The Debate Over the ‘Jihad’ Documentary
nytimes.comTo the Editor: Re “Film on Jihad Causes Storm Over Identity” (front page, Sept. 25): Your article fails to capture the full story behind this problematic documentary.
Condemnations of the documentary go well beyond identity politics and go straight to the core of the film. Focusing the controversy on a debate between a white filmmaker and a group of Muslims oversimplifies the film’s unethical nature, portraying the filmmaker, Meg Smaker, as a victim and glossing over the real damage that the film’s Islamophobic approach has caused.
Most egregiously, Ms. Smaker’s film directly put the lives of the Yemeni men seen in the film in danger. In an open letter published by the London-based advocacy organization CAGE, one of the men explicitly stated that he didn’t want to appear in the film and said that it posed a serious risk to their lives and to their families’ lives.
The fight, then, against “Jihad Rehab” is not another example of America’s culture wars. It is an attempt to fight against xenophobic and racist media representations, the injustice of unlawful detention, and the continued victimization and dehumanization of those trapped within it.
