BU students critical of protests in Middle East against video

Some members of the Boston University community said they are concerned with recent violent protests at U.S. embassies in the Middle East.

Protesters angered by a video slandering Islam stormed the U.S. embassy in Libya Sept. 11, killing U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others, according reports by the Associated Press.

“If every crazy or hateful person who puts together a film attacking Islam can stimulate this kind of violent reaction, then American diplomatic personnel are in for a rough time in the future,” said William Keylor, a BU international relations professor, in an email.

Violent protests also occurred at U.S. embassies in Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen, with further anti-U.S. protests occurring in India, Bahrain and Bangladesh, among others, according to the AP.

“I’m concerned in the sense that I think it seems to be escalating,” said College of General Studies sophomore Joe Walsh.

The protests are in response to a low-budget film entitled “The Innocence of Muslims,” which portrays the prophet Muhammad as violent, womanizing and pedophilic, according to the AP. A 14-minute clip of the movie was posted on YouTube and translated to Arabic.

College of Arts and Sciences freshman John Hartinger said the film is offensive, but the violence is not an appropriate response.

“[The film] is not surprising, it’s concerning,” he said. “I agree that the film was bad. It’s offensive [and] it was made by a bigoted individual, but that doesn’t merit what people are doing over in the Middle East.”

Hartinger said governments should stress that this film does not reflect the U.S. as a whole.

“There needs to be an effort on the part of governments in the Middle East to make it clear to their people that this is the work of an individual and not a country,” he said.

Keylor said emphasis needs to be placed on stressing the individuality of the filmmakers.

“The leaders of Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Afghanistan and other countries must speak out loud and clear to their citizens —  the actions of an individual do not reflect the opinions or policies of the United States government,” he said. “They reflect only the hate-filled views of an individual or a small group of zealots.”

Keylor said the film is a catalyst for radical Islamists to take action.

“Any stupid, hateful expression of anti-Islamic sentiment by an American citizen is exploited to fan the flames of anti-Americanism to further the political cause of this extremist fringe in the Islamic world,” he said.

Walsh said the filmmakers should consider taking the film down to prevent further damage.

“There’s something to be said for freedom of speech, but I think [protesters] are obviously very offended by it,” he said. “I think that the people who made the film should want to take it down at this point, since it has incited so much violence.”

The 14-minute clip is still available on YouTube in the U.S.

A College of Engineering sophomore who identified himself by the name Mohammed said that as an Egyptian Muslim, he did not react to the movie at all.

“If someone is trying to offend, we take ourselves away from him and don’t respond,” he said.

He said the film was offensive, but he ignored it.

Mohammed said the protests have become charged by politics between the U.S. and the region. He said the violence is in no way justified.

“The U.S. is not responsible for the film at all,” he said.

Hartinger said he speculates while protests are going on, security should be increased at embassies for safety.

“Realistically, it’s very dangerous for U.S. ambassadors and people working overseas,” he said.  “A situation being necessary and a situation being desirable are two different things. I don’t think it’s desirable, but I think it’s necessary.”

Keylor said people need to realize the distinct difference between radical protesters and average Muslim citizens in the Middle East.

“The mobs consist of angry young, probably unemployed or underemployed, men who are vulnerable to the appeal of the radical Islamists,” he said. “The vast majority of Muslims are peaceful, decent people who merely want to make a living, care for the loved ones and go about their lives.”