Id pay to see this.

Posted by: Elric66 at July 12, 2007 9:25 AM

Great idea and, while we’re at it, why not station a van with load speakers in front of every mosque in the land for the same purpose. Might be a good way for muslems to get over a bit of – shall we say – irrational paranoia.

Posted by: descendantofacrusader at July 12, 2007 9:31 AM

Talking about lighting the blue touch paper!!!

slightly off topic....I received this text on my fone recently

8 foreign doctors, 3 bombs, no Deaths. Harold shipman, one doctor, one syringe, 300 dead. Makes you almost proud to be british!! sick or funny?

Posted by: Demvaril at July 12, 2007 9:31 AM

Wallraff, a gadfly writer who often attacks the German establishment, said he would demand police protection if need be so that he could read the Rushdie book aloud.

...why doesn't he just request Muslim Protection, after all, he wants to speak in their place....The Muslims could clearly demonstrate their willingness to integrate....

Posted by: exsgtbrown at July 12, 2007 9:45 AM

Sounds like a suicide mission to me

Posted by: Had.Enough at July 12, 2007 10:05 AM

I don't think this is a good idea. It looks like deliberate provocation to me.

Certainly we must uphold our values and protest when they are compromised - but dont lose the moral high ground and come down to the level of the enemy.

Posted by: LondonBorn&Bred at July 12, 2007 10:11 AM

I don't see the point of this, either. It's stupid. What's the point? (And what's next? Suppose a Christopher Hitchens type decides that he wants to "exhibit" a piece of "art work" offensive to Catholics and do so in a Catholic church. And, then, if anyone dares to object, the Hitchens' type cries foul.) If someone tells the German where he can take his "Satanic Verses", I wouldn't object. This kind of cheeky effrontery we can do without.

Posted by: J.S. at July 12, 2007 10:27 AM

I think this a is great idea.
It just sees whether freedom of expression is alive in Germany. Might as well see.

But personally I dont think it is than radical.
I would like turn up outside a German Mosque
with a Crane and Wrecking Ball or a Tank or a Bulldozer. And there is no need to check it is empty before commencing operations.

Posted by: UK Infidel Lover at July 12, 2007 10:29 AM

Can he not travel over the border into Switzerland where ethanasia is legal and pain free?

Posted by: western infidel at July 12, 2007 10:32 AM

"Asked for comment, bekir alboga ,the secretary for dialogue ditib ,said Wallraff's request had not been rejected outright, but it was up to ditib's board,not himself, to respond." His(alboga)responce just might be a different approach from the usuall frothing at the mouth, torching of cars, killing of innocence. The board(I suspect)will politly decline, then amongst one another declare fatwa.

Posted by: mustang65 at July 12, 2007 10:46 AM

I assume he's trying to get the construction of this proposed mosque stopped through this stunt.

I hope it works.

Maybe anti-jihadist Wiccans can offer to sanctify the site with native German wild boar blood first, also?

Whatever will encourage the invaders to return home.

And build no more munitions and sedition sites in the West.

Posted by: profitsbeard at July 12, 2007 10:51 AM

I don't think this is a good idea. It looks like deliberate provocation to me.

Yet this provocation, er, 'http://www.asianaffairs.com/feb2003/images/commentary1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.asianaffairs.com/feb2003/commentary_coping.htm&h=150&w=209&sz=7&hl=en&start=63&um=1&tbnid=zbRtN_ItvOXtSM:&tbnh=76&tbnw=106&prev=/images%3Fq%3DAbu%2BHamza%2Bal-Masri%2B%2BFinsbury%26start%3D60%26ndsp%3D20%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26channel%3Ds%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN">freedom of expression' was permitted to go on for how long?

Double standards must be challenged if we are to continue full enjoyment of our freedoms.

Posted by: justamomof4 at July 12, 2007 10:53 AM

"I assume he's trying to get the construction of this proposed mosque stopped through this stunt."

i don't see how this is going to happen, since he says he wants to read out loud the Satanic Verses in the mosque...that's after the mosque has been built. i don't see how this would stop the mosque from being built. It's stupid. if you don't want the mosque built, then look to other avenues.

