BLASPHEMY

The German criminal law re blaspemy, btw, say this:

Walter Hinteler wrote:

The German criminal law re blaspemy, btw, say this:

Post WWII guilt response to the Final Solution, now being argued as legalized censorship.

I live in Canada though so "our" is probably not apropos.

Still it would be interesting to at least try and confirm the motivations behind Germany's post Nazi era laws, as it pertains to anti-Semitism and the Final Solution.

Hmmm, The fellow apologized if the cartoons had offended anyone.
He did not apologize for printing them.

We are faced with a problem, which can grow to a more global problem. The cartoons have now been reprinted in a number of newspapers all over Europe. And if the protests in the streets escalate further we maybe faced with unpredictable repercussions in all the affected countries. Therefore, I think we have a common interest in calming down feelings and in settling this affair.

As you know, the present situation has caused a heated debate in Denmark as well. I have called on all parties to abstain from any statement or action that will create further tension. I have called on representatives of the Muslim communities - including religious authorities - to convey the same message to fellow Muslims in Denmark and abroad. I have also asked the same people to help us correct the vast amount of misinformation that we have seen in the press in a number of countries.

On a final note allow me to look ahead. It may seem premature, as we do not know exactly how this will develop. Nevertheless, we do know that the debate on the very basic principles will continue. We are now witnessing a heated public debate here in Denmark and Europe as well as in Muslim countries. It is evident that we are dealing with core values in democracies and religious societies.

The real challenge is to avoid a clash of those values. We all have a responsibility to ensure that this does not happen. It is my firm belief that the only way ahead is a dialogue that allows us to strengthen our insight and understanding of each other...

Freedom of expression and freedom of the press are the very cornerstones of any democratic society. I firmly believe that it is the very right to question the status quo that allows a society to develop and prosper. But freedom of expression should always be combined with freedom of religion and respect between religions and cultures. Those are fundamental values in the Danish society - and in many other societies.

US sides with Muslims in cartoon dispute
Fri Feb 3, 2006 12:01 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Washington on Friday condemned caricatures in European newspapers of Islam's Prophet Mohammad, siding with Muslims who are outraged that the publications put press freedom over respect for religion.

"These cartoons are indeed offensive to the belief of Muslims," State Department spokesman Kurtis Cooper said in answer to a question. "We all fully recognize and respect freedom of the press and expression but it must be coupled with press responsibility. Inciting religious or ethnic hatreds in this manner is not acceptable."

Jack Straw praises UK media's 'sensitivity' over cartoons

Chris Tryhorn and agencies
Friday February 3, 2006


Jack Straw attacked European media organisations today for publishing controversial cartoons of Muhammad that have sparked outrage across the Muslim world.

But the foreign secretary praised British newspapers for their "considerable responsibility and sensitivity" in not printing the cartoons, which first appeared in a Danish newspaper in September and have been reprinted in a host of newspapers across the continent this week.

Although TV news in this country showed some of the cartoons as they appeared in European newspapers, no national newspaper in the UK has so far chosen to reproduce the images, one of which depicts Muhammad with a bomb fizzing out of his turban.

Regarding the topic of this thread, perhaps some background info is interesting.

The controversy over the cartoons that the Danish (high-circulation, conservative) daily Jyllands Posten published last autumn has simmered for quite a while, first of all at home where Muslim organisations objected, then internationally when the Organisation of the Islamic Conference complained.

The issue has veritably exploded this week, both in the Middle East when a boycott of Danish products was launched in Saudi-Arabia and masked gunmen protested at the EU Gaza office, and in Europe when at least 13 newspapers in countries around the continent reprinted the cartoons, in turn triggering political declarations of support or disapproval.

Personally I've found the story interesting, because two principles that I hold dear so obviously clashed (tolerance and civility, when approaching the sensitivities of marginalised minority groups in particular, and the freedom from religious dogmas in the work of journalists and artists).

As long as the issue was mostly a domestic one, I largely sympathised with the protesting Muslims. Denmark has been the scene of an agressive wave of anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiment and politics, and I can well imagine that for many Muslim Danes who already felt so put upon, it only took a provocation to get really worked up.

Mind you, of all the things they could get worked up about, the issue in question is one I can imagine least about: a bunch of playful cartoons? But still.

The hysteria that is erupting from the Middle East now, though, in particular from (I am guessing mostly opportunistic) political and religious leaders (who are using the occasion for a good ol' rallying around of popular fervour to buttress their hold on power), has shifted my sympathies towards the newspapers.

Anyway, who cares about my opinion. Background info. In the next post, you'll find an overview of summaries from interesting news stories about the controversy. They're listed in reverse chronological order. They're my summaries (dont worry, didnt make em especially for a2k ;-)).

