Welsh star in race row (LOTR's John Rhys-Davies makes anti-Muslim remarks)

IC Wales ^ | Jan 18 2004 | Lucy Ballinger

[Michael2001]

ONE of the biggest Welsh movie stars in Hollywood kicked off a race storm last night after making anti-Muslim remarks.

Outraged Islamic leaders in Wales demanded an immediate apology from Lord Of The Rings actor John Rhys-Davies, who claimed an increase in Europe's Muslim population was a "demographic catastrophe" threatening "Western civilisation".

The 59-year-old Ammanford actor's comments were originally made in an interview with American journalists from World magazine, but this week they were used by the far right British National Party in a leaflet to campaign for support among cinema-goers.

Last night Rhys-Davies stood by his views which follow Robert Kilroy-Silk's inflammatory anti-Arab column. But he criticised the BNP for hijacking his words for their own ends.

In the interview, Rhys-Davies, who plays heroic dwarf Gimli and recorded the voice of computer-animated character Treebeard in the Hollywood blockbuster, interprets Tolkien's story of good versus evil as a metaphor for modern race relations.

He said: "There is a demographic catastrophe happening in Europe that nobody wants to talk about, that we daren't bring up because we are so cagey about not offending people racially. And rightly we should be. But there is a cultural thing as well.

"By 2020, 50 per cent of the children in Holland under the age of 18 will be of Muslim descent.

"I think that Tolkien says that some generations will be challenged. And if they do not rise to meet that challenge, they will lose their civilisation. That does have a real resonance with me."

The 6ft tall actor, who wore facial prosthetics and performed on his knees to portray the 4ft 2in dwarf in Lord Of The Rings, even says he is aware that his beliefs could end his career, which has seen him star in the Indiana Jones films and James Bond movie The Living Daylights.

"I am for dead, (traditional) white male culture," said Rhys-Davies, who divides his time between his homes in Los Angeles and the Isle of Man.

"Many do not understand how precarious Western civilisation is and what a joy it is.

"From it, we get real democracy. From it, we get the sort of intellectual tolerance that allows me to propound something that may be completely alien to you.

"I'm burying my career so substantially in these interviews that it's painful. But I think there are some questions that demand honest answers."

The BNP reproduced some of his comments on their website, where they ask people to print them off and distribute them at showings of Lord Of The Rings.

BNP leader Nick Griffin last night defended using Rhys-Davies' words for their Stand, Men Of The West leaflet, which he claimed was popular with film-goers in the Valleys.

"He is not a racist in terms of race hate and nor are we," he said.

"We just feel his views dovetail with our message as the comments in the interview quoted reflect our opinions too."

Rhys-Davies said it was "distressing to find yourself on a BNP leaflet", adding: "But on reflection, these people can't really do any great harm unless you allow them to."

The actor's over-the-top views were criticised by Tolkien Society publicity officer Ian Collier.

He said: "The Tolkien Society is not a politically-aligned organisation and we do not in any way condone the use of his works to support messages of racial hate, just as Tolkien himself objected strongly to the use of Northern Myth by the Nazis.

"There is documentary evidence that Tolkien did not agree with these views and we are saddened to see this kind of misrepresentation occurring."

The views were greeted with contempt by the MP for Rhys-Davies' former home town, Ammanford.

"I condemn these comments as being racist and ill-informed," said Adam Price, Plaid Cymru MP for Carmarthen East & Dinefwr.

"It is obvious that this man who now lives in the lap of luxury in Hollywood is out of touch with realities of the nature of present day European society.

"His attack on Muslims and comments about the threat that they pose to Western society shows his ignorance of world events and the true teachings of Islam.

"Ammanford people will feel very let down by a man with such close connections to the town."

Last night Mohammed Javed, chairman of the Muslim Society for Wales, said: "We want an apology. This could stir up racial hatred in society. It's ignorance, he should learn more about Islam and the religions before he makes these comments.

"They are based on his ignorance and nothing else."

Chief executive of the All Wales Ethnic Minority Association (Awema) Naz Malik agreed.

He said: "I do not know why he has said these things. If 50 per cent of people in Holland under 18 are Muslims in 16 years time, so what? In Britain the fastest growing race is mixed race, people of dual heritage. It is a cause for great celebration that our cultures are mixed.

"We live in a global society - we celebrate what is good in cultures and challenge what is bad in civilisations.

"Does he ever listen to any music other than European? Does he eat Indian food? Does he ever appreciate art other than that from Europe?

