The Danish Cartoons And Freedom Of The Press Versus Islam

[Gavur]

http://instantknowledgenews.com/danecartoons1.htm

[Gavur]

The Cartoon Jihad: The Arab World Protests

http://www.signandsight.com/features/590.html

Long live freedom of speech!

[Gavur]

'Everyone Is Afraid to Criticize Islam'

SPIEGEL INTERVIEW WITH AYAAN HIRSI ALI



Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Dutch politician forced to go into hiding after the murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh, responds to the Danish cartoon scandal, arguing that if Europe doesn't stand up to extremists, a culture of self-censorship of criticism of Islam that pervades in Holland will spread in Europe. Auf Wiedersehen, free speech.

SPIEGEL: Hirsi Ali, you have called the Prophet Muhammad a tyrant and a pervert. Theo van Gogh, the director of your film "Submission," which is critical of Islam, was murdered by Islamists. You yourself are under police protection. Can you understand how the Danish cartoonists feel at this point?



DPA
Hirsi Ali: "The cartoons should be displayed everywhere."
Hirsi Ali: They probably feel numb. On the one hand, a voice in their heads is encouraging them not to sell out their freedom of speech. At the same time, they're experiencing the shocking sensation of what it's like to lose your own personal freedom. One mustn't forget that they're part of the postwar generation, and that all they've experienced is peace and prosperity. And now they suddenly have to fight for their own human rights once again.

SPIEGEL: Why have the protests escalated to such an extent?

Hirsi Ali: There is no freedom of speech in those Arab countries where the demonstrations and public outrage are being staged. The reason many people flee to Europe from these places is precisely because they have criticized religion, the political establishment and society. Totalitarian Islamic regimes are in a deep crisis. Globalization means that they're exposed to considerable change, and they also fear the reformist forces developing among émigrés in the West. They'll use threatening gestures against the West, and the success they achieve with their threats, to intimidate these people.


Ayaan Hirsi Ali

is one of the most sharp- tongued critics of political Islam - - and a target of radical fanatics. Her provocative film "Submission" led to the assassination of director Theo van Gogh in November 2004. The attackers left a death threat against Hirsi Ali stuck to his corpse with a knife. After a brief period in hiding, the 36- year- old member of Dutch parliament from the neo- liberal VVD party has returned to parliament and is continuing her fight against Islamism. She recently published a book, "I Accuse," and is working on a sequel to "Submission."

Hirsi Ali was born in Somalia where she experienced the oppression of Muslim women first hand. When her father attempted to force her into an arranged marriage, she fled to Holland in 1992. Later, she renounced the Muslim religion. more...

SPIEGEL: Was apologizing for the cartoons the wrong thing to do?

Hirsi Ali: Once again, the West pursued the principle of turning first one cheek, then the other. In fact, it's already a tradition. In 1980, privately owned British broadcaster ITV aired a documentary about the stoning of a Saudi Arabian princess who had allegedly committed adultery. The government in Riyadh intervened and the British government issued an apology. We saw the same kowtowing response in 1987 when (Dutch comedian) Rudi Carrell derided (Iranian revolutionary leader) Ayatollah Khomeini in a comedy skit (that was aired on German television). In 2000, a play about the youngest wife of the Prophet Mohammed, titled "Aisha," was cancelled before it ever opened in Rotterdam. Then there was the van Gogh murder and now the cartoons. We are constantly apologizing, and we don't notice how much abuse we're taking. Meanwhile, the other side doesn't give an inch.

SPIEGEL: What should the appropriate European response look like?

Hirsi Ali: There should be solidarity. The cartoons should be displayed everywhere. After all, the Arabs can't boycott goods from every country. They're far too dependent on imports. And Scandinavian companies should be compensated for their losses. Freedom of speech should at least be worth that much to us.

SPIEGEL: But Muslims, like any religious community, should also be able to protect themselves against slander and insult.

Hirsi Ali: That's exactly the reflex I was just talking about: offering the other cheek. Not a day passes, in Europe and elsewhere, when radical imams aren't preaching hatred in their mosques. They call Jews and Christians inferior, and we say they're just exercising their freedom of speech. When will the Europeans realize that the Islamists don't allow their critics the same right? After the West prostrates itself, they'll be more than happy to say that Allah has made the infidels spineless.

SPIEGEL: What will be the upshot of the storm of protests against the cartoons?

Hirsi Ali: We could see the same thing happening that has happened in the Netherlands, where writers, journalists and artists have felt intimidated ever since the van Gogh murder. Everyone is afraid to criticize Islam. Significantly, "Submission" still isn't being shown in theaters.

SPIEGEL: Many have criticized the film as being too radical and too offensive.



