Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders is a controversial figure. He recently released a short film, Fitna (the name means strife or conflict), in which he accuses the Koran of inciting Islamic violence. Inother words, not the most conciliatory attitude. The film is available on YouTube, and that’s led at least four Indonesian ISPs to block access tothe video sharing site, according to the country’s information ministry. The film has been banned by the country, although President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has urged that citizens inthe mostly Muslim country demonstrate peacefully against it. As well as blocking YouTube, at least one of the ISPs, Telekom, has been more pro-active, blocking MySpace as well as actively seeking out other sites where the film has been posted. The Dutch government has taken great pains to distance itself fromWilders’s film and viewpoint.
Tag Archive: Geert Wilders
Indonesia Blocks YouTube
Network Solutions Suspends Site
The film has been garnering publicity in Europe for months, not simply for what it is, but also who made it. Fitna – an Arabic word generally used to describe religious turmoil – was made by Dutch politician Geert Wilders, a controversial figure who was elected to the parliament there on an anti-immigration platform, heading up a party with nine seats. In Dutch newspaper De Volksrant, he described Fitna: "The film is not so much about Muslims as about the Koran and Islam. The Islamic ideology has as its utmost goal the destruction of what is most dear to us, our freedom. Fitna is the last warning for the West. The fight for freedom has only just begun." Network Solutions was hosting the film’s site, although it contained to footage from the 15-minute movie. On Sunday the company said it has received a number of complaints and decided to suspend service while it investigated whether the sire violated its terms of service. The film has already been criticized in several Islamic countries. There’s a suit pending in Dutch court aimed at preventing him releasing Fitna on March 28 – but he can’t be prevented from releasing it before then. Dutch TV stations have already refused to air the film.
Pakistan Lifts YouTube Ban
Pakistan yesterday lifted the ban on YouTube that had existed in the country since Friday, and which had caused a global blackout of the Google-owned video-sharing site for a couple of hours following an error. The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority told ISPsthey no longer had to restrict access to the site. The ban had been put in place, it was said, because the site showed material offensive to Islam, which some believed to be a reference to a trailerfor a forthcoming film by Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders. Interestingly, a BBC reporter said that a software company whose material made it possible forpeople in China to access blocked sites saw a spike of Pakistani traffic while the ban was in place. Why was the ban lifted? Early reports were that the so-called offensive material had beenremoved, but those vanished later. So the reason ultimately remains as mysterious as the cause behind the government imposing a ban in the first place. More than that, the global blackout served as areminder that the Web is indeed a fragile thing, although we take its strength for granted. Pakistan is hardly the first country to ban YouTube. Thailand, Morocco and others have done the samein the past.