"I feel sorry for this actor because he must feel very insecure about his future. I feel sorry for his close mindedness."

Wales Friends of Searchlight's Ian Titherington accused the BNP of hijacking the actor's comments.

He said: "Tolkien's Ring Trilogy is generally considered to be the best fantasy story ever written.

"It really shows how desperate the BNP are, to try to make political capital out of a cinematic re-production of fantasy."

LAST NIGHT we spoke to John Rhys-Davies from his Hollywood home and asked him to defend his opinions.

Here's what he said...

I BELIEVE in racial equality not racial discrimination. All I was commenting on was that there are cultural changes taking place in Europe that I consider to be unacceptable.

The fact that a minister of the French government has to fly to Cairo to talk with one of the religious heads in one of the mosques to get his approval for a ban on headscarves can be seen in two ways.

One, is how wonderfully culturally sensitive. The other, it seems to give an authority to a wholly unelected figure well outside Europe's jurisdiction.

I am really proud to be living in a society that accepts women as our equals, that accepts civilised discourse that allows people to hold different opinions without coming to any act of violence.

Here in America when that earthquake happened in Iran the reaction of everyone I knew was horror and dismay, the reaction of everyone when they heard that the old woman had been brought out alive long after they thought there was anyone there was absolute awe at the extraordinary capacity of the human spirit to survive. Contrast that with people jumping up and down and clapping at the 9/11 disaster in certain countries.

I don't think that Western society is opposed to Islamic society at all. I think a very important part of Islamic society is opposed to Western society.

It is time that ordinary Muslims stood up to be counted.

Most societies can benefit from a good stirring of genes, but most cultures are tolerant of each other. I do not see Buddhists throwing bombs into Christian churches, I do not see Christians blowing up Hindu temples, I do not see those sorts of challenges.

When we are prepared to overlook certain things because we don't want to rock the boat, this is wrong.

The greatest act of racism is to expect that other people will not behave according to your values and standards.

Yes, I am for dead, (traditional) white male culture. It's pretty damn good, pretty damn marvellous, pretty wonderful. That's not to exclude other cultures, but it's not to diminish mine.

I'm sorry that might be perceived as infringing some sort of racial taboo, it's certainly not intended to be a racial remark.

We are losing the ability to sit down and be able to have a tolerable argument.

I do not want to see a society where, should I ever have any, my granddaughters have their fingernails pulled out because they are wearing nail varnish.

I hope that my friends and relatives in Wales are not going to be shocked by what they are going to read about.

Do not brand me a racist because I am most certainly not.

But I will stand by this: Western Christianised Europe has values and experience that is worth defending.

[Michael2001]

Wow good for him. He's willing to risk his career to say what needs to be said. I wish there were more in Hollywood like him.

[Wally_Kalbacken]

Right on! The truth shall set you free! Those European countries that colonised Muslim Africa are sorry now, and will sorrier in the decades to come.

[wardaddy]

the truth hurts.

hasn't he already been bashed before for admitting being a Tory?

[xzins]

If Rhys-davies is right that by 2020 that 50% of schoolage kids in Holland will be Muslim, then he is correct. The traditional dutch culture will disappear.

He shouldn't be pilloried; he should be quoted. He's not even prophesying. He's simply reading the stats.

If there's anything Dutch worth preserving, the Dutch mamas & papas, thoroughly indoctrinated by western liberal low population/birth control propaganda, better start having more kids.

[Salvey]

We are losing the ability to sit down and be able to have a tolerable argument.

Well, he's right about that. Unfortunately, a calm, dispassionate discussion about, say, race, is off limits today.

[socal_parrot]

Western Christianised Europe has values and experience that is worth defending.

Ya think?

[Koblenz]

He's a good actor. I liked him in Sliders... Then after he left, that show went to hell.

[Porterville]

[ValerieUSA]

An actor with a brain and courage! How refreshing!

[pbear8]

A sensible man making sensible comments.

[bootless]

Fools. But I expected this. It's not about race. It was never about race. It's about a society that wishes us converted to Islam, or dead.

[Palladin]

Very impressive. I always liked this guy. He is a wonderful actor. He is right on the mark when he says Western civilization is disappearing.

Just take a look at the reading lists in our high schools and colleges:

Shakespeare has been replaced by Toni Morrison.

[EternalVigilance]

Sheesh. The man has lots of restraint, I think. After all, think of all the times he was standing behind that lefty who played Aragorn with an axe in his hands and didn't chop his head off!

