Anti-Porn Re-Born

Many of those participating in the march were women. -BBC

It is indeed a remarkable thing to witness 10,000 people protesting in the streets of Jakarta...especially when one considers that "they were supporting a bill before parliament which would include a ban on public kissing and erotic dancing...mak[ing] organising erotic dancing punishable by up to 10 years in prison," according to the BBC. In a remarkably enlightened twist, "public kissing on the mouth" will only get you five years. Needless to say, members of the Islamic Defenders Front (IDF) were right out front defending their right to violate women’s rights. One 27-year-old protester told the AFP "We think the anti-pornography bill is a good weapon to curb the growth of the sex industry in Indonesia, which is thriving in Jakarta and many other cities." Why are all of these monotheistic misogynists always so afraid of women? Even the Saudi king has told his country's media not to publish photographs of women in the newspapers anymore. "One needs to think if he would want his daughter, sister or wife to appear like that. Of course, no one would." Appear like what--a goddamn human being!?

On the upside, Mohammad Yazid wrote an editorial May 9 for the Jakarta Post with the self-explanatory title of "Anarchy tarnishes Islam’s image amid fight against backwardness." Here’s a small sampling:

Wafa Sultan, a Syrian-American psychiatrist, harshly criticized Muslims in her interview with Al-Jazeera TV on Feb. 21. She said: "The clash we are witnessing around the world is not a clash of religions, or a clash of civilizations... It is a clash between civilization and backwardness, between the civilized and the primitive, between barbarity and rationality..."

Voicing opinions by force has become common in Indonesia recently. Last year some 10,000 members of the Indonesian Muslim Solidarity Group assaulted the Ahmadiyah Indonesia Congregation (JAI) compound, the Mubarak campus, on Jl Raya Parung, Pondok Udik, Bogor. Armed with stones and clubs, attackers trashed and burned a dormitory for female students.
*[See entry for April 12: Cover to Cover: Hijab vs. Playboy]

Il faut dire aussi que les chiffres et l'histoire changent avec la source qu'on utilise. Radio-Canada dit : "Il interdira aussi les écrits, dessins, photos et films à caractère érotique," et qu'il n'avait plus qu'environ 5,000 manifestants.