AP
Police at the scene of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh's murder.
Hirsi Ali: The criticism of van Gogh was legitimate. But when someone has to die for his world view, what he may have done wrong is no longer the issue. That's when we have to stand up for our basic rights. Otherwise we are just reinforcing the killer and conceding that there was a good reason to kill this person.

SPIEGEL: You too have been accused for your dogged criticism of Islam.

Hirsi Ali: Oddly enough, my critics never specify how far I can go. How can you address problems if you're not even allowed to clearly define them? Like the fact that Muslim women at home are kept locked up, are raped and are married off against their will -- and that in a country in which our far too passive intellectuals are so proud of their freedom!

SPIEGEL: The debate over speaking Dutch on the streets and the integration programs for potentially violent Moroccan youth -- do these things also represent the fruits of your provocations?

Hirsi Ali: The sharp criticism has finally triggered an open debate over our relationship with Muslim immigrants. We have become more conscious of things. For example, we are now classifying honor killings by the victims' countries of origin. And we're finally turning our attention to young girls who are sent against their wills from Morocco to Holland as brides, and adopting legislation to make this practice more difficult.

SPIEGEL: You're working on a sequel to "Submission." Will you stick to your uncompromising approach?


SPIEGEL FORUMS
Discuss this story in SPIEGEL FORUMS.

The Cartoon Jihad: Did European newspapers make the right decision by reprinting controversial Danish caricatures that disparagingly depicted the Prophet Muhammad?



Hirsi Ali: Yes, of course. We want to continue the debate over the Koran's claim to absoluteness, the infallibility of the Prophet and sexual morality. In the first part, we portrayed a woman who speaks to her god, complaining that despite the fact that she has abided by his rules and subjugated herself, she is still being abused by her uncle. The second part deals with the dilemma into which the Muslim faith plunges four different men. One hates Jews, the second one is gay, the third is a bon vivant who wants to be a good Muslim but repeatedly succumbs to life's temptations, and the fourth is a martyr. They all feel abandoned by their god and decide to stop worshipping him.

SPIEGEL: Will recent events make it more difficult to screen the film?

Hirsi Ali: The conditions couldn't be more difficult. We're forced to produce the film under complete anonymity. Everyone involved in the film, from actors to technicians, will be unrecognizable. But we are determined to complete the project. The director didn't really like van Gogh, but he believes that, for the sake of free speech, shooting the sequel is critical. I'm optimistic that we'll be able to premier the film this year.

SPIEGEL: Is the Koran's claim to absoluteness, which you criticize in "Submission," the central obstacle to reforming Islam?

Hirsi Ali: The doctrine stating that the faith is inalterable because the Koran was dictated by God must be replaced. Muslims must realize that it was human beings who wrote the holy scriptures. After all, most Christians don't believe in hell, in the angels or in the earth having been created in six days. They now see these things as symbolic stories, but they still remain true to their faith.

INTERVIEW: GERALD TRAUFETTER

Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan

[imported_RUDO]

http://instantknowledgenews.com/danecartoons1.htm

Thanks,Gavur for the link.I wanted to see the Danish cartoons.But I couldn't find them.You know Turkish Media can't show them on tv or newspapers.I found them on the link.So thanks for it.

[Gavur]

The Last Word: Flemming Rose

Igniting more than debate
Newsweek International

Feb. 13, 2006 issue - Back in September 2005, the liberal Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published several cartoon depictions of the Prophet Muhammad—at least one as a terrorist—although any physical representation of the prophet is forbidden in Islam. There was no immediate backlash, but last week, after several other European newspapers reprinted the cartoons, the reaction went global. Muslims from Jakarta to Istanbul took to the streets in protest, while editors from France to Jordan were dismissed because of their decisions to run the drawings. NEWSWEEK's Charles Ferro spoke with Flemming Rose, the Jyllands-Posten editor who made the original decision to publish the cartoons, about his actions, the reaction and the bigger issues at stake—freedom of speech and religious sensitivity. Excerpts:



FERRO: What was your thinking behind the decision to publish the Muhammad cartoons back in September?
ROSE: I was concerned about a tendency toward self-censorship among people in artistic and cultural circles in Europe. That's why I commissioned these cartoons, to test this tendency and to start a debate about it.

It was not a media stunt. We just approached that story in a different way, by asking Danish cartoonists to draw Muhammad as they see him. I did not ask for caricatures. I did not ask to make the prophet a laughingstock or to mock him.



But you depicted Muhammad with a bomb in his turban, armed with a knife and with a broken halo that resembled satanic horns.

The cartoon with horns didn't arouse special criticism; it was the other two. The one with the bomb in his turban doesn't say, "All Muslims are terrorists," but says, "Some people have taken Islam hostage to permit terrorist and extremist acts." These cartoons do not treat Muslims in any other way than we treat other citizens in this country. By treating them as equals, we are saying, "You are equal."




Why do you think Muslims are expressing such outrage now, when other religiously offensive cartoons have been published in the past?

