Death Threats for Opening a Wine Bar

Consider the following news story:

Alabama man threatened with death over bar and grill

The Alabama entrepreneur Earl McTeague (40) is being threatened with death because he opened a bar and grill in Tuscaloosa this weekend.

McTeague is from a strict Baptist family. His father is a preacher. After his marriage to a woman in his church went wrong, he decided to change course. Since then, McTeague has been a passionate entrepreneur.

He fulfilled a dream by opening his own bar and grill, but the death threats he has received have put a damper on his initial excitement.

“I want to be who I am” he tells Metro. “I also teach my children that they should be someone rather than no one. The opening of a bar and grill may go against the Baptist culture I grew up with, but it feels good. I want to do what I want, am different and independent.”

The police are keeping a close eye on McTeague’s case. Mayor DuPree communicates via a spokesperson that he finds it difficult to understand that people can send such threats.

No, it’s not a real story. The real story is below the video. I just made a few carefully chosen global search-and-replace changes to the article from Rotterdam about the woman who opened a wine bar.

Some secular people who don’t care for Christianity are quick to assert that Muslims and Southern Baptists are a lot alike. They’re strict about their religion and don’t approve of alcohol — so they’re basically the same, right?

Well… How many times have you seen a story like the imaginary one above?

But the story of Elou Akhiat and her wine bar is, sadly, not at all surprising. It’s what we’ve come to expect in culturally enriched places like Rotterdam, especially when apostasy is part of the mix.

Many thanks to SimonXML for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:

The real article from NLTimes:

Moroccan woman threatened with death over wine bar

The Moroccan entrepreneur Elou Akhiat (40) is being threatened with death because she opened a wine bar in Rotterdam this weekend.

Akhiat is from a strict islamic family. Her father is an Imam. After an arranged marriage with a cousin went wrong, she decided to change course. Since then, Akhiat has been a passionate entrepreneur.

She fulfilled a dream by opening her own wine bar, but the death threats she has received have put a damper on her initial excitement.

“I want to be who I am” she tells Metro. “I also teach my children that they should be someone rather than no-one. The opening of a wine bar may go against the islamic culture I grew up with, but it feels good. I want to do what I want, am different and independent.”

The police is keeping a close eye on Akhiat’s case. Mayor Aboutaleb communicates via a spokesperson that he finds it difficult to understand that people can send such threats.

Video transcript:

