Irresponsible Art & Tragic Death: Theo Van Gogh's 'Submission'

"Submission" (2004)
Written by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Directed by Theo van Gogh

By Naeem Mohaiemen

It is no longer possible to view "Submission" and give a “balanced” response to the work. No matter what our feelings about the effectiveness or irresponsibility of the film, director Theo Van Gogh’s shocking murder is the unspoken shadow that now lies over any discussion of it.

Following Van Gogh’s sudden murder on an Amsterdam street, the Muslim community condemned the killing loudly. Clerics clearly stated that, this was no way to conduct debate in civilized societies. Freedom of speech must be valued and respected. But these statements of disavowal were not enough for those on the Dutch right who would exploit this tragedy to further a racist agenda. Van Gogh’s death has provided the perfect excuse for the simmering xenophobia that lurks underneath Europe’s genteel surface. Fiery anti-Muslim demagogue Pym Fortuyn also exploited these tensions, before his assassination by a Dutch animal rights activist. Ironically, Van Gogh was an admirer of Fortuyn and had just finished a documentary about him. Already, after Van Gogh’s death, there is talk of developing a national database that will track the “risk profile” of immigrants in the Netherlands. Over the weekend, Dutch racists firebombed eight mosques and a Muslim school, signaling a scary trend that is likely to continue as the European right seeks to battle what they call the “enemy within.” The memories of Krystallnacht in Germany are not that distant, and they could still be repeated within this century against European Muslims.

Women’s rights within Islam are a long-debated topic. There are myriad crises in the way that Muslim peoples and countries treat women. But many of these issues are linked to culture, demagoguery, misogyny, poverty and above all, male fear of female advancement-- not religion. Religion is only the excuse, but in fact there is very little in Islam that condones such behavior. But Theo Van Gogh had little patience for such nuanced discussions. Instead, "Submission" is a jumbled attack on abuse of Muslim women, which makes no distinction between distortion of religion, and actual theology. Telling the story of a Muslim woman who is pushed into a forced marriage and then raped by her uncle, the 9-minute film intersperses a voice-over with images of Quranic ayaats on walls, and a praying woman.

The core of the "Submission" controversy is over one incendiary piece of imagery. The praying woman is completely naked, the only part or her that is covered is her face, with a supposedly “Islamic” veil. Across her breasts, navel, and thighs are a thin diaphanous cloth—through which text from the Quran is clearly visible on her body. Nude to the camera, she repeatedly bows down to pray—even reading a Sura from the Quran at the beginning of the film. The camera lingers with a fetishist’s eye over her nakedness, at one point zooming in on her raised finger (used during prayer to indicate the one-ness of God). The nudity adds nothing to the critique, but it applies a devastating slap to the face of Muslim piety. There are many valid critiques of the Muslim world’s treatment of women, and there is much reform that is needed. There are many critiques and reform work that is being done by Muslim theorists, activists and academics like Fatima Mernissi, Asma Jahangir, Leila Ahmed, Amina Wadud, and Kecia Ali among others. But that reform needs to be through constructive critique, not through irresponsible provocations. If Van Gogh sincerely intended to “help” Muslims, to reform them-- he would have made a different film.

Though Van Gogh’s work was irresponsible, damaging and filmed with thinly-veiled contempt, nothing can justify his murder. Just as Van Gogh was intolerant of Muslims, his killer was intolerant of free speech. In many ways, his murderer is the flip side of the Dutch racists. By pushing society into chaos, Van Gogh’s killer hoped to spark a conflagration between the Netherlands and its Muslim immigrants. Calmer heads must prevail in the days ahead. Muslims are now part of the European fabric—they cannot be considered outsiders, nor should they be treated as such.

Naeem Mohaiemen is Editor of shobak.org (Outsider Muslims).

"Submission" is available online here (Windows Media, mature content)