I think you have to separate this story into two parts. One part [is the debate] inside Danish borders—that has been going on for four months. On the [one] hand, what does freedom of religion imply, what does respect for other people's feelings and religions imply? You have different points of view, and I think it's problematic if any religion—it doesn't matter if it's Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, any religion—tries to impose its own taboos on the public domain.

When I go to a mosque, I behave by the rules that exist in that holy house. I will not stand up and make a cartoon of the holy prophet in a mosque. But I think if any religion insists that I, as a non-Muslim, should submit to their taboos, then I don't think they're showing me respect. I think they're asking for my submission. This is a key issue in this debate.

You [also] have the international story, and I believe it has little to do with our cartoons. The people in Saudi Arabia and some other countries who have started the action have never seen the cartoons. They are acting on false rumors, misinformation and direct lies.



What does this controversy say about assimilation, or lack thereof, in Europe?

This is a clash of cultures and, in its essence, a debate about how much the receiving society should be willing to compromise its own standards in order to integrate foreigners. On the other hand, how much does the immigrant have to give up in order to be integrated?




Yours is a small Danish paper. Yet your actions had big global ramifications. What does this tell you about how instantly connected the world is today?


This is the first time I've witnessed a story in a newspaper with a circulation of 150,000, in a country of just above 5 million people, becoming a global issue. This is a challenge. It means that what you do in a secular, modern democracy may offend people in some parts of the world, people not living in this type of society. I think it would be unfortunate if people in Saudi Arabia or some parts of the world influenced what we speak about in Denmark. [But] it's a fact of globalization, and we must consider it.



But you tried to influence what happens in Saudi Arabia via the messages in the cartoons.

No, I'm not doing that. This story was about what was going on in Denmark and Northern Europe.



So where do you draw the line between censorship and freedom of speech?

My newspaper has its limits. In a pluralistic society where you do have freedom of speech, my limits should not be the limits of others. We do have laws against racism and blasphemy.



Didn't your newspaper commit blasphemy by depicting Muhammad?

Danish prosecutors determined around a month ago that the cartoons were not blasphemous.

Will Jyllands-Posten apologize?
For what?

© 2006 Newsweek, Inc.

[Gavur]

Tarek Fatah: Mohammed Cartoonist Was Right

2/3/2006

Filed under: General— Tim @ 9:11 am
Violent protests have proven the cartoonist right says Tarek Fatah, director of the Canadian Muslim Congress:

[Gavur]

What is so offensive about those F***ing drawings ?
I don't understand it

It only shows the ignorance of the drawer

If the drawers concept is a misconception!

Then it should be a challange not a threat!

Where you go around and destroy and kill

[imported_RUDO]

What is so offensive about those F***ing drawings ?
I don't understand it

It only shows the ignorance of the drawer

If the drawers concept is a misconception!

Then it should be a challange not a threat!

Where you go around and destroy and kill

Have you seen the threats to Denmark and Sweden?(www.instantknowledgenews.com)
They are very frightening.I think they will bomb these lands.

[Gavur]

Austria Announces Turkey a Risky Country

By Hasan Cucuk, Copenhagen
Published: Tuesday, February 07, 2006
zaman.com


European Union Term President Austria has urged its people to be cautious of 19 Islamic countries, including Turkey, declaring them “far too risky” to visit.

Apart from Turkey, the following countries were also deemed risky in the list published on the official Web site of the Austrian Foreign Ministry, include:


Egypt, Algeria, Ethiopia, Iran, Jordan, Indonesia, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and Palestine.


Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik asked in a written notification the ambassadors in those countries to provide the best possible security for all European citizens. The notification further recalled, in accordance with the Vienna Diplomats Convention, those countries are responsible for keeping diplomats safe from any attacks.


The Danish administration released an official note urging Danes not to travel to some Muslim countries after the Danish embassies in Damascus and Beirut were torched. The attacks on embassies were staged as a result a bitter row protesting the publication of 12 cartoons satirizing the Prophet Mohammed.


On this advice from the Copenhagen government, nearly 3,000 Danish tourists cancelled their holiday bookings to Egypt.


The Danish Foreign Ministry indefinitely closed the Danish embassies in Indonesia and Thailand.

[Kharpert]

Let me tell you what. You call that Danish news paper and say you want to publish an essay about how Hitler was right, or publish a cartoon making fun of the holocaust. Go do it, and then come back and tell me what they told you.

Looks like you got your wish. Islamic extremists are following your exact advice. News link.

This is ridiculous. How can anyone justify such outrage, burning flags, and arsoning embassies over a bunch of cartoons? This reflects extremely poorly on the Muslim world. Christians are lampooned all the time in their home countries and they haven't had this kind of outrage since the Middle Ages.

And in case anyone was curious, the cartoons can be found here.