women on Tuesday, November 2, Dutch film maker Theo van Gogh, spoke of his own mortality, BosNewsLife learned.
In an interview last Friday with the RVU network, Van Gogh was asked if he believes in the "goodness of a human being". The film maker said: "I don’t believe in goodness of a human being, but in the arrogance of myself."
He told RVU network his arrogance would protect him from a bullet. "I think they think: "That’s the local madman from the village, why would we shoot him?"
The film maker said he "could not imagine" that someone would try to kill him. But "if it happens, it happens", Van Gogh added, in what proved to be a self prophesizing interview, just a few days before he was killed .
DUTCH PAINTER
Police said the 47-year old Theo van Gogh, who was related to the famous Dutch painter, was assassinated as he cycled near the municipal office of Amsterdam’s District East.
Van Gogh was first attacked with a knife and initially managed to run away, but soon after the same assailant shot and stepped him several times across the street where he died of his injuries, the Dutch NOS network reported.
The suspect, identified as a 26-year old man with a Moroccan and Dutch passport, allegedly also shot and slightly injured one bystander, who reportedly rushed to a nearby police station to ask help.
BULLET WOUNDS
One policeman and the suspect suffered bullet wounds in an ensuing fire fight with police forces, Dutch NOS revealed Tuesday, November 2, that police discovered Van Gogh’s body with knives in his chest holding a letter "containing Islamic texts."
The controversial film maker, known for his thought provoking style, had received death threats after the broadcast of his film, "Submission," which was made with Dutch liberal parlementarian Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who was herself threatened after she renounced the Islamic faith.
MUSLIM WOMAN
The film told the story of a Muslim woman forced into an arranged marriage who is abused by her husband and raped by her uncle. It triggered an outcry from Dutch Muslims.
In one scene the film showed an actress in see-through garments with Koranic script written on her body, which also bore whip marks.
The Dutch government has condemned the killing as an attack on the long cherished freedom of expression in The Netherlands, a nation founded on Protestant, Reformist principles.
The assassination was expected to further raise tensions between Muslims and non Muslims in the overcrowded country of 16 million people. Muslims make up about 5 percent of the total population.
