The Rants of Issachar

If you haven't heard, Jyllands-Posten, a Danish broadsheet that has been described as "right of centre" published twelve drawings of Mohammed back in September. (They've also been posted on Flickr.com) As Islam forbids any and all visual depictions of Mohammed, the general Muslim view was not a happy one and there have been several anti-Danish protests including some violent ones. The cartoons have since been reprinted six European newspapers under the headline "We have the right to caricature God". The France Soir reprinting included a new cartoon responding to the complaints about the first twelve.



Jyllands-Posten has since apologized for offending Muslims but categorically not apologized for printing the cartoons, saying that doing so would be letting Middle Eastern dictatorships control what they print.


Back in July, I made a couple of posts about Islam and what Muslims needed to accept in order to be accepted in Western world. The second one brought up the issue of deliberate insults to Islam. (With comparisons to Andres Serrano's Piss Christ).

This is exactly what I was talking about. Given how Muslims feel about any drawings of Mohammed, these cartoons may have been impolite, but anyone is within their right to make and to publish such cartoons in the Western world. Insulting Islam cannot and should not be a crime. This is the time for prominent and influential Muslims to stand up and say "I am appalled that you printed those cartoons, but I defend your right to do so without threat of reprisal".

So, is anyone willing to stand up and say that? (Update: Apparently someone is...)


Update: Later tonight...

There's campaign to "Buy Danish". Also Andrew Sullivan has some interesting comments. Unfortunately, his comments are spread through several posts. He also mentions that some people are trying to get the almighty Wikipedia to censor itself.


Update: February 2nd 2005

Thank you to Larsen in Denmark for his comment about Al-Jazeera and it's stated code of ethics.

Also...
France Soir has fired it's Managing Editor. The owner of the paper, Mr. Raymond Lakah, said: "We express our regrets to the Muslim community and all people who were shocked by the publication."
Thank you to Damian Penny for the information.

Posted by:  The Dane

Noticed that Aljazera under code of ethics have:

"10. Stand by colleagues in the profession and offer them support when required, particularly in light of the acts of aggression and harassment to which journalists are subjected at times. Cooperate with Arab and international journalistic unions and associations to defend freedom of the press."

Will Aljazeera do that towards Jylland Posten?


Understand me, I respect all peoples cultures and religions, including Islam. I have no intentions of provoking or Insulting Muslims.
I think that it is beautiful to have so many different cultures on the Globe.

But I stand on my right to debate and criticize all my enviroment including any religion and Islam.

Otherwise we will end up suppressing people with religion. And through history we have seen terrible examples of that. When Islam is so strong and so true - I can not understand why it is not strong enough to be debated or criticized.

Having things on a debate does not mean that you disrespect it!

I can not be true that writers have to fear different forces refering to Islam publishing critical texts.

Larsen, Denmark