Money for resistance

YouTube isn’t just for pushing morally comprised US Presidential candidates:

Islamist insurgents in the Philippines linked to al-Qaida have sought to emulate other wildly successful internet fund-raising efforts with a video appeal for cash on YouTube.

Abu Sayyaf posted a nine-minute clip from an hour-long film titled “The Filipino Lions are Coming” on the video-sharing site a week ago.

The video features scenes from its jungle training camps and archived speeches by its founder, Abdul Raziq Janjalani, and his younger brother who succeeded him, Khaddafy Janjalani.

The elder Janjalani, also known as Abu Sayyaf, was killed nine years ago when his hideout on the southern Basilan island was stormed. His brother died in fighting last September.

The group’s founder, speaking in Arabic, said the group’s aim is to first establish a Muslim state on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, but with God’s help it would ultimately reach al-Quds, or Jerusalem.

Abu Sayyaf’s foray on to the web also marks the first time the group has distributed an appeal to the jihadist internet community, with a message from the film’s producers reiterating the dead leaders’ appeal for financial support.

I can only imagine the pressure on YouTube owner’s Google to remove such material for “national security.”

Text and images ©2024 Antony Loewenstein. All rights reserved.

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