Islam vs Cartoons
In an attempt to be serious for a moment, here is my two-penny's worth on the Prophet Mohammed cartoon saga. The reason being the fact that this is one of very few news stories that I can't actually make up my mind about.
In September last year, right-wing Danish newspaper Morgenavisen Jyllandsposten printed a series of twelve cartoons, some depicting the Prophet Mohammed. More than this, the cartoons depicted him as a terrorist: one of the most striking shows his turban as a comedy-style bomb. The point was not to dismiss all Muslims as terrorists, merely to remind us that Islam is not squeaky-clean: we support them as we do any faith in a fight against terrorism, but their views do not tally with ours: extreme repression of women is just one example.
That aside, to Muslims, any representation of Mohammed is strictly forbidden and therefore highly disrespectful. We could argue, then, that the people to blame here are the reporters and editor of Morgenavisen Jyllandsposten. In such a politically volatile world, taking a step such is this seems designed to merely provoke a reaction.
But the publication of these cartoons broke no law: in a free society, why can't these pictures be printed? In theory, to the "neutral", what makes these pictures any different from a cartoon of God? Or Jesus? Or the Buddha? Or the one with loads of arms? We live in a society where the press has complete freedom of expression, after all. Morally, the decision is less sound: of course, we should still be respectful to other cultures.
Here's where the tale gets ugly. Sensing an opportunity to stir up trouble, the cartoons quickly found their way over to the Middle East and other prominent-Muslim nations. Indeed...
"Last November, Abu Laban, a 60-year-old Palestinian who had served as translator and assistant to top Gamaa Islamiya leader Talaal Fouad Qassimy during the mid-1990s and has been connected by Danish intelligence to other Islamists operating in the country, put together a delegation that travelled to the Middle East to discuss the issue of the cartoons with senior officials and prominent Islamic scholars. The delegation met with Arab League Secretary Amr Moussa, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Sheikh Mohammad Sayyed Tantawi, and Sunni Islam’s most influential scholar, Yusuf al Qaradawi. “We want to internationalize this issue so that the Danish government will realize that the cartoons were insulting, not only to Muslims in Denmark, but also to Muslims worldwide,” said Abu Laban.
On its face, it would appear as if nothing were wrong. However, the Danish Muslim delegation showed much more than the 12 cartoons published by Jyllands Posten. In the booklet it presented during its tour of the Middle East, the delegation included other cartoons of Mohammed that were highly offensive, including one where the Prophet has a pig face. But these additional pictures were NOT published by the newspaper, but were completely fabricated by the delegation and inserted in the booklet (which has been obtained and made available to me by Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet). The delegation has claimed that the differentiation was made to their interlocutors, even though the claim has not been independently verified. In any case, the action was a deliberate malicious and irresponsible deed carried out by a notorious Islamist who in another situation had said that “mockery against Mohamed deserves death penalty.” And in a quintessential exercise in taqiya, Abu Laban has praised the boycott of Danish goods on al-Jazeera, while condemning it on Danish TV." - Source
The Saudi Arabian ambassador is recalled from Denmark after the government there refuses to apologise. The newspaper later apologies, and the Prime Minister applauds this but (rightly) maintains: how is the government responsible for what a newspaper based in its country?? Bomb threats are sent to the newspaper's offices.
Danish - and bizarrely, other Scandinavian - companies were boycotted. Muslims stopped buying Lurpak Spreadable in their droves. So much so, Arla Foods went out of business in the region, and were forced to lay off all 100 staff: their sales actually hit zero.
Madness ensues. We get to January, and French newspaper France Soir publishes the pictures to show people what all the fuss was about. Within a day, the editor has been fired. Publications in Germany, Italy and Holland also re-print the photos. So far, their only appearance in Britain has been in a wide-angled shot on BBC News 24. Of course they are all available online, but I have chosen not to publish them here.
You might be able to find them at http://face-of-muhammed.blogspot.com though.
Yesterday, the European Union's office in Gaza was surrounded by masked gunmen. Were they prepared to kill?
Reporters Without Borders said the reaction in the Arab world "betrays a lack of understanding" of press freedom as "an essential accomplishment of democracy." Muslim groups argue that the cartoons simply reinforce incorrect stereotypical views of the Islamic faith - which they do, and I agree with this view whole-heartedly. I'm still torn, however, over whether they should have been published or not.
France Soir's front cover carried the headline "Yes, we have the right to caricature God". The cartoon below shows a number of gods sitting on a cloud, with the Christian god telling Mohammed that they've all had to put up with it in the past. I can't help finding this funny (for a French joke, anyway) but also worry it completely misses the point.
Yes, we must respect the views of others: but should that be at the expense of freedom? The freedom to - dare I say it - criticize an oppressive regime?
