If the murderers of Theo van Gogh were seeking to deter other European artists from taking up Islam as a subject for artistic discussion, they have enjoyed some notable success. The latest news concerning radical Islam’s intimidation campaign in Europe comes from Denmark, thanks to Filtrat.
Since the murder of the Islam critical Dutch film director Theo van Gogh, and the violent attack on a lecturer at the Danish Carsten Niebuhr Institute, Danish artists are fearful of criticising Islam.
Author, KÃ¥re Bluitgen, is due to publish a book on the profit Mohammed in two weeks time, but so far no one has agreed to illustrated the work through fear of reprisals from Islamic extremists.
According to the author, three artists have turned down an offer to illustrate the book based on their fear of being attacked if they do so.
The president of the Danish Writers Union, Frants Iver Gundelach, said that it is a gross attack on freedom of speech, and the issue will be taken up at the next union meeting.
This story is eerily similar to the decision of the European Parliament to cancel an April screening of Van Gogh’s last film “Submission”, the making of which resulted in his murder. Parliament members later identified security concerns as their motive for calling off the screening.