00:00   We start with Elou Akhiat, Muslima. You were recently in nearly all the Dutch newspapers
00:04   because you’ve opened a wine bar in Rotterdam, where of course alcohol is served
00:08   and it’s become a very popular bar
00:12   since all the papers wrote about you. Good marketing. You should be happy about that.
00:16   What do you serve? We just got some halal wine from you,
00:20   That’s right, among other things. And what else do you serve?
00:24   All sorts of Italian wine, and we recently added wine from Majorca,
00:28   also with alcohol and alcohol-free, but I also have
00:32   normal Moroccan teas, Turkish teas …
00:36   Is there really Moroccan wine? Yes, it exists, it’s one of the best ones; it’s one of the
00:40   best wines in the world. But in Morocco, where it comes from,
00:44   they don’t drink it. Of course they do, there are supermarkets full of pork
00:48   and wines. I thought that Muslims weren’t allowed to drink
00:52   or have I misunderstood? Morocco is different in that respect. Oh? How then?
00:56   They are more liberal than the people here who are unfortunately a bit backward.
01:00   They made themselves heard, and we saw that in a program by our colleagues from Powned.
01:04   song: wine, wine, white wine
01:08   heavenly gift. How many whip lashes
01:12   do you get for this? Just for committing the sin of drinking alcohol,
01:16   then you can get 50 whip lashes.
01:20   But this is much worse because I think she’s an apostate
01:24   You should decide for yourself. You aren’t angry? Of course not.
01:28   I don’t know. Not … Everyone can decide for themselves. Do you agree?
01:32   Go to a country where it’s forbidden, I should think. Then she shouldn’t
01:36   use her position to make Muslims angry.
01:40   If she started something like that, it’s her own choice. I wouldn’t go there
01:44   and I’m not an advocate of opening such a place, as a Muslim.
01:48   She should close the wine bar, show penitence,
01:52   return to Islam; that’s the best for her in this life and in the next.
01:57   Yes … just a quick reaction
02:01   What do you think of all these comments?
02:05   As media? It’s the power of the media. I’m called an ex-Muslim
02:09   but I’ve never talked about my religion. As an apostate
02:13   I don’t understand all the fuss.
02:17   What strikes me
02:21   is that it gets this kind of media coverage,
02:25   while many thousands of immigrant women have achieved much more,
02:29   and all I’ve achieved is just a wine bar.
02:33   Exactly, and set up companies that no-one has complained about.
02:37   But something has happened here. Why do you think this has happened?
02:41   That there has been so much fuss about it?
02:45   I think it’s related to that article in the Metro newspaper
02:49   that I originally thought was about the wine bar,
02:53   but was actually about the controversy. That was actually the link
02:57   between Moroccans, Muslims and alcohol.
03:01   I’m a businesswoman. I run a business.
03:05   I don’t force anyone to drink alcohol.
03:09   Everyone comes of their own volition and in my bar;
03:13   it’s a melting pot. If you wear a burqa, you’re welcome.
03:17   Do you enjoy a beer? You’re welcome. Have you come for a snack?
03:22   Then you are also welcome. And yet, I think,
03:26   the fuss occurred because people saw that
03:30   there were all sorts of threatening texts under the articles, in various forums
03:34   from people who claimed to be Muslim and really disagreed
03:38   with you being the mistress of your own life.
03:42   That’s right. That’s what you get as part of a social collective,
03:46   because that’s also what the Islamic community is.
03:50   Then you have to, especially in the Netherlands,
03:54   adhere to the values that you’ve inherited from your parents,
03:58   and if you then choose to step out of the ‘we’ culture then
04:02   they hold that against you. Was it difficult for you
04:06   in that sense, to step out of such a “we” culture?
04:10   As I said, I know what I want: I want to run a business.
04:14   I kind of think, “I do what I want to do”. Do you feel intimidated by
04:18   those kinds of comments? Certainly not, they don’t get to me at all.
04:22   Your father … has made a serious study of Islam
04:26   is an Imam, he’s not religious. He’s an imam in the Moroccan
04:30   community. He is not more or less than someone who’s memorised the Koran
04:34   and has read the Hadith.
04:38   And lives according to it. It’s not that he has a predication
04:42   because there are also gradations. He’s just someone who’s memorised the Koran,
04:46   and whom you can go to for advice. My father
04:50   is not a consultant. He can teach, but no more than that.
04:54   What does he think about all this fuss about you? He’s very upset by it.
04:58   He’s more or less
05:02   caught between his role as a father and his honour.
05:07   It’s difficult for him. Does it upset you that you’ve made it difficult for him?
05:11   I haven’t made things difficult for him. It was that newspaper article
05:15   that caused the trouble. He has no problem with your bar? Certainly not, no.
05:19   He knows I’m a businesswoman; I have a wine business,
05:23   the wine bar .. I’m the manager
05:27   and the owner has given me carte blanche to run the business,
05:31   and that’s all. Do you drink alcohol yourself?
05:35   I have an illness so I can’t drink alcohol. But it has nothing to do with religion? No.
05:39   Just a comment … you’ve started a Facebook page.
05:43   Why? Mainly to support business people
05:47   who are attacked from all sorts of directions. I thought it was time to stop that.
05:51   I’ve had businesses myself – a restaurant/wine bar.
05:55   I’ve never been attacked
05:59   and never really had negative reactions. I think
06:03   this is also partly because she’s a woman
06:07   that she’s attacked harder,
06:11   and I think there are different channels within the Islamic community
06:15   there are people who are more progressive, those who are more extreme
06:19   and there are a lot of liberal Muslims, also within the Moroccan community,
06:23   but they never speak out. But now they do … now they do, and I’m very happy about that.
06:27   That there are other voices.
06:31   She’s had the positive reactions; the negative reactions actually come from
06:35   four or five people who react to everything.
06:39   I see lots of positive reactions at the moment.
06:43   Do you think that such a small group, four, five
06:47   you say … suppose there are ten more, that
06:52   they can dominate a fairly large group with all those comments?
06:54   Yes, that does happen,
06:56   because the frequency with which they
06:58   respond to things, and how much effort they make,
07:00   at a certain point it becomes unreasonable,
07:04   and others stop reacting at some point, and their opinion dominates.
07:08   That happens all the time, and they think “we’ve won again”,
07:12   “See, they don’t answer any longer.”
07:16   And all the rationality has long gone. Do you have to take the threats seriously?
07:20   Yes. Yes. You have to take every threat seriously.
07:24   They come from somewhere.
07:28   But you don’t know who from. You don’t know what they are capable
07:32   of doing. Do you do anything about them? Let me read one out …
07:36   Not that I enjoy saying unpleasant things, but to
07:40   feel something of the emotion. From a woman
07:44   it should be appearing …
07:48   just a second .. there it is …
07:52   Her name is Maria Laguerta, so she
07:56   isn’t too embarrassed to say: “bitch, I hope your place burns down with you in it.”
08:00   I know who it comes from.
08:04   You know her? No, but I do know she’s just a coward with a keyboard,
08:08   And doesn’t even dare use an Arabic name.
08:12   I think that’s remarkable.
08:16   Have you reported these threats to the police? I’m doing so, yes.
08:20   You are? Yes. You don’t just ignore them? No, certainly not.
08:24   The police take it seriously, too? Yes, they take it very seriously. The mayor
08:29   has been doing an incredible amount. He’s spoken with me.
08:33   A newspaper article yesterday … and hears threats. Amazing.
08:37   It has to stop sometime. Yes, but how?
08:41   This sort of thing, this sort of initiative,
08:45   that we act as one, they are Moroccans
08:49   but there are different kinds of Moroccans,
08:53   and there are a lot of Moroccans who stand up for one another.
08:57   That is really …. Are things getting worse?
09:01   In the sense that the radicals are more vociferous than in the past?
09:05   I couldn’t say.
09:09   Via the Internet it’s so easy; five, six or ten people can post so much,
09:13   such a
09:17   large share by spending the whole day on it,
09:21   then it seems to be extremely large but
09:25   what I’ve now seen is that there is an enormous, huge group of Moroccan people who are done with it.
09:29   I mean, in four hours 110 people who wanted to go,
09:33   wanted to go where? To her wine bar.
09:37   So, that was our action … Fantastic marketing if you look at a bit cynically …
09:41   or not?
09:45   I’ve been honest about it, I’ve lost a lot of sleep because of it … I can understand that
09:49   I’m the mother of three children, my children … I’m the only
09:53   one they have. So, I was quite scared.
09:57   What do you think of this initiative? Fantastic. I was stunned.
10:01   Finally, positive reactions;
10:06   there are a lot of people who come to the wine bar to show their support.
10:10   They say they want to give us a present, there are a lot of positive reactions.
10:14   I’d rather pay attention to them … I’ve not read anything on the Internet;
10:18   I don’t need that. Seems very sensible to me.
10:22   I’d like to just break in … I found that halal wine really sweet
10:26   What are your points Frank?
10:30   I wouldn’t call it wine. Not because
10:34   it doesn’t taste nice, but because it’s more like fizzy apple juice.
10:38   Tinneke? I agree. My daughter gets
10:42   this sort of stuff for her birthday.
10:46   There’s more distillation for alcohol.
10:50   You do have a number of better Italian wines in the shop, eh?
10:54   Yes. I brought a few with me. Proseccos. Oh, plenty of marketing …
 

