Fitna, an Arabic word describing a "test of faith in times of trial," is a short fifteen minute movie by Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders. You know the film is going to be controversial when it starts with Kurt Westergaard's cartoon depicting the prophet Muhammad with a bomb on his head. Next to the image is a timer counting down fifteen minutes. During the film’s countdown, Suras (chapters from the Qur’an) are shown along with news footage of violent atrocities committed in the name of Islam. Towards the end of the film, recordings of Imams speaking from Mosques in the Netherlands are played where they denounce political parties and condemn "worldly concepts like liberal democracy."

Wilders claims he created his film to show how the Qur’an is being used to promote violence among Muslims. He also has expressed fear about the Islamization of the Netherlands. He states, “Muslims want you to make way for Islam, but Islam does not make way for you. The government insists that you respect Islam, but Islam has no respect for you.” Whether or not you agree with Wilders' extreme views is not what concerns me. The suppression of his right to free speech in the U.S., Europe, and on the Internet is what has raised my ire.

When Dutch television stations refused to air his film, Wilders turned to the Internet and registered fitnathemovie.com with Network Solutions. In an act of what can only be described as complete hypocrisy, Network Solutions, the original domain name service developer, shut down Geert Wilders' fitnathemovie.com web site due to concerns that it would violate its acceptable use policy. The flaw in their claim is that Network Solutions hosts hizbollah.org, a website for the Islamic paramilitary group that the U.S., Canada, the Netherlands, and several other nations consider to be a terrorist organization. In an amazing example of the power of blogs and the Internet, the public outrage resulting from the Fitna controversy has since forced Network Solutions to shut down hizbollah.org.

The popular video sharing site, YouTube, was shut down worldwide for two hours because of a glitch when Pakistan banned YouTube for showing what was supposed to be a trailer for Fitna. Fitna was available on the LiveLeak video sharing website, but within one day they pulled the film due to threats to the lives of their staff. They have since attempted to reinstate the film. Fitna is available for download on multiple bittorrent sites. Do beware that there are many copycat torrents using that name that have no relationship to Wilders’ film.

Is the suppression of Fitna by democratic nations a sign that free speech is in danger? The Secretary-General of the United Nations in his statement on March 28th acknowledged the Dutch Government tried to stop the broadcasting of the film. His justification was "freedom must always be accompanied by social responsibility." Yes, Fitna will offend Muslims. It is sad that the finer aspects of Islamic religion are lost in the wake of atrocities committed by a minority of Muslim extremists. But there is a serious problem when a government suppresses free speech under the guise of social responsibility. No one knows where they will stop. When the Roman Catholic Church had Giordano Bruno burnt at the stake for expressing ideas contrary to their religious beliefs did they not believe they were acting in the interest of society? When Imams call upon Muslims to assassinate Geert Wilders are they not also acting in what they consider a "socially responsible" way? In a society based upon free speech, the government should not be permitted to censor and suppress what we hear because it feels it is not in our best interest.