Marketeers usually start out with a product and then think of a marketing strategy. In Wilders' case it's impossible to tell which product is being marketed. A not yet existing movie? Wilders himself? A debate? Anti-islamism?

Arnon, I saw your swimming trunks up for sale at Marktplaats the other day. Did you sell your sweater to the lady?

Sometimes I wonder if mr. Wilders really makes this movie. Isn' t he trying to make his point without it? Just like BNN did with their donor show. Wilders wants to make clear that the islam is a danger for the western world. The whole western world is now waiting with fear for a movie. People try to stop the film because of the change for terrorist attacks. All this fear for the consequences of the movie is enough for Wilders to state he is right in some way.

Arnon. do you like fairy tales? If so you may visit the house of Hans Christian Andersen in Kassel.

the fact that nothing has leaked about the movie; that there haven't been excerpts going around the internet and that there haven't been any anonymous testimonials in newspapers or on blogs of people who cooperated in producing the movie - it makes it all very suspicious and it makes me doubt the existence of the movie. Or, it is proof of the fact that fanatics have a degree of loyalty towards their belief and leaders that is unknown to the rest of human kind. I'm afraid that is what it is.

Ron

I didn’t sell my sweater to the lady. It was quite cold last night in Kassel and I didn’t want to go home half-naked.
The product Mr. Wilders is selling is Mr. Wilders himself don’t you think? Isn’t this what most politicians doing -- and to a lesser degree all of us?
Did you buy my swimming trunks?

And now a certain Eshan Jami in the Netherlands will make a animated cartoon about the life of Mohammed…

If people say or do something controversial with an innocent baby-face, using a convincing, passionate arrogant attitude. Be mysterious about it and work on the emotions of people and let them wait a while. Then you get all the attention you need for your product.
It worked by “Sinterklaas” or if you would launch a new car that is working on air, or writers’ swimming trunks. Curiousity and unbelief attracts people.

To Arnon, on Benno Barnard

As this message foremost concerns Dutchspeaking visitors, the reaction below is written in Dutch.
To anyone interested, not speaking Dutch: it deals with a letter Benno Barnard published in last week's Humo.

Benno Barnard verwijt u het een en ander dat - afgezien van de bezwaren die u zelf aanbracht - opgemerkt dient te worden.
U zou een epigoon van W.F. Hermans zijn, en tegelijkertijd stukjes schrijven in navolging van H. B . Corstius.
Die vergelijking is opmerkelijk omwille van de relatie die beide schrijvers met elkaar onderhielden (Gemotiveerde lezers kunnen 'Malle Hugo' erop nalezen.) Alsof de heer Barnard zegt: 'U schrijft stukken die door uzelf door de mallemolen gehaald zouden moeten worden.'

Het is opmerkelijk hoe makkelijk schrijvers hun geloofwaardigheid verliezen. Bij wijze van voorbeeld: inmiddels enige tijd geleden verklaarde Harry Mullisch: 'Mogelijk zou België geen politieke problemen kennen, als er een Partij voor de Dieren was.'

Ik probeer me daartegen te verzetten, maar de betrokken schrijvers lijken het er soms om te doen.

De Asielzoeker in Amsterdam

Dag iedereen,

De studievereniging van de opleiding Nederlandse Taal en Cultuur van de Universiteit Leiden voert hun stuk De Asielzoeker nog een keer op. Ditmaal in Amsterdam. In het Universiteits Theater van de Universiteit van Amsterdam (UVA), Nieuwe Doelenstraat 16, 20.30 uur. Kaarten zijn weer te reserveren via nnp.asielzoeker@gmail.com. 3 euro voor studenten/scholieren, 5 euro voor niet-studenten/scholieren.
Om jullie ervan te overtuigen wil ik graag een quote aanhalen van Johannes van der Sluis, die vorig jaar mei de voorstelling heeft bezocht: 'I was thrilled. This was theatre at its best!'

Komt allen!

@Coen
What date?

Jan,

Dat is een goede, bedankt.

Het gaat om woensdag 2 april!

Arnon, no I didn't buy your swimming trunks. I only collect the things you write, not the things you wear. And I would not wear them myself since it would feel strange or perverse to put my private parts in a place that contained yours. I'm a fan of yours of course, but I try to keep it within boundaries...

@Coen
Ach Coen, waarom wordt dat niet op DVD gezet of op TV uitgezonden? “Dames en Heren, wij onderbreken de voetbalwedstrijd Arsenal – Liverpool voor een unieke toneelvoorstelling ‘De Asielzoeker’ van Arnon Grunberg” .
Helaas…

Jan

Dat zou dicht in de buurt komen van een ideale wereld. Helaas...
In september is wel iets opgenomen, maar die kwaliteit is niet voldoende om op grote schaal te verspreiden.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ee4_1206625795 film geert wilders on the internet

I just heared that Wilders put Fitna on the web using his own site. The access to his site however is already impossible. Too much hits? Or has it been taken from the net?

@ Helen . Thanks , your link worked. I just had a look at it. I think this is a clear case in wich the marketing made the product much larger than it is in reality. I wonder what hte reactions will be now it 's really in the air.
@ Arnon. When I think of your small clip a few years ago for Inktaap, the one in wich you compared Allah with a pig, I found that sentence far more risky.

@ Mieke

This is probably worse than if the marketing expectations were met. Wilders managed to present himself as a rather moderate thinker instead of the raging rebel everyone thought him to be. This means that the media can't ignore his propaganda and he will be able to repeat his generalisations over and over again in television shows. Most hosts won't be able to distinguish between the facts and details in the movie and the flawed idea that every muslim is a terrorist.

This is the most dangerous scenario in the long term. In the current political climate with all its ideological voids Wilders should not be able to present himself as a serious alternative. Most genocidal dictators acquire their power in their 'moderate' period. And then abuse it once no one is able to prevent the worst from happening. I wouldn't be surprised if Geert would engage in a new World War, only to make the mosques disappear in Venlo.

Sander

Nice link, great marketing.

Criticism of islam, or of cultures that are inspired by it, motivated by the appliance of a set of ethics which is used to judge all culture: yes please, by all means!

Criticism of islam, motivated by an a priori aggression that happens to find an object in the Islamic outsider: irresponsible and ethically condemnable.

Kassel Reading

Dear Arnon, as a person who works for the bookseller who looks like a rock star or at least a manager of a rock star, I'd like to thank you for your reading in Kassel. Hope you had as much of an excellent time with our boss as we had with you ;) Tot de folgende keer in onze winkel, K. S.

Wilders

In Wilder’s movie, if I replace the word ‘Islam’ by ‘communism’, I look at a very banal propaganda movie to warn us about the global aspirations of an ideology. And indeed Riaad is the major center of Islamic power as Moskou was a center in the old days of the cold war.

K Scholz

The pleasure was mine.