I've found it interesting, in particular, to see the distinct turn in the tone of reporting over the last few days. The focus on the domestic, Danish context of majority resentment vs. minority sensitivity seems to have been quite abruptly overtaken by a global focus on free speech vs religious dogma -- roughly at the time that newspapers across Europe reprinted the cartoons. References are now more often to Salman Rushdie than to Pia Kjærsgaard.

As far as I can keep track, the cartoons of the Danish Jyllands Posten have been reprinted by: Magazinet (Norway), France Soir (France), Die Welt (Germany), Berliner Zeitung (Germany), La Stampa (Italy), Corriere della Sera (Italy), El Mundo (Spain), ABC (Spain), El Periodico (Spain), Le Temps (Switzerland), NRC Handelsblad (Netherlands), Magyar Hirlap (Hungary), Gazeta.ru (Russia), and - - Al-Shihan in Jordan (interesting news item on that one directly below).

Cartoons: Jordanian Daily Withdrawn
2006/02/02 · AKI
link

The publishers of the Jordanian weekly al-Shihan, which on Thursday published three of the controversial Danish cartoons satirising the Prophet Mohammed, have withdrawn all copies of the newspaper. The owner says it will "severely" punish those responsible.

Shihan published the cartoons in an article headlined 'Intifada against the Danish insult', which invited Muslims to be "reasonable". The editor asked readers: "What brings more prejudice against Islam, a foreigner's depiction of the Prophet, or a suicide-bomber who blows himself up at a wedding ceremony in Amman?"

The furore over the cartoons shows no signs of abating, as Tunisian and Moroccan authorities banned the French France Soir daily, and Al-Qaeda announced "a bloody attack" against Denmark in retaliation.

Opinion: Caricatures Raise Questions of Freedom, Fairness
2006/02/02 · Deutsche Welle
link

Should Muslims accept caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed? Or should press freedom end where religious beliefs begin? The depiction of the Prophet in the drawings was guaranteed not to promote interfaith understanding. The Danish newspaper said the aim was to "test" the limits of press freedom. Critics say the cartoons equated Islam with terrorism.

Editor-in-chief Juste now recognizes that the drawings "were interpreted as a campaign against Muslims." Domestic Muslim groups accepted his apology, but Arab countries have not. Certain actors view the event as a welcome opportunity to reproach the entire western world. A Saudi commentator said it was clear that the West considered Islam an enemy.

We need to think about whether certain rights should really remain unrestricted, or limited to where they breach someone else's freedom. A religious minority has a right to be protected from denigration. Berlin's leftist Tageszeitung disagrees; such a demand "cannot be fulfilled, unless we all agree that priests, rabbis or imams should decide what we are allowed to read."

In quotes: Reaction to cartoons
2006/02/02 · BBC News
link

The decision by some European newspapers to reprint cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad has caused widespread condemnation protests. Governments and world leaders have been giving their reaction; a selection of political comments from around the world.

French editor fired over cartoons
2006/02/02 · BBC News
link

The editor of the French newspaper that reprinted cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad has been sacked by the owner, as his paper became embroiled in the row between Muslims and the European press that erupted after a Danish paper first printed the cartoons. Alongside the 12 original cartoons, France Soir had printed a new cartoon on its front page showing the holy figures of different countries sitting on a cloud, with the caption "Don't worry Muhammad, we've all been caricatured here".

The newspaper's owner, a French Egyptian, said that he decided to remove the managing director "as a powerful sign of respect for the intimate beliefs and convictions of every individual". France Soir Journalists stood by their editor in a front page editorial in which they defended the right to free speech. Reporters Without Borders said the reaction in the Muslim world "betrays a lack of understanding" of press freedom as "an essential accomplishment of democracy."

Offending Cartoons Reprinted
2006/02/02 · Washington Post
link

Newspapers across Europe reprinted cartoons Wednesday ridiculing the prophet Muhammad, saying they wanted to support the right of Danish and Norwegian papers to publish the caricatures.

Germany's Die Welt published one on its front page and said the "right to blasphemy" is one of the freedoms of democracy. France Soir wrote, "because no religious dogma can impose itself on a democratic and secular society, [we are] publishing the incriminating caricatures." Italy's La Stampa newspaper and the daily El Periodico in Spain also published some of the drawings.

The president of the French Council of the Muslim Faith said France Soir's publication of the offensive cartoons was an act of "real provocation towards the millions of Muslims living in France."