;-)

[bootless]

The 6ft tall actor ... even says he is aware that his beliefs could end his career.

So, I guess he will be "whitelisted," eh?

[Democratshavenobrains]

If someone doesn't white Muslums, does that make them a "racist"?

[3catsanadog]

He played a very nice Middle Eastern man in "Raiders of the Lost Ark".

[Bobby777]

wow ...

[lainde]

WOW...BTTT!

[Bobby777]

and he fought the Nazis who wanted to eradicate the Jews ...

and now he's fighting _______ who want to eradicate the Jews ...

hmmmm ...

(fill in the blank by quoting the former Malaysian Prime Minister or whatever he is/was)

[Bobby777]

s/b Rhys-Davies played a character working against the Nazis in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" ...

[etcetera]

"I am for dead white male culture..."

Here! Here!

[bootless]

If someone doesn't white Muslums, does that make them a "racist"?

Darn good question - and a thorny one, hmm? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

[arasina]

Finally, a LOTR thread that will be clicked on by FReepers who wouldn't usually do so. (Such as I.)

[Bogey78O]

Is it inflammatory to say that a culture that has caused nothing but stagnation for almost 2,000 years is not as good as one that has produced the most stunning advancements in just a few hundred?

Arab culture is regressive by all standards and it's promulgation in the West while silencing any Western thought in their own countries is a tragedy.

[Prodigal Son]

I don't think that Western society is opposed to Islamic society at all. I think a very important part of Islamic society is opposed to Western society.

How could anyone even argue with that statement? It is truth through and through.

[Welsh Rabbit]

"I condemn these comments as being racist and ill-informed," said Adam Price, Plaid Cymru MP for Carmarthen East & Dinefwr. "It is obvious that this man who now lives in the lap of luxury in Hollywood is out of touch with realities of the nature of present day European society. "His attack on Muslims and comments about the threat that they pose to Western society shows his ignorance of world events and the true teachings of Islam. "Ammanford people will feel very let down by a man with such close connections to the town."

Why do the Welsh even bother to distinguish themselves from the English if they're going to elect such namby-pansy little girly men to represent them?

[cyborg]

Reading HIS words and not someone's else's interpretation, I do not get the impression of racism at all. Besides how is this racist? Islam is a religion. I happened to agree with him. I think there are liberals AND conservatives who will read more than what he intended to say.

[nutmeg]

ping

[Angelus Errare]

Gimli ping!

And when did being Muslim become a race?

[Major_Risktaker]

Hmmmm....I forget, now let's see...how many Christian Churches or Synagogues have ever open in Mecca?

HOW ABOUT A BIG FAT DOUNUT HOLE BABY!!!

How can this be...

I guess their religious leaders just like a monopoly.

[McGavin999]

But I will stand by this: Western Christianised Europe has values and experience that is worth defending

Hearty applause for a strong man of convictions. We had all better get over this PC garbage and have a decent conversation about what is really happening before it's too late. And that includes moderate Muslims as well. They are being destroyed by the radical Muslims right along with the rest of it.

[Prodigal Son]

The screen name Gimli isn't taken.

[Mr. Morals]

Will they make him 'slide' out of Hollywood?

Sorry, I couldn't resist! :-)

[sheik yerbouty]

I predict a rise in his career, after a lull. The truth is the truth!

[Bobby777]

Saudi defense minister says churches will never be allowed in Saudi Arabia

Author: Associated Press
Publication: The Hindustan Times
Date: March 12, 2003
Saudi Arabia, as the birthplace of Islam, will not allow churches to be built on its land regardless of the outcry from "fanatics," according to Defense Minister Prince Sultan.

"This country was the launch pad for the prophecy and the message, and nothing can contradict this, even if we lose our necks," Sultan told reporters on Saturday. His comments were published by Saudi newspapers and confirmed by several journalists who attended the press conference.

"Those who talked (about churches in Saudi Arabia) are church people and they are, unfortunately, fanatics," Sultan said, according to Monday's Okaz daily newspaper. "We are not against religions at all ... but there are no churches - not in the past, the present or future, and I am saying this and I am responsible for what I say. Whoever said this must shut up and be ashamed." Officials at the Defence Ministry in Riyadh would not comment on the remarks.

On Thursday, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent federal agency, complained that a new State Department list of countries that severely limit religious freedom omits several that deserve censure, including US ally Saudi Arabia. The commission's annual reports say that religious freedom "does not exist" in the Gulf Kingdom.

