Five Years Later: The Death of Dutch Filmmaker Theo Van Gogh

Today marks the fifth anniversary of the controversial murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh.

Van Gogh collaborated with Dutch politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somalian-born woman who fled to Europe and became an outspoken critic of cultural Islam. They worked together on a short film entitled Submission, about the abuses perpetrated against Muslim women, which was broadcast on Dutch public television in August of 2004. Several months later, a Dutch-born Muslim man of Moroccan descent named Mohammed Bouyeri shot van Gogh to death in Amsterdam, stabbing a note to his chest that threatened Hirsi Ali’s life and calling for a jihad to avenge the making of their incendiary film. Bouyeri is now serving a life sentence in prison and the murder was labeled a terrorist attack.

The cultural fallout of van Gogh’s death in Holland has been compared to the ramifications of 9/11 in the U.S. Several Dutch mosques were burned in retaliation and the government passed laws that all people must carry I.D. It instituted citizen tests for resident aliens, enforced language tests for prospective immigrants, and authorized police to stop people on the street who appeared suspicious.

Although tensions surrounding immigrant and ethnic issues were already high in the Netherlands at the time of van Gogh’s murder, his death is credited as prompting the rise of the right-wing, anti-immigrant politician Geert Wilders. Wilder’s growing Party for Freedom (PVV) currently leads in the polls.

To counteract the tension following van Gogh’s death, the city of Amsterdam launched the “We Amsterdammers” campaign, aimed at uniting ethnic groups and creating anti-discrimination posters. Although “We Amsterdammers” has been criticized as out of touch with the reality of ethnic tensions, there have been no more “terrorist attacks” since van Gogh’s murder, a fact that city officials attribute to the campaign’s effectiveness. Integration expert Jean Tillie said, “[Wilders’] party is constantly bashing Muslims. The fact that nothing else has happened, proves how effective the policies have been.”

The anti-immigrant fervor is not unique to the Netherlands. Other European countries, such as Belgium and France, have mounting debates about ethnicity and immigration, and right-wing politicians who run on anti-immigrant political platforms are growing in popularity throughout the continent.

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