(See also: European media show solidarity in Mohammed cartoon row - EU Observer, link)

Mohammad cartoon row sparks backlash
2006/02/02 · Reuters
link

An international row over newspaper cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad gathered pace as more European dailies printed controversial Danish caricatures. Le Temps in Geneva and Budapest's Magyar Hirlap reprinted one that shows an imam telling suicide bombers to stop because Heaven had run out of virgins to reward them.

Defending its decision to publish the cartoons, France Soir wrote: "Imagine a society that added up all the prohibitions of different religions. What would remain of the freedom to think, to speak and even to come and go? Danish PM Rasmussen said the issue now centred on Western free speech versus taboos in Islam. But the leader of Lebanon's Hizbollah said, "Had a Muslim carried out Imam Khomeini's fatwa against ... Salman Rushdie, then they would not have dared discredit the prophet."

Cartoons of Prophet Met With Outrage
2006/01/31 · Washington Post
link

Cartoons in Danish and Norwegian newspapers depicting the prophet Muhammad in unflattering poses have sparked protests and economic boycotts across the Middle East, and warnings of retaliation against the people, companies and countries involved. The cartoons, originally published in the Danish Jyllands-Posten, were reprinted three weeks ago in Magazinet, a small Christian newspaper in Norway. Kuwait called them "despicable racism," Iran termed them "ridiculous and revolting."

Critics charged that the cartoons were a deliberate provocation, designed to incite hatred and polarize people of different faiths. Defenders said they simply highlighted Islam's intolerance. The clash is fueled by anti-immigrant sentiment in secular Denmark. Professor Medhi Mozaffari said, "It's unthinkable that the prime minister would make an apology .. This is Islamists putting democracies on trial to see how far they can be pressured."

Arab press fury over Prophet cartoons
2006/01/31 · BBC News
link

Cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad published by a Danish newspaper continue to provoke anger in the Arabic press. London's Al-Quds Al-Arabi writes that "What happened .. is part of the attack against Islam and the Prophet Muhammad, .. which started in the West on 9/11." Jordan's Al-Ra'y wrote that "Nobody has the right to ask us to respect "freedom of expression" when the matter concerns our Prophet and .. the essence of our religious belief."

Al-Ra'y was also one of the papers that asserted, "they ignore democracy and human rights when someone talks about the Jews, their religion and beliefs." Both Jordan's Al-Dustur and Al-Quds pointed out that "What happened .. is not different from the attitude prevailing in Western streets against Islam," while both the Saudi Al-Jazirah and Qatar's Al-Watan asserted that the publication "was not merely the whim of a newspaper editor, .. but a well-planned and deliberate act."

Commission backs Denmark against boycott menace
2006/01/31 · EurActiv
link

EU Trade Commissioner Mandelson warned Saudi Arabia that "a boycott of Danish goods was a boycott of the European Union", and that any official backing of the boycott over the 'cartoon affair' would force the EU to take the matter to the WTO.

What started out as a newspaper's cheeky provocation to test the boundaries of free speech is turning into an international incident. The outrage sweeping the Middle East has been compared to that in 1989 over Rushdies "Satanic Verses." Former Danish foreign minister Ellemann-Jensen dubbed the cartoons a "puerile provocation".

Gaza gunmen drag EU into Danish-Muslim blasphemy clash
2006/01/30 · EU Observer
link

In an escalation of the spat over the cartoons of the prophet Mohammed in a Danish newspaper, masked men gathered at the EU's Gaza headquarters, fired assault rifles and burnt Norwegian and Danish flags. The al-Aqsa brigades threatened that "all Danes and Swedes" must leave Palestine "within 48 hours".

After a meeting of EU foreign ministers, Ursula Plassnik expressed their "solidarity with our northern colleagues, as well as our belief [in] the freedom of press [..] as part of our fundamental values". Justice commissioner Frattini in December however called the publication "thoughtless and inappropriate".

Danish muslim prophet cartoon quarrel goes to court
2006/01/09 · EU Observer

Danish Muslim organisations are planning to take the daily Jyllands-Posten to the European Court of Human Rights over controversial cartoons of the Muslim prophet Mohammed. The decision was announced Monday by Kasem Ahmad, leader of Danish Islamic religious body Islamsk Trossamfund, after a Danish local attorney general had rejected the case.

Danish step over cartoons eases Muslim anger
2006/01/04 · MSNBC

A Muslim community spokesman and Egypt's ambassador welcomed Prime Minister Rasmussen's New Year address, in which he sought to defuse a row over newspaper cartoons that seemed to portray Prophet Mohammad as a terrorist.

Rasmussen has defended Denmark's tradition of free speech, which he said included the right to satirise all authorities, and refused to meet envoys of 11 Muslim states over the issue. But in his New Year address he added that free speech should be exercised "in such a manner that we do not incite hatred and cause fragmentation of the community."