Hat tip for the article: Fjordman.

9 thoughts on “Death Threats for Opening a Wine Bar

  1. “They are more liberal than the people here who are unfortunately [i]a bit backward[/i].”

    I think that’s quite an understatement of the problem. The people that are against her opening a bar are mostly the ones that are still stuck in a mindset that they (or their parents or grandparents) brought along when they immigrated here. And cherished all these years. It sometimes seems like they’re stuck in some time warp …

    I’ve worked with some Moroccan men, who wanted to work hard so their children would have it better than them. But the boys were treated like little princes and the girls still didn’t count. That’s why I see a lot of young Morrocan females (with or without the headgear) trying to get out from under the yoke of their peers. But, as in this case, the conservatives try to yank them back in as soon as they show any behaviour that doesn’t fit in with their worldview.

    Being a female who wants to go forward, opening a bar and serving alcohol are three faux-pas’ in their tiny little world … even in Rotterdam in 2014! Thank God it’s not the norm …

    • The voices chastising her for opening a wine-bar are anything but the expressions of a minority. Most disapproval is whispered, as is usually the case in tribal communities. I have some respect for this lady, but I have no interest in Moroccans integrating in Dutch society, it provides the media ammunition to sustain the false hope that integration will one day be the norm, an excuse for maintaining the immigration policies the left yearns for.

  2. She’ll be dead within the year, most likely.

    And, according to the klootzak Koran, misogynist Mohammad and idiotic Islam, deservedly so.

    There is no such thing as a “liberal” Muslim, only an apostate pretending to still believe the moronic crap in the Mein Kampf of the demented desert pedophile.

    The game of trying to retain the pose of “submitter” (Muslim) when these supposedly “progressive” people only selectively follow select tenets of the homicidal ‘prophet’ may fool some infidels, but it does not work with the true believers of Islam.

    They kill those who stray.

    Theo Van Gogh found out that you can be slaughtered on a Dutch street if you anger the spittle-flecked psychopaths of Mohammadism.

    Islam delende est.

    • No, she will survive longer then that. The Islamic ideals of Dutch Moroccans are ingrained in their national identity, so consider this rage an expression of nationalism instead of Islamism. She may get beat up, but I would be highly surprised if she gets whacked. There are plenty radical Muslims in the Moroccan community, but my experience tells me they will consider this a “Moroccan Problem” and will handle it similar to other incidents of their women straying from the path, which can just as easy mean a Moroccan girl marrying a Muslim who isn’t Arab or Moroccan.

      Islam Delende Est
      I agree

  3. “Southern Baptists are a lot alike. They’re strict about their religion and don’t approve of alcohol — so they’re basically the same, right?”

    You’ve got to be kidding about Southern Baptists! Whenever they have their Convention in Nashville, Tennessee liquor sales skyrocket. This information came from a liquor store owner near the Convention center.

    • Ah, but one of the traits of Southern Baptists — at least some of the ones I have known — is to drink and then repent, repeatedly.

      But you’re right — Baptists do like to drink. Officially, they disapprove of alcohol. Yet they seem to like their wee dram as much as most people. Not as much as Episcopalians, of course, but still…

Comments are closed.