Islam is the only accepted religion in Saudi Arabia, home to the faith's holiest shrines in Mecca and Medina. "The whole world knows the kingdom and its friendship and loyalty and sincerity in its religion," he said.

Sultan said that foreigners have been allowed to worship freely in their homes since they began arriving in Saudi Arabia in 1951. But permitting a church in the country "would affect Islam and all Muslims," he reportedly said.

http://www.hvk.org/articles/0303/179.html

[koba37]

Good for him! Makes me sick that the "western" world allows itself to be beat up by Muslims anytime anyone speaks the truth. Muslims involved in terrorism are always whining that they are "fighting foreign influence" in their homelands. Muslims are about the most intolerant group that I can think of and they're the first ones to cry foul when the light is shined on them.

[ThirstyMan]

Bravo!!!
Funny that NOBODY but John Rhys-Davies is willing to speak out against Moslem men for their exclusion of equal rights for women, especially in our PC/NOW world.
Why the silence?
I cannot understand why the pass is granted to Moslems.
Could it be fear?

While the westernized world obeys its Christian rules of etiquette, Muslims violate them and when called on it, they utilize their granted tolerance to condemn their critic's monumental insensitivity? What is going on?
Check out the intolerance of dissent within Muslim countries and then explain to me the respect that Islam affords all human beings. It is a lie!
Muslims, when they come to live in Western cultures, so often enjoy the freedoms granted to them without participating in the Western conscience.

When called on their primitive pagan values, these Muslims so quickly decry their critics as uninformed and ignorant of the true teachings of Islam.
But how is it that we are so uninformed?
The world is currently being terrorized by Muslims! Is this not true? Angry Muslim men have declared war on Western civilization. And do the "true teaching" Muslim populations living among us take ANY RESPONSIBILITY for condemning and hunting down these MUSLIM inspired haters and murderers!
NO!
I'm so very sick of being told about the so-called "true teachings" of Islam. Tell the "true teachings" to the Bin Ladens of this world!!! Please! Speak UP!! Quickly!!! Risk your life!!!
They are the ones tarnishing your religion, NOT we who call Islam for what it is.

"By their fruit you shall know them" ....that's an applied Christian teaching.

[Travis McGee]

I'm a fan for life now!

[nightdriver]

"Last night Mohammed Javed, chairman of the Muslim Society for Wales, said: "We want an apology. This could stir up racial hatred in society. It's ignorance, he should learn more about Islam and the religions before he makes these comments."

There should be a noisy group of Christians that would go to Mohanned Javed's home country and say the same thing.

I wonder how long they would be tolerated.

[ETCS]

John Rhys-Davies was on a talk show just this past Friday, the Michael Medved show I think. He struck me as a very intelligent, articulate man with much to say of great importance. He discussed many of the ideas presented in the article in greater detail. Very good interview....

[SledgeCS]

Ya know there was something about that Dwarf Fighter in LOTR that I liked. Now i realise what it is, he is a proud and determined fighter that never backed down and surpisingly he is the same in real life. I am so glad that someone in the Hollywood realm has finally said something against Islam. Islam is a vile, putrid and evil cult that only wants to take over control of everyone everywhere. A religion that demands apoligizies and cries if it does not get them, is a very weak self centered belief.

We need more courageous public people like Rhys-Davis to confront the spread of Islam and their backwards beliefs...

SledgeCS

[fish hawk]

Loved him best in Shogun. Great actor.

[Michael2001]

I was hoping no one would stoop to your level :)

[risk]

That is a good question.

[protest1]

I wonder if the morons ranting about his critisisms of Islam will be as ontraged by YET ANOTHER crowd of Muslims chanting for somones death.

NEW DELHI — Author Salman Rushdie fled the city of his birth last week after demonstrations calling for him to be killed were staged outside his hotel in Bombay.
Islamic protesters brandished banners that read, "Kill Salman Rushdie" and "Kill Rushdie, the white-collar terrorist," outside the Taj Mahal hotel, where the author was staying with his girlfriend, model and actress Padma Lakshmi.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1060720/posts

[expatguy]

BUMP

Every Freeper needs to read this!!!

[Fledermaus]

He had another interview a month or so ago and he said his father, in the 1950's, was warning about the upcoming war against Western civilation with the Islamic fascists. He said it was even bigger than the cold war.

[risk]

[sweetliberty]

I hope he tells them to pound sand. He speaks the truth and they hate it. Just who do they think they are always demanding that everybody else bow to their will. Screw 'em!

[backhoe]

-Islam, a Religion of Peace®? Some links...--