party CDA and left christian party ChristenUnie. They are making this cloud thicken.

After a pasing a number of laws that dampen the liberal climate we have in Holland, we are now slowly turning into a 'V for Vendetta' kind of state.

The brainless political correctness of the government is taking on serious forms. Gregorius Nekschot (nekschot translations: shot in the neck) was arrested last tuesday because he is suspected of viloating hate speech laws.

Nekschot is pseudonime ofcourse. He named himself gregorius because pope gregorius started the inquisitions in the middle ages and neckshot because that is the way people in oppresive junta's are usually dealt with. He ususally makes cartoons that mock muslims, left wing politics and any other strong ideoligy that tries to aggresivly make a mark in holland.

The dutch government is trying to turn holland into a police state where only approved communication is allowed and this is another sign.

When Pim Fortuyn (politican and reli citicicaster) and Theo van Gogh (muslim critical filmmaker) were murded, the govenment said: 'we stronlgy condemn this, but it was to be expected. In other words: it's a bit their own fault. it's what you get for critisizing others.

Now a cartoonist is arrested for making reli critical pictures. Holland is heading in to the wrong direction people. I feel as if it not my country anymore. If you cannot comment on a society that is that is slowly hardening and being taken over by reli-fundamentalists, both christian and muslims, the future is looking grim.

Now,

www.iht.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 22-5-2008 by cappuccino]

20 years of wild immigration , laxism and BS, so called political correctness, just like in many other european countries
fundamentalism calls for fundamentalism, just like violence calls violence, it's human
if there had been a bit more "control" a few decades ago we wouldn't be in this smelly situation , luckily enough , we don't have religion problems in Luxemburg YET ! , but looking at "islamic cultural centers" sprouting all over the country it's probably only a matter of a few years (9/11 hasn't really helped) and people will get scared enough to start a whole new "situation" that has never been seen in our tiny grand-duchy
i was in den haag a few years ago , we were walking through some part of the city that in fact looked very much like images you see of bazaars and souks in north africa or afghanistan,djellabas, face veils and burkas as far as the eye could see and not one word in dutch , how do you expect people not getting scared about that ?
Now that the governement has created that situation, it's getting out of control both on the immigrant side and the dutch side (not only in the Netherlands though)

"He was arrested with a great show of force, by around 10 policemen," the spokeswoman said.

This is what stands out to me about this article. Although it does not mention whether he resisted or not, I highly doubt that he did. Are they trying to make an example of him?

Freedom of speech is a meaningless phrase these days. It only applies when you're saying what they want you to say. As soon as you put in your own input you get shunned or worse disciplined for it.

Here is a sample of what's happening in Canada when it comes to free speech :

"Freedom of speech is an American concept, so I don't give it any value."
- Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) investigator Dean Steacy.

Freedom of speech is a thing of the past.

Originally posted by InSanE1

This is what stands out to me about this article. Although it does not mention whether he resisted or not, I highly doubt that he did. Are they trying to make an example of him?

Yes they are. And this is not even the whole story. The government has installed an interdepeartemental board wich will check art and cartoons for 'inappropriate' content.

This arrest was made on the basis of a single complaint that was filed in 2005. The DA who ordered the arrest, Paul Velleman, is also part of commision related to the above named board. he spent 3 years eximing 3000 pictures of this cartoonist and has found a total of 8 to be lawbreaking. So instead of letting his findings be checked by another DA, he just orders the arrest.

The secretary of Justice, mr Ernst Hirsch ballin approves of this way of working, although he feels 'the brute force was not nessesary'. So the censorship is okey, but it has to be done silently is basically what he is saying.

I fear for my country...

You need to organize, and organize soon, or before you know it you will be living in a Muslim country. Vote the liberal appeasers out as fast as you can. Push for laws that restrict immigration and require immigrants to meet certain standards by a certain time frame, like level of proficiency in Dutch, a job, and income. Immigrants who have failed to start adapting to Dutch customs after a maximum of one year, deport.

The Muslims are planning on taking advantage of European kindness, this should be obvious by now.

As the oil wells run dry and poverty rises in the Muslim world, the wave of immigration will increase rapidly unless something is done to stop it. I would hate to see Europe taken over by Islam.

Quote from the article:

One recent cartoon on his web site caricatured a Christian fundamentalist and Muslim fundamentalist as zombies who met at an anti-gay rally and now wished to marry.

Now that's funny. People need to lighten up a bit. The guys mocking everyone. He's not targetting specific groups. If people don't like his cartoons and get offended by them, then don't buy the magazine or his books. Consumers have a lot of power.

Originally posted by poet1b
You need to organize, and organize soon, or before you know it you will be living in a Muslim country.

The Muslims are planning on taking advantage of European kindness, this should be obvious by now.

As the oil wells run dry and poverty rises in the Muslim world, the wave of immigration will increase rapidly unless something is done to stop it. I would hate to see Europe taken over by Islam.

Man, you need to lighten up too. I'd be interested to know where you're from if you can see Muslims acting in such a way. I know plenty of them and have for years. I used to live in one of the largest Asian communities in the UK. I can tell you that 99% of Muslims don't fall into the pigeon hole that you've stuffed them into.

It's all NWO propoganda to fuel the divide between us. Too many people are falling for it as well.

Holy crap. when i read this i almost suspect there is a zealus priest with a baseball bat in his hands on every corner and in every house making sure we are thumping the bible hard enough while being polite under threat of being shot, hanged, quartered, whipped and thrown to the lions while being set on fire and skinned, alive.