Cartoons ignite cultural combat in Denmark
2006/01/01 · International Herald Tribune
link

When Jyllands-Posten published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad - including one in which he wears a turban shaped as a bomb - it was unprepared for the global furor that spurred demonstrations in Kashmir and condemnation from 11 Muslim countries.

The cartoons spawned a national debate over whether Denmark's famously liberal freedom of speech laws have gone too far, and Muslims say the cartoons reflect an intensifying anti-immigrant climate that is radicalizing young Muslims. Police in October arrested seven Muslim men under 21 over an alleged terrorism plot.

Dispute Rises Over Cartoons of Prophet
2005/11/28 · IPS
link

The Organisation of the Islamic Conference will consider the matter of the Danish newspaper that published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed at its summit. Several leaders wrote in a joint letter that Muslims feel insulted.

Prime Minister Rasmussen replied that "the Danish government has no means of influencing the press." Earlier, he said: "When Erdogan comes, I will explain him what freedom of expression means." Erdogan in turn said "freedoms have limits, what is sacred should be respected." He pointed to the Jewish reaction to 'The Passion of the Christ', saying Muslims can have similar sensitivities.

Danish Muslims denounce newspaper
2005/10/12 · Al Jazeera

Danish Muslims have strongly condemned one of the country's largest newspapers for publishing drawings of the Prophet Muhammad. On 30 September, the Jyllands-Posten daily printed 12 drawings by Danish cartoonists who had been asked to illustrate the prophet. Islam bans depictions of Prophet Muhammad. 16 Muslim organisations on Wednesday demanded that Jyllands-Posten apologise for printing the drawings. Jyllands-Posten, citing the freedom of speech, said it would not.

Mohammad cartoons row resembles dialogue of deaf
Fri Feb 3, 2006 4:25 PM GMT

By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor

PARIS (Reuters) - The row over caricatures of Islam's Prophet Mohammad resembles a dialogue of the deaf, with many European spokesmen defending the right to free speech and many Muslims insisting Islam must be treated with respect.

Calls for moderation, both from Muslim leaders and European politicians, risk getting lost in a public debate dominated by Europeans afraid of losing a core right of their culture and Muslims struggling to win more recognition for theirs.

Centuries of tradition stand behind both viewpoints, which may account for the virulence of the reactions aroused by the publication -- first in Denmark, then across Europe -- of cartoons depicting Mohammad as a terrorist.

The Europeans can date their long struggle for free speech to the 18th century Enlightenment and consider the liberty to criticise all authority a cornerstone of modern democracy.

Muslims look back on centuries of Western hostility towards, and misunderstanding of, their religion and say the time is ripe -- with the higher profile for Muslims in the Middle East and Europe -- for Western countries to treat them as equals.

Egypt's ambassador in Copenhagen, Mona Omar Attia, highlighted the stalemate in comments after she heard Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen say his government could not apologise for anything that Danish newspapers had printed.

"This means that the whole story will continue and that we are back to square one again. The government of Denmark has to do something to appease the Muslim world," she said.

In separate statements, the French and German interior ministers defended their traditions against Muslim taboos.

"Why should the government apologise for something that happened in the exercise of press freedom?" Germany's Wolfgang Schaueble asked. "If the state intervenes, that is the first step towards limiting press freedom."

In Paris, Nicolas Sarkozy said: "Given the choice, I prefer too many caricatures to too much censorship."

RESPECT

The word "respect" repeatedly pops up in Muslim comments, revealing how much the cartoons linking Mohammad and terrorism hurt the feelings of people who feel humiliated by the West.

Mohamed Mestiri, head of the International Institute of Islamic Thought in Paris, said respect was the main issue for Muslims outraged by the images they consider blasphemous.

"It's all about creating a culture of respect, of wanting to live together under the roof of a plural citizenry," he said.

The head of France's Muslim Council saw the cartoons as the latest in a history of Western affronts to Muslims who only in recent years have mustered enough political clout to fight back.

"Yesterday, the world's Muslims were unable to react to critics who for centuries constantly dumped truckloads of slander on their religion, sacred books and Prophet," said Dalil Boubakeur, rector of the Paris Grand Mosque.

While insisting European Muslims accept the separation of church and state, Mestiri warned against assuming Islam would ever tolerate criticism of what it held most sacred. "One must not judge Islam by the standards of Christian culture," he said.

EXCEPTION FOR JEWS?

Muslim spokesmen resent the way non-Muslims argue they cannot dilute press freedoms just for one religion but make an exception for Jews.

"Why do they say that Muslims have no right to condemn the publishing of those cartoons, when they fight tooth and nail against those who even talk negatively about the Holocaust?" asked Sheikh Hussain Halawