C L O S E R

C L O S E R – Cartoonesque Rage

Posted on February 4th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News, Public Islam.

A painting showing Muhammad’s trip in which he is shown sinners suffering in hell. This level of hell shows people who had cheated orphans. Muhammad is guided by the Archangel Gabriel and rides on a deer-like creature with the head of a woman, named Buraq.

Well as the situation evolves it’s not getting more clearer. According to some news items on blogs the Danish Islamic Foundation have used fake cartoons (added to some of the cartoons of the JP) to stir up emotions. According to GatewayPundit:

The organisation Islamic Society in Denmark toured the Middle-East to create awareness about the cartoons, bringing 3 additional images, which HAD NEVER been published in any media source. Evidently, the originals were not offensive enough for the trip so they had to add these three. The first of the three additional pictures, which are of poor quality, shows Muhammad as a pedophile demon. The second shows Muhammed with a pig snout. The third depicts a praying Muslim being raped by a dog.

BBC World also aired a story showing one of the three non-published images, on 2006-01-30, and wrongly claimed it had been published in Jyllands-Posten.

On the tour, the group claimed to represent 21 different Muslim organisations in Denmark, although many of these groups have disclaimed any connection.

Akhmad Akkari, spokesman of the Danish Muslim organisations which organised the tour, explained that the three drawings had been added to “give an insight in how hateful the atmosphere in Denmark is towards Muslims.”

Akkari claimed he does not know the origin of the three pictures. He said they had been sent anonymously to Danish Muslims. However, when Ekstra Bladet asked if it could talk to these Muslims, Akkari refused to reveal their identity. These images had however never been published in Jyllands-Posten.

The society also allegedly exaggerated its membership, claiming to represent all of Denmark’s 200,000 Muslims, when the actual number of adherents is believed to be fewer than 15,000. [30]. 500-1000 people attend their Friday prayer gathering each week[31].

Imam Ahmad Abu Ladan is involved in an international group of Muslims who are known for supporting the anti-Western Islamist struggle of the school of global Jihad.

Imam Ahmad Abu Ladan also tried to block the re-election of the right-wing government in Denmark in the previous election.

Imam Ahmad Abu Laban, the leader of the organisation stated in Al Jazeera that Muslims should boycott Denmark, despite giving contradictory assurances to Western media. Ahmad Abu Laban, previously declared unwelcome in several Arab states, was one of the front figures on the tour [citation needed].

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said of Muslims criticising the country in the Arab territories: “I am speechless that those people, whom we have given the right to live in Denmark and where they freely have chosen to stay, are now touring Arab countries and inciting antipathy towards Denmark and the Danish people”[33].

Further misinformation spread among Arab Muslims include claims that Jyllands-Posten is a government-owned newspaper (it is privately owned) – spokesman for the Danish delegation Muhammed al Samha, and delegation member Ahmed al-Harbi said in the Egyptian newspaper al-Ahram: “Jyllands-Posten, a newspaper belonging to the ruling Danish party – an extreme right-wing party – [was] publishing drawings and sketches of the prophet Muhammad.”

I already indicated in one of the entries below that in a mail that cruises the cyberspace only a few images of the JP are included and several other pictures (not the ones mentioned here) and powerpointformats together with a protest letter against the JP pictures.

Furthermore, questions have been raised about the legitimacy of the Islamic Foundatation’s (Islamisk Trossamfund) claims and actions. During its tour of the Middle East, the organisation claimed to represent 21 different Muslim organisations in Denmark. Many however have denied any connection. In addition the organisation appears to have exaggerated its number of members: all 200,000 Muslims in Denmark. Others believe it is more likely that they have 15,000 members and between 500 to 1,000 people who attend their Friday prayer.

In the Middle Eastern blogosphere there are now actions against the boycott against Denmark (boycott the boycott). Very interesting is Chan’ad Bahraini.

I can to an extent understand why some people may feel insulted by the cartoons, but at times like these I like to recall the adage: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but cartoons will never hurt me”… or something like that I think. Even more appropriate is a lesser known adage: “Better to concentrate your efforts on developing education, economic infrastructure, protecting human rights, and engendering genuine democracy and social equity at home than to wage Jihad against Danish cartoons”.

The most interesting aspect of this whole controversy is the way in which Denmark, as a state entity, has been targetted much more heavily than has the actual cartoonist or the newspaper editors. There are calls to boycott all goods produced in the Danish state. They demand an apology from no less than the government of the Danish state. As the honourable MP Shaikh Ali Mattar makes clear, thinking wishfully:

“If Denmark had an ambassador here, we would have immediately demanded he be kicked out of the country,” he said. (Continued)

This webpage hosts images of all the boycotted items, as well as banners to promote the boycott. On the site, “Jyllands-Posten” is mentioned only two or three times, while there are a million references to “Denmark”. The banners are quite interesting. This simple one says “Oh you who love Mohammed the Prophet of Allah, boycott Danish products”

But as you can see, in all of the banners, Denmark as a state is being held responsible for the acts of a private newspaper. I don’t really understand why people are making this relationship, but I have some ideas.

One possible theory of mine is that it is because people in much of the Muslim world aren’t fully aware of the relationship between the press and the state in Denmark. Here in Bahrain, as in many developing countries, the state keeps a watchful on eye everything that is printed in the newspapers. In some cases the line that separates the state and the press is very very blurry indeed. On the other hand, in Denmark and much of Europe, the state and the media are strictly independent. Maybe people here in the Muslim world are mistakenly assuming that what applies at home applies everywhere, and therefore they hold the Danish state responsible for everything printed in the Danish press.

But I think a more plausible explanation is that sitting here in Bahrain we have no means to directly punish the cartoonist or the newspaper. No one in Bahrain speaks Danish (except maybe the Al Khawaja family), so calling for a boycott of the Jyllands-Posten isn’t really an option. So the angered folks are targetting the government and state of Denmark as the next best proxy for the newspaper (which it really isn’t). People are annoyed and they want to do something — anything — about it, whether it makes sense or not. And our governments seem to be content with this all as it temporarily draws the spotlight away from their own scandals.

Anyways, I’ve seen a number of lists of Danish products that people are being told to boycott, and I realized that the Danes make some top quality stuff. I have fond childhood memories about several of the iterms, so I don’t think it’s fair that all of those producers should suffer because of some newspaper cartoons that they had nothing to do with. So I’m calling for an anti-boycott to encourage you to buy Danish goods.

1Pakistan gives an overview of several incidents that could have enraged Muslims worldwide (but hardly did).

On Freedom for Egyptians, the writer wonders:

I wonder why Muslims do not get so fervent about a dying patient for the lack of medicine, about a corrupt government that is stealing all their money and leaving them in shit, about the right to enjoy life in freedom protected by the laws and legislation, about bribing police and traffic officers to cancel contraventions, about more than one million street children in Egypt abused by the people everyday, about injustice in general…the list so long to continue.

And he calls upon people to join Sandmonkey in his Anti-retardedness Mission.
The website no4denmark.com has a listing of all kinds of products that can be boycotted and also some pictures such as the next one:

RNW has an overview about the situation among European media.

Some of the papers

The editor of a French newspaper that reprinted a cartoon featuring the Prophet Mohammed on its front page has been sacked for offending Muslims. Jacques Lefranc was dismissed by the Egyptian owner of the paper, France Soir, in a developing row between Muslims and European press.

Danish paper Jyllands Posten first printed the cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in September 2005. Their publication has since sparked protests by Muslims around the world, who say the pictures are offensive.

Now other European journals, among them Italy’s Corriere della Sera and Germany’s Die Welt, have now reprinted the images.

Radio Netherlands spoke to Die Welt’s foreign editor Jacques Schuster to ask him why the decision to republish the cartoons had been taken:

“We did it because, after discussion, we thought it would be good to support our Danish colleagues in their struggle or fight for freedom of the press and freedom of opinion. So, there was a debate in our [office about whether we might] hurt the feelings of Muslims, but after a while the majority stood in favour of the freedom of the press, and so we decided.”

Fear of threats
The paper in Denmark which originally published the cartoons has since been targeted by hate mail and bomb threats, but is this something which also concerns Die Welt?

“Yes, in a way we are worried and today we had a lot of ‘attacks’ by e-mail. But I think we are not allowed to accept censorship. We stand for cultural freedom and the freedoms of the west, and because of an abstract or maybe a very real danger, we couldn’t hide ourselves.”

Those who disapprove of the cartoons argue that their publication shows a lack of respect for religious beliefs; an argument which Mr Schuster appreciates:

“Yes, maybe so, but look at the Life of Brian film, this also maybe hurt the feelings of Christians, but we are journalists and we want to cover the news. And one of the news [stories] came from Denmark, so we only repeated this. We have to accept this balancing between religious feelings and the freedom of the press.”

Provocative
When asked if the republication of these pictures in his paper may not be too provocative given the current situation across the globe in terms of religious sensitivities and other events, he replies:

“On the one hand, yes, on the other hand no, because look at the very aggressive pictures coming from the Arabian world against Jews and against America. Or look at the victims in Iraq, even now the German victims, I didn’t hear [anything] from Muslim representatives condemning these kinds of pictures, this kind of violence. So, I think again that we should not hide ourselves.”

Moreover, he claims that the cartoons are not really offensive: “I don’t know if you know these pictures, they are very harmless in a way. I think you have to ask yourself [each time before you publish] if this is acceptable or not, and in this case we decided that we will and we can publish them.”Principles
As to whether the action by Die Welt could cause problems for Germany, just as the original publication of the cartoons has done for Denmark, Jacques Schuster comments:

“Yes, it could. But again we are journalists, and I want to cover the reality, and I can’t think about these possible problems.”

“I think we have our rules, and we have our principles, and one of our main principles is freedom of opinion and the press. In this case, I think that we stand for freedom of the press.”

Also AP has a story on that.

Dutch politician Wilders has published the photos out of solidarity with the Danes and to support freedom of speech. This kind of messages are spread worldwide now for example on Infinite Monkeys with Legomohammed:
Against Wilders several complaints were made at the Dutch Complaints Bureau for Discrimination on the Internet

For a nice and up to date overview see also Wikipedia.

0 comments.