Posted by: J.S. at July 12, 2007 11:11 AM

J.S. hit the nail on the head. If what you want to do is stop the building of the mosque, fight it at the planning commission. This is as offensive as someone trying to read aloud from the Qur'an during a church service. "Do unto others as you would have done unto you." It that simple.
Shalom,
Theosebes

Posted by: Theosebes at July 12, 2007 11:18 AM

Freedom of speech is not alive in Germany. They just recently imprisoned a Lutheran minister for a sermon on comparing abortion to the Holocaust.

I suppose it's selective.

Posted by: atheling at July 12, 2007 11:34 AM

Guenter Wallraff was a journalist, who under the false name Hans Esser managed to get into "Bild Zeitung" newspaper in order to "expose" the "rotten practices" of Western journalism. For this stunt he was highly praized by the commies, his book on the swindle - widely translated and publicized behind the iron curtain. I wish he had changed by the age of 64, but practice shows that the old fool at youn age was just a young fool. With his history (plus the suspicious setup of reading IN the finished mosque) it appears to be more a publicity stunt, probably pre-arranged with this "ditib" board and aimed to show that it is OK to have a huge mosque anywhere because islam is oh-so-tolerant. Well, we know it is not. And we know Herr Wallraff is not exactly supporter or even sympathizer of Western values.

I'd rather have the heathen temple not built, then have any Rushdie, pork and beer, or striptease fest in it, with the tumor-of-building remaining afterwards in a Western city.

Number of mosques in Europe should be equal to number of churches in saudi arabia.

Posted by: Excommie at July 12, 2007 11:51 AM

In January 2003, Russia turned away Wallraff and two other Germans, the former labour minister for the CDU Norbert Blüm and Rupert Neudeck, head of the relief organisation Cap Anamur, as they tried to enter the country to work on a human rights article about Chechnya.

In September 2003, investigations were made by the BStU (the federal commission set up to deal with the files of the Stasi) into the Rosenholz files on Stasi workers which somehow got into the hands of the CIA; as a result, it was claimed that Wallraff had had connections to the Stasi in the 1960s. Wallraff disputes that he ever actively worked for them. On December 17, 2004, the Hamburg district court ruled on a suit brought by Wallraff that he must not be described as an Inoffizieller Mitarbeiter or Stasi collaborator (he was being called this above all in newspapers belonging to the Axel Springer Verlag - the publishers of Bild-Zeitung) as no proof of collaboration could be furnished in the documents which had been presented.

In May 2007, Wallraff announced that he had started yet another undercover journalist work, this time at a German call centre..[2]

His investigative methods have led to the creation of the Swedish verb 'wallraffa' meaning "to expose misconduct from the inside by assuming a role" which has been officially included in word list of the Swedish Academy.[3][4]

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%BCnter_Wallraff

Posted by: Excommie at July 12, 2007 11:57 AM

"Certainly we must uphold our values and protest when they are compromised - but dont lose the moral high ground and come down to the level of the enemy."

We would have to do a lot more then just reading a book, to lose the moral high ground to these people.

Posted by: GuitarBob at July 12, 2007 12:18 PM

I agree with Had.Enough above - sounds like a suicide by Jihadis mission to me. Maybe this man is more afraid of retirement than getting killed.

Normally, I'd agree that this is a deliberate provocation - like say reading Da Vinci code in a church, or Mein Kamph in a synagogue; however, I don't believe that Muslims deserve the respect that is normally accorded to religions. So while they are trying to make their megaplex mosques in Europe, let them prove that they can tolerate dissenting voices. Otherwise, there's no reason why their mosques need to be several times larger than normal churches or synagogues.

Posted by: Infidel Pride at July 12, 2007 12:44 PM

I think it's counter-productive. To me, it would be like someone reading from The Satanic Bible in a Christian church. What would this accomplish?

Why doesn't he stand opposite some Muslim protestors with their anti-everything-we-hold-dear placards and read The Satanic Verses over a loudspeaker then? The police will already be there and possibly members of some media, so he'll make his point and get some protection and attention all at the same time.

Or he could rent a public space and invite all members of the community to a reading and see who shows up.

Posted by: Josephine at July 12, 2007 12:50 PM

Don't call Walraff a 'maverick reporter'- this guy is a far left ratbag and one of Germany's worst attention whores.

Walraff is a former commie-spy for East Germany. His agenda is not ours, no matter what you may think of it.

He might be a muckraker, but his stunts fail to impress.

It will not happen, just like there will not be bible classes in a mosque or a female mufti in Mecca.

