Wilders film censored - even by YouTube

There are rumours flying around that Fitna, the film by Geert Wilders, has been published on YouTube in twelve parts. The images are still on the YouTube site but the videos have been deleted. Whether or not these videos were the real thing or just another spoof, I have no idea. Either way, the risk that they might be was enough for YouTube to pull them. Two of the blogs that posted the videos also seem to have disappeared.

At weekend, the US web hosting company Network Solutions caved in to pressure from from Muslim groups and shut down the Fitna website before the film was released, an act summed up by the Washington Post as "pre-censorship". (The links to the Post's article seem to have disappeared too. There's a lot of this going on today.)

Apart from those who made the film, no-one else has seen it yet it has already been effectively banned for the simple reason that it criticises the Koran.

On Easter Sunday, Channel 4 showed a programme which questioned some of the New Testament and many of the church traditions about the events which followed the death of Jesus. It was an interesting film and, although it upset some Christians, the questions it asked were reasonable. But would such a programme have been made about the Koran, asking similar questions about who actually wrote it and when? Would an academic like Robert Beckford ever be allowed to analyse the Koran's Satanic Verses and to suggest that, perhaps, Mohammed might have made up the stories in the Koran as a means of gaining political power? It is extremely unlikely that such a programme would ever be made, for the same reasons as Fitna has been censored.

As Irshad Manji says, literalism is mainstream in Islam. The majority of Muslims believe that the Koran is, literally, the word of God. For this reason there can be no criticism of it from anyone, whether it is Geert Wilders or Channel 4.

Even if you don't like Geert Wilders, you should be worried about the censorship of his film. He has demonstrated that there is, effectively, a worldwide veto on criticism of the Koran, even in countries like America and the Netherlands which claim to uphold free speech.

Comments

[Marvin]

When it comes out it will be widely available. Large organisations are so scared of being labelled as 'racist' or 'anti-muslim' they will pull anything strongly critical of Islam. Like you say, this does not happen for Christianity or indeed any other religion. A glaring double standard indeed.

Kudos to Wikipedia though who have not caved to the furore over the Mo cartoons.

[Black Sheep]

"there is, effectively, a worldwide veto on criticism of the Koran"

Exactly. Virtually all the leaders of the world are supporting Islam and condemning criticism of it. Our own idiot, Bush, told us after the World Trade Center was destroyed by Islamists that Islam is a religion of peace.

Islam is a cancer. Long after its creator died and there was no further use for it, the cancer has lived on.

Wilders film, if it is ever released, will be seen all over the world, hosted by bloggers like you and me.

[Nick]

The movie that was censored is very likely to be "Islam: What the World Needs to Know". We still don't know if there's an actual Fitna movie!

[marvin]

So the film has been posted at LiveLeak as I expected :)

They have a warning text on their website

"Welcome, and thank you for visiting LiveLeak.com. Due to an increase in traffic and targetted hacking attacks, we have had to disable certain features. We hope you enjoy all that we have available at this time and we further hope that you will visit us again to explore the full range of features and interactivity that LiveLeak has to offer. If this is your first visit to LiveLeak.com we apologise for the fact your first impression of the site will be limited, check back in with us soon and you can join one of the most unique media sharing sites on the net offering everything from uncensored news through to entertainment. Thank you for your patience."

[Black Sheep]

I downloaded the English version of Fitna and put it on my server, so you can download it, view it or save and put on your own site, at http://www.islamanazi.com

There's a prominent link to it on the right sidebar.