Support Oriana Fallaci
Posted by Richard on July 6, 2006
Italian journalist and author Oriana Fallaci is a remarkable woman. Born in 1929 to anti-fascist parents, she began her fight against fascism as a young girl during WWII — she joined the armed resistance group founded by her father, earning a medal at the age of 14.
Fallaci was in her 70s and long retired when 9/11/01 caused her to renew her fight against fascism — this time, Islamofascism. The result was two books — The Rage and The Pride (2001) and The Force of Reason (2004) — warning Italy and Europe that they’re being "colonized" and subjugated by radical Islam, that freedom and democracy and Western Civilization are under attack and virtually no one in Europe has the courage to resist.
Fallaci is living in New York and dying of cancer. But in Italy — in ironic proof that she’s right about Europe’s pandering to the Islamofascists — she is on trial for writings "offensive to Islam" (the trial was recessed in mid-June, and I can’t find any news of its resumption via Google News). If Fallaci were to return to Italy, she’d be thrown in jail during the trial, in which she faces large fines and up to two years in prison for statements (in The Force of Reason) such as this:
Despite the massacres through which the sons of Allah have bloodied us and bloodied themselves for over thirty years, the war that Islam has declared against the West…is a cultural war…they kill us in order to bend us. To intimidate us…Their goal is not to fill cemeteries. Not to destroy our skyscrapers…It is to destroy our soul, our ideas. Our feelings and our dreams. It is to subjugate the West once again.
The Future Europe association, founded in Poland last year, is rallying support for Oriana Fallaci at www.OrianaFallaciTrial.org, where you can sign the Letter of Solidarity with Oriana Fallaci:
Judge Armando Grasso of Bergamo acknowledged a suit against Oriana Fallaci filed by the president of Muslim Union of Italy. On June 6th the trial against a journalist and a publicist over insult of Islam by statements made in her book "The force of reason" will start. We want to express our concern about the decision made by the judge of Bergamo, since such practices can lead to restrictions of freedom of speech in the realm of European democracy with human rights being its largest achievement.
We believe that freedom of speech is a universal value and should not fall within political, cultural or religious interests. Oriana Fallaci has been fighting for the freedom of expression in her work as a journalist throughout her whole life. As we intend to protect the freedom of speech we want to express our solidarity with Oriana Fallaci. Being aware of contentiousness of her latest statements, we still stand against the trial which is infringing the freedom of expression.
Certainly a mild and polite (too polite for my tastes) defense of free speech and Western values, perhaps a bit awkwardly translated from the Polish. Something no reasonable person should hesitate to put their name to. So what are you waiting for? Go to www.OrianaFallaciTrial.org and add your name right now. As Kentucky Dan said, "If you only sign to have your name on the same petition as LECH WALESA, do it for that reason."
For more about Oriana Fallaci, her books and ideas, and her trial, check out:
Michelle Malkin (with links to previous posts)
This interview with Fallaci in OpinionJournal
Robert Spencer at JihadWatch here and here
Robert Spencer in an excellent FrontPageMag article last year (addresses each of Fallaci’s 18 "defamatory" statements)
This outstanding post by Dymphna at Gates of Vienna
This WorldNetDaily story about the trial
Jan from Denver said
I signed it.