Italian author to be tried for defaming Islam

[seriousstan]

Italian author and veteran journalist Oriana Fallaci goes on trial Monday, charged with defaming Islam in a 2004 book. Fallaci, who lives in New York, was not expected to attend the hearing in Bergamo, northern Italy.

Muslim activist Adel Smith filed a lawsuit against Fallaci, charging that some passages in her book, "The Strength of Reason," were offensive to Islam. Smith's lawyer cited a phrase from the book that refers to Islam as "a pool ... that never purifies."

Fallaci told The Associated Press last year that "I have expressed my opinion through the written word through my books, that is all."

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1150035834414&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

You know, FUCK ISLAM! Sue me.

[tocqueville]

1. if every Islamic paper that defames Christianity or Israel were to be sued

the world courts would be filled to the brink...

Besides she is wrong : there is a strong "Enlightment-like" movement growing in the European/North African Islamic world with philosophers, playwrights, activists etc... and probably future leaders...

[GOPNotForMe]

2. I want to like Fallaci.

There is a really good article about her in the New Yorker from a few weeks ago. She's crazy, no doubt, and her views are certainly not in line with mine. However, she has a very interesting history.

[BayCityProgressive]

3. ah yes

but it is okay for Muslim nutcases all over the world to call the US the Great Satan and portray Jews as pigs and monkeys. The EU really is sort of creepy in regards to free speech...

[tocqueville]

5. any European court will reject the claim (except the Swiss)

Islam is a religion, not a people. In France you can say that a religion is perverted, but if you point out a community (Jews, Arabs etc...) as "pigs", than it's hate speech and condemnable because considered as verbal violence against individuals and incitment to racial crime or prejudice. Because it's not considered as free speech.

I know that it is discussable but you can rely to the US where showing a square millimeter of a nipple a millisecond on TV get you banned and probaby sued for million of dollars. Even if it is not the intention. As an "expression of free speech" I think it is pretty creepy.

[daleo]

4. Does anyone know the full quote

"a pool ... that never purifies"

Knowing what the ellipsis indicates would help put this in context.

On edit - I notice in google references that sometimes the three dots are in the quote and somtimes they aren't.

[tocqueville]

6. here is more

Grasso reckoned 18 sentences found within Fallaci’s book to be offensive to Islam, such as “Europe is becoming more and more a colony of Islam,” and “to believe in the existence of a good Islam and a bad Islam goes against all reason,” as well as “the Islamic faith sows hatred in the place of love and slavery in the place of freedom.”

The Italian Justice Minister Roberto Castelli <*> considered the decision an assault against the freedom of expression. The Italian news service ANSA reported his statement that the book “contains extremely strong criticism without defamation,” while Ugo Fanuzzi, the personal lawyer for the prosecution, deemed it unlikely that the scope of the charges would be broadened to include inciting hatred between religions.

Fallaci (75 years old) lives in New York, and has issued a number of books since the attacks on September/Aylul 11, such as Rage and Pride, in which she found fault with Islam and asserted the superiority of Western civilization over Islamic civilization.

http://www.pressinterpreter.org/node/157

according to answers.com she wrote about a "pool that never purifies" (meaning a sewer) in her book, nothing in between.

I must say that if the criticism is against the religion, I can accept it (even if I don't share it) but the association with PEOPLE is very dubious.

In 2002 in Switzerland the Islamic Center and the Somal Association of Geneva, SOS Racisme of Lausanne and a private citizen sued her for the supposedly racist content of The Rage and The Pride. In November 2002 a Swiss judge issued an arrest warrant for violations of article 261 and 261 bis of the Swiss criminal code and requested the Italian government to either try or extradite her. Roberto Castelli, Italian minister of Justice mentioned this fact in an interview broadcasted by Radio Padania affirming that the Italian Constitution protects the Freedom of Speech and thus the extradition request had to be rejected, the episode is mentioned in her book The Force of Reason.

In 2003 the MRAP (Movement against racism and for the friendship among peoples) sued to have The Rage and The Pride banned in France. A French court rejected the request, as well as the group's request for a disclaimer to be placed in each book.

[daleo]

7. So "a pool that never purifies" is fancy talk for sewer

That helps. It is more than a little provocative, and could be considered incitement by a lot of people (imagine if someone said "Judaism is a sewer or a cesspool").

I still don't see why some sources were putting the three dots into the quote.

The other quotes given are harsh, but not outside of the scope of freedom of speech in my opinion. A test: could you replace Islam with Christianity in them?

“Europe is becoming more and more a colony of Islam,”
“Europe is becoming more and more a colony of Christianity,”
Neither statement is true, but they could be, so I don't see a problem.

and “to believe in the existence of a good Islam and a bad Islam goes against all reason,”
and “to believe in the existence of a good Christianity and a bad Christianity goes against all reason,”
I suppose a lot of people would agree, on logical grounds if nothing else. So, it doesn't seem out of line.

as well as “the Islamic faith sows hatred in the place of love and slavery in the place of freedom.”
as well as “the Christian faith sows hatred in the place of love and slavery in the place of freedom.”
Again, that's a statement a lot of people might go along with, especially those who have escaped a stern religious upbringing.

All that being said, I have a hunch I wouldn't care to read her stuff or listen to her.

[tocqueville]

8. all that stuff is pretty meaningless

and for me falls into the category of bullshit. It is again kind of a black/white version of reality, with a hidden agenda.

Besides one has to be careful with what is said of written, because even if as in the first case (colony) the claim is ridiculous, it is there not really an attack on religious values, but on people. If somebody wrote that Europe or the US for that matter was becoming a Jewish colony, this would really cause outrage and can be dangerous. If you write that an US State is becoming a "Catholic colony" (meaning an illegal Mexican "invasion"),
you indirectly incite to ethnic hatred : "beware, they are coming !" That is the kind of speech that Milosevic used against Bosnians and Kosovars. And we all know the consequences.