"Multi-culturalism is a new word, much bandied about these days by opinion-formers in the political and business elites. It is not really about cultural diversity, still less land rights, and least of all individual freedom. Rather, it is a form of social engineering that seeks to level down and standardize all cultures, trampling on regional and ethnic loyalties which are not determined by market or state."
-Dr. Aidan Rankin
Freedom of expression isn't free at all, it is achieved by action...
Published Monday, February 13, 2006 by wilpuri | E-mail this post
...And lost by inaction.
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. "
- Edmund Burke
The cartoons mocking Mohammed and Islam have caused such an international incident that it is hard to keep track of it all, and therefore, with my limited time and ability, I leave it into more proffessional hands. However, the waves caused by the rock cast into the pond are finally reaching even remote, little Finland. Via, Sweden, naturally.
The Finnish Nationalist organisation, Suomen Sisu, has published the disputed images as a protest to a severe violation of the freedom of expression by the Swedish authorities. Suomen Sisu announced on their website, that this was an act of solidarity towards the Swedish political party Sverige demokraterna, whose website was offline recently until the images were removed. The Web site was inaccessible when I wrote this article.
The largest daily of Finland, Helsingin Sanomat, commented the move as a follows (translation by me):
"Suomen Sisu, a self-designated nationalist organisation, say they published the images on their web site as a protest to the Swedish government. According to Suomen Sisu, the Swedish security police and foreign ministry shut the web site of the Sverige Demokraterna and their party newsletter, the SD-kuriren, after they had published the disputed caricatures.
However, the web site was shut only for a short period of time and were re-opened once the disputed image had been removed. The service provider, Levonline, shut down the site, not the Swedish security police or foreign ministry."
However!!
According to the Local, the case isn't as simple as Helsingin Sanomat makes it seem. According to them, the decision wasn't entirely up to Levonline as the citation above would suggest:
"The website of the Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna) reopened on Friday morning, after the far-right party removed drawings of the prophet Muhammad. The site had been taken down by its hosting company after requests from Sweden’s foreign ministry and security service, Säpo."
Interesting...
"Söder had been contacted on Thursday afternoon by Levonline’s deputy CEO Anna Larsson, who told him that threats had been received against her company and its staff and she therefore wanted him to move his party’s website.
'It didn’t sound plausible that threats would have been made against a website hosting company and its staff – the threats should really have been made against us, who published the pictures, ' said Söder.
'I was later told by a journalist at Dagens Nyheter that [Larsson] had changed her story, and more or less admitted that the foreign ministry and Säpo had been applying pressure.'"
This is where it gets really interesting:
"Levonline’s Anna Larsson confirmed in an interview with Swedish Radio that the foreign ministry and the security service were behind the closing of the party’s website."
"Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds denied on Friday that the government had applied pressure on Levonline."
It would seem that someone is lying. And just by the way, Suomen Sisu is being investigated whether its publication of the images was illegal. Big brother is watching.
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. "
- Edmund Burke
The cartoons mocking Mohammed and Islam have caused such an international incident that it is hard to keep track of it all, and therefore, with my limited time and ability, I leave it into more proffessional hands. However, the waves caused by the rock cast into the pond are finally reaching even remote, little Finland. Via, Sweden, naturally.
The Finnish Nationalist organisation, Suomen Sisu, has published the disputed images as a protest to a severe violation of the freedom of expression by the Swedish authorities. Suomen Sisu announced on their website, that this was an act of solidarity towards the Swedish political party Sverige demokraterna, whose website was offline recently until the images were removed. The Web site was inaccessible when I wrote this article.
The largest daily of Finland, Helsingin Sanomat, commented the move as a follows (translation by me):
"Suomen Sisu, a self-designated nationalist organisation, say they published the images on their web site as a protest to the Swedish government. According to Suomen Sisu, the Swedish security police and foreign ministry shut the web site of the Sverige Demokraterna and their party newsletter, the SD-kuriren, after they had published the disputed caricatures.
However, the web site was shut only for a short period of time and were re-opened once the disputed image had been removed. The service provider, Levonline, shut down the site, not the Swedish security police or foreign ministry."
However!!
According to the Local, the case isn't as simple as Helsingin Sanomat makes it seem. According to them, the decision wasn't entirely up to Levonline as the citation above would suggest:
"The website of the Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna) reopened on Friday morning, after the far-right party removed drawings of the prophet Muhammad. The site had been taken down by its hosting company after requests from Sweden’s foreign ministry and security service, Säpo."
Interesting...
"Söder had been contacted on Thursday afternoon by Levonline’s deputy CEO Anna Larsson, who told him that threats had been received against her company and its staff and she therefore wanted him to move his party’s website.
'It didn’t sound plausible that threats would have been made against a website hosting company and its staff – the threats should really have been made against us, who published the pictures, ' said Söder.
'I was later told by a journalist at Dagens Nyheter that [Larsson] had changed her story, and more or less admitted that the foreign ministry and Säpo had been applying pressure.'"
This is where it gets really interesting:
"Levonline’s Anna Larsson confirmed in an interview with Swedish Radio that the foreign ministry and the security service were behind the closing of the party’s website."
"Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds denied on Friday that the government had applied pressure on Levonline."
It would seem that someone is lying. And just by the way, Suomen Sisu is being investigated whether its publication of the images was illegal. Big brother is watching.
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