Posted by: sheik yer'mami at July 12, 2007 2:46 PM

Nothing is more dangerous to Islam than people who are not scared by it.

Posted by: alexon at July 12, 2007 5:15 PM

While he's at it why not read "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" from the bimah in the synagogue, then go to the cathedral and read Bertrand Russel's "Why I Am Not a Christian." Reading Rushdie's book in a mosque is nothing but provocation. The mosque, being in essence a private organization, doesn't fall under any rule of "free speach" that anyone at random can enter and have free reign. This is a tacky idea.

Posted by: desertdawg29palms at July 12, 2007 6:12 PM

This is so typical of the Left. "The Personal is Political!"--until somebody criticizes their pet perversions as unhealthy, and they get oh so solicitous for a right to privacy. It sounds as if Wallraff is demanding the right to offend whenever he wishes. Maybe we ought to demand the right to blare "Marxism killed 160,000,000 in less than a Century!" At a decibel level sure to drown out everything else every time some Left-wing organization decides to hold a rally.

While I won't call for Wallraff's death, I do think he richly deserves to be pelted with unwashed hog's offal.

Posted by: Kepha at July 12, 2007 10:03 PM

desertdawg29palms said

While he's at it why not read "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" from the bimah in the synagogue, then go to the cathedral and read Bertrand Russel's "Why I Am Not a Christian."

People have done far worse in synagogues and churches to offend Jews and Christians, and their lives were not endangered. The compassion and forgiveness shown was due in great part to the teachings of those religions.

People have done far less to offend Muslims, and found themselves beheaded, stabbed, or shot. That was also due in great part to the teachings of that religion.

The moral equivalency of the religions and their followers is suggested, but is far from proven.

Anything that calls out and challenges the bully is fine with me. Anything that exposes the Islamic mindset and the Islamic method of conflict resolution is fine with me. I don't care if he's a communist or a Republican or a Democrat; if he's teaching the infidels something about Islam, he's doing what needs to be done.

Posted by: special_guest at July 13, 2007 1:09 AM

special_guest,

With Wallraff's record, there is a chance that he aims to teach infidels the wrong thing. If he has it arranged with the mosque foundation to do the reading, the action will misrepresent islam as tolerant. And IT IS NOT.

Posted by: Excommie at July 13, 2007 12:11 PM

Hello folks,

Wallraff's idea is a great one, because muslims in Germany are mostly not CAIR-like. They are mostly turkish, and by that, half secularized. Turkish muslims in Germany are still interested in showing some openness. Therefore it is not out of the window, that some mosque boards agree to Wallraff's proposal.

Wallraff is from the left, yawn. What makes everybody think, that democracy can be defended without the left half of it? The European Left's awakening, which we can see these days, should make everybody happy, no?

Best regards

Birne

Wer gut Deutsch kann: Bitte beteiligt Euch an der Übersetzung von Robert Spencers "BLOGGING THE QU'RAN" auf www.islam-deutschland.info/forum.

Posted by: Birne at July 14, 2007 12:38 PM

because muslims in Germany are mostly not CAIR-like.

Oh no! Not at all! They are so extremely nice and "moderate". They were only outraged because German parliament passed a law (imported brides need to be at least 18 years old) without asking Turkish organizations for their permittance. Now they try to influence president Köhler to bring the law down.

Ken Kolat saying: If this law isn't stopped, I can no more guarantee, what Turkish people in Germany do.

One German-Turkish newspaper wrote about "Berlin in flames", if the law is not stopped.

And the government in Ankara reminded us that we should keep in mind, that "Turks are not a rational people". Whatever this may mean.

But they are not at all CAIR-like. Oh no! Finally we have found the good muslims.

There are some fierce debates about a new mosque in Cologne, people demonstrating against it to be build. Wallraff first said in the radio interview, that he wanted to read Rushdie in THIS mosque. They have not even started to build it!

To be able to read something in a mosque, first the mosque must be built. And that's what he champions !

Later he changed to "in any mosque".

He can be quite sure that no imam is silly enough to expose himself and his people to death threats.

But hey: Everybody is talking about Wallraff, this "courageous hero".

He is a disgusting leftist freak - and ever was - just wanting to get some attention. Nothing but a freak show in the best or - as Excommie wrote - a trick to fool the people about Islam.

Posted by: Eisvogel at July 17, 2007 4:52 AM