It was supposed to be a warning about the perils of joining extremism. But those behind “Wish You Waziristan” — a cartoon take on two young Britons’ tortured journey to the heart of the Taliban insurgency — say officials have put the brakes on their government-funded counter-extremism project after being spooked by negative press.
The six-minute movie follows two England-raised Muslim brothers as they travel to a terrorist training camp in Pakistan and back to Britain — where they’re taken into custody.
“It’s a cautionary tale,” said Martin Orton, whose company Bold Creative made the animated short with funding from the British government. Orton said Tuesday that the government appeared to have developed cold feet about releasing the video, which was due to be launched online on Sunday, after hostile newspaper articles.
The government denied it had pulled the plug, saying the film simply wasn’t finished. Orton said his company studied the ways in which young Muslims had been radicalised by watching extremist videos online — and wanted to help fight back by debunking some of the glamour attached to fighting as an extremist.
The movie offers a rather uninspiring picture of what it’s like to become an extremist.
Orton said that the movie was based on two years’ worth of research, drawing on interviews with young people who’d been to the camps and media reports.
British tabloids were unimpressed, wondering at the film’s 33,000 pound ($54,000) price tag and asking whether a cartoon would be effective in tackling terrorism. The Daily Mail called it “bizarre”.
Britain’s Foreign Office insisted that the movie wasn’t finished and that no decision had yet been taken about whether to authorize its release. Anti-terrorism experts said they had doubts about the movie as well.
