Copyright (c) 1997 - Ingrid A. Rimland
INTERNET CENSORSHIP ATTEMPT DEFEATED
It was learned Friday 26 Sept. 1997 through the Swedish news agency TT that the Swedish Chancellor of Justice, the highest judicial authority of the country, has dropped all charges against Radio Islam Internet activities.
Three months ago the Swedish press published the results of a poll showing that a third of the pupils in secondary schools were doubting the existence or the magnitude of the Holocaust.
Conveniently drummed up, the story inflated to the point of triggering a meeting of the Parliament. The Prime Minister, Mr. Göran Persson, delivered a speech bitterly complaining that only 66% of the youngsters held orthodox views on the subject.
Ahmed Rami, a Moroccan political exile, now a Swedish citizen, the creator and organizer of Radio-Islam, was immediately pointed out as the main culprit. His radio, transmitting for 10 years, and his Internet site, established since 2 years, were considered as the main cause of the disaffection of the country's young population.
Suddenly huge amounts of money were requested just to keep the radio alive. The government promised to send to each household a video-cassette "proving" that the Holocaust really took place. (We have not yet seen this virtual masterwork.)
The justice department, under the pressure of the Svenska Kommitén Mot Antisemitism (Swedish Committee against Antisemitism), started a procedure accusing Radio-Islam Web Homepage of "Lack of Respect for the Jewish People".
In the last three months, many people were interrogated by the police, including Ahmed Rami, Linda Reinolds, the webmistress, Jan Axelson, the Internet access provider, and others. The whole affair was run under the qualification of "State Secret".
Difficulties started when the police and judicial authorities tried to grasp the intricacies of the Internet. They soon realized that access to a site was determined by the use of a password. But when they realized that this password had been distributed to at least 23 persons, maybe more, living in several countries other than Sweden, they were left with the impossible task of identifying which persons had, at one point, posted a particular text on the Web.
The multiplication of co-webmasters has soundly defeated this attempt to create a censorship of Internet based on fear.
The main organ of the Swedish Jewish community, Judisk Krönik, in its last issue (4.97, issued on Sept. 26) expressed bitterness and anger:
"We did not expect the Chancellor of Justice applying the law of the freedom of expression to this affair. The classification of the file as "secret" hindered our control of what happened during the preliminary phase."
Everywhere governments and interest groups dream of controlling the Internet. We do not belong to those who pretend this is technically impossible. What is impossible today may be possible tomorrow.
The question always reverts to the basic question of freedom of expression. The Universal Declaration of the Human Rights is treated as null and void.
In the US, President Clinton passed a law that has been soundly defeated in the Supreme Court. That was, of course, expected, but he tried.
In Germany, they have a quasi-nazi state of affairs. In France, the politicians, the intellectuals and, most vocal of all, the press are demanding limitations of freedom.
No decision has been reached, for want of a technical solution.
In Singapore, admittedly a small place, the government has expanded the police, and asks the population to inform on "subversive" or "incorrect" websites established abroad.
Only the penguins of the South Pole are left alone.
The only way to keep freedom alive is to make use of it. We call our friends everywhere to send the censors back into their kennels."
(Please note: Radio Islam can be found at http://abbc.com/islam/ It loads
a bit slow, but it's worth it. . . )
It really is hilarious, isn't it - if it weren't so sad and grotesque? Just
this past week, Ernst Zundel had to argue in grueling, expensive and spirit-draining
CHRC/Soviet-style Inquisitions that Ingrid, a US citizen and owner of the
Zundelsite, is clutching her password in her hot little hand - and he has
no idea what it is! - and here, it seems, I should have done what Rami did:
given it to many, many people to help us post politically incorrect but
eminently verifiable findings on what is called the "Holocaust"!
These days, you live and learn!
Ingrid
Thought for the Day:
Canadian government lawyer Lisa Mrozinsky said the reason there had been no prosecution in British Columbia, Canada under the federal hate laws was that ". . . the need for proof in court makes them difficult to enforce!"