If you would read the Dutch reporting about it you would see that the goverment is pretty much ashamed about the whole ordeal. BTW, do you have any source for your claim that the Dutch goverment has plans to initiate a interdepartemental review commission that will test every single cartoon about to be published?

And the whole shabang of privatization, tearing down of the welfare state and the increasing of taxes everywhere while destroying the health insurance is the brainchild of the middle-right goverment before this one.

That being said i would not mourn the quick death of this joke of a coalition but the last one did more to kick us in the financial teeth than this one will ever be able to do ( mostly because the well of civilian-money is drying up ofcourse )

Originally posted by Harman
If you would read the Dutch reporting about it you would see that the goverment is pretty much ashamed about the whole ordeal. BTW, do you have any source for your claim that the Dutch goverment has plans to initiate a interdepartemental review commission that will test every single cartoon about to be published?

from yesterday's 'De Pers' (article in dutch)

link

It was beeing kept quit for years, but the secretary of justice has admitted that since the danish mohammed cartoons they are keeping a close eye at cartoons that are disruptive.

It is not the dutch government that is ashamed. It's the opposition tha cries for blood, but that will have to wait untill the debate next week.

In this article the secretary again states that he is unlucky the way this has been handled, but he does not dissaprove of the action itself

reply to post by cappuccino


It could be a blessing in disguise tho. If this goes to court and he gets acquited from the charges he will feel strenghtend in his rights to do his work. I am glad we have a system like we have, the judicial branch of this country is still not the female dog of the sitting govermment so i'm pretty sure he will not get convicted.

And our country getting more and more an islamic country would be laughable if it wasn't so sad that people really believe it. Maybe if all the native Dutchies stop breeding for about 30 years we would get a narrow majority of Islamics but the total percentage of Muslim inhabitants of the netherlands is not even 1/10th so excuse me if i do not begin digging a bombshelter or reading up on the Sharia-laws or something like that.

I was just browsing his site. Just seen a cartoon of Jesus having sex with Mohammed.

And a cartoon face that is on every page that is stereotyping Antillean men. Apparently the Nekschot version of a blackface. Well he can have it.

reply to post by Harman


You are right about the judicial system, but you're ignoring the root here. The fact that the DA's and secretary try to pull something like this off is worries me. It still sends a signal. And if this does not work, they'll try it via another law or creating one.

About the thread of the islam. I'm with you on that one. My concern there is the politics who conform themselves to a religion like the islam just to get voters. Now even the rightwing VVD has a aparty where they only serve halal food and no alcohol just to not insult any possible muslim that walks in there. Now THAT is crazy.

Originally posted by TheBandit795
I was just browsing his site. Just seen a cartoon of Jesus having sex with Mohammed.

And a cartoon face that is on every page that is stereotyping Antillean men. Apparently the Nekschot version of a blackface. Well he can have it.

You need to reed the acompaniying text, which is usually in dutch. if you look at the drawings without the context I agree that the cartoons do not make any sense. it's the cartoon in combo with the text that mocks the situation.

I read Dutch perfectly, don't really like the jokes. But that's because my sense of humor is different.

This is where the whole freedom of speech issue breaks down. If a cartoonist must be given the freedom to publish cartoons that certain sections of the community find offensive, then so too must others. Why are there people sitting in jail for years who's only crime was to question certain aspects of history? After all, it's their opinion they are being jailed for.
The whole political correctness issue needs kicked into touch. If people don't like what someone is saying or publishing then they can either engage in a reasoned debate on the issue or just ignore it and walk away. Simple isn't it?

If people want to settle somewhere other than their place of birth but find their new host country's societal attitudes offensive then don't stay. If they object to people being able to openly express opinions counter to their own and threaten or harm those they object to then they should be dealt with by the law, then deported to their place of origin. Again, it's a simple solution.

Of course, there will always be people who will push the limits of acceptability and go out of their way to cause offense to one group or another. But, in our society they have the right to, however distasteful it may be to some people. Once again though, they can be ignored, people can choose not to listen to them.

The people pushing a lot of this hate and thought crime legislation have agendas which seem to be to cause as much unrest as possible.

Originally posted by TheBandit795
And a cartoon face that is on every page that is stereotyping Antillean men. Apparently the Nekschot version of a blackface. Well he can have it.

If you see this as sterotyping an antillian man, you really need to lighten up a little bit. Do not take it serious or literally. It is a CARTOON. It is intend to mock and make you think and to provocate. This picture is just HIS avatar, I've seen more disturbing ones here on ATS.

Don't worry about, it's not healthy to take things seriously. But I don't like it personally, so you will have to respect my opinion about it, just as I will have to respect his, as long as his doesn't hurt other people.

reply to post by TheBandit795


Ah ok, then I misunderstood you, but you have an excellent point here. You look at it, you don't like, so you choose to ignore it. Brilliant. That's what more people should do.

Unfortunately the thought police sees it in a different way...

Total outrage, good thing I guess that "De meiden van halal" didnt press charges against "Hans Teeuwen" last year...but we wont see that happen coz he is too much of a well known person in Holland. No way they wanna see the public exposure that would cost. Maybe time again for some dutch "cabaretiers" to pick this up and see how far they can go before gettin into trouble

Well, I hope Europe isn't being taken over by Muslims, but from what I read, with current trends, in twenty years that is exactly what will happen. The Muslim world has a very large, very young population, and as cheap oil comes to an end, and it is, there are going to be a lot of hungry people in the third world. I don't think first world nations should allow themselves to be taken over by immigration because they have cut back on population growth. These things are basic demographics.

It seems to me that it is better to get an honest dialogue going, rather than wait for tensions to boil out of hand, leading to an outright third world war.