Russia without YouTube?

The Public Prosecutor’s Office has registered a claim with a court to forbid the circulation of the film in Russia. No court decision has been made yet but the Public Prosecutor’s Office has already instructed the Public Oversight Commission to take respective steps. The trailer which appeared on YouTube has provoked a wave of anti-US protests in Muslim countries.

In spite of requests of the authorities of some countries, Google declared that it would not delete the clip. Later, access to it was restricted but not in all countries. For example, in Pakistan the scandalous film was not blocked. As a result, the local authorities ordered Internet providers to close access to YouTube for all Pakistani citizens.

The same could happen in Russia. Amendments to the law protecting children from harmful information come into effect on the 1st of November. If YouTube does not delete the page containing the forbidden information by that time, all Russian Internet providers will have to restrict access to this site.

Still, it is unlikely that things will be carried that far and YouTube will be blocked, head of the Chair of the Communications Theory of the Journalism Department of Moscow State University Ivan Zasursky believes.

“Even if the law allows putting YouTube on the list of sites to be blocked, it is not compulsory to do so. YouTube is a law-abiding company in all countries where it broadcasts. In some Arab countries the film is unavailable. I believe that in Russia it will be unavailable too.”

Meanwhile, Terry Jones, the mastermind of the scandalous film, has become persona non grata in Europe. The US pastor became notorious even before Innocence of Muslimswas posted online. He was known for burning the Koran. Now, when he decided to visit Germany at the invitation of an ultra-rightist organization, the German authorities have declared that his presence in their country was undesirable. Washington also seems to realize what genie it has let out of the bottle. The US authorities have admitted that the wave of protests in the Arab world could result in a long crisis with unpredictable consequences.

Russia to protect inter-religious harmony

The Russian Prosecutor’s Office has reacted promptly and sternly to a scandalous film, “The Innocence of the Muslims” by taking legal action to have it banned from being shown in Russia.

On Monday, it filed a lawsuit with Moscow’s Tverskoy District Court, over the extremist nature of the film. If the lawsuit is granted, the distribution of the above film on the Russian territory may fetch criminal charges. Meanwhile, the Federal Service urged communications operators to block access to the film pending the court’s decision.

Renat Belkin, a Kazan university professor, thinks that the film could be a low-quality fake made to deliberately insult the Muslims.

"There are works whose authors might have let some insulting things slip through from sheer lack of knowledge. Here, the entire film is provocative. It has no artistic merit whatsoever. Its sole purpose was to kindle a tumult. As far as the Prosecutor General’s Office’s reaction is concerned, I think that it was absolutely justified."

Russia has centuries-old and perhaps unique experience of promoting interethnic harmony and tolerance, Vladimir Zorin, Assistant Director of the Ethnology and Anthropology Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told the Voice of Russia, commenting on the authorities’ decision that he approves.

"I think that it is right. It’s in line with the spirit and traditions of the multi-ethnic and multi-confessional Russian statehood. And such it has been throughout its entire history. In our country, we have no tradition of showing haughty and disrespectful attitude towards other nationalities inhabiting Russia or towards their religions. The Russian Federation, the Russian Empire or Ancient Russia never experienced inter-ethnic or inter-religious wars. The traditions of dialogue, this partnership of civilizations, not proneness to conflict as often speculated in the West, are historically inherent in us."

We all know that the forbidden fruit is sweet. But in this particular case, the ban is justified. It confirms the priorities of the government’s policy, the attitude of the state and the public towards such things, says Director of the Institute of Religion and the Law Roman Lunkin.

"The film insults the feelings of believers. It is no mere chance that the State Duma has proposed amending the Criminal code to qualify acts of blasphemy that insult religious feelings as criminal offenses."

In the experts’ opinion, the reaction of the Prosecutor General’s Office to “The Innocence of the Muslims” film shows that the government is capable of protecting the feelings of all religious communities in Russia.

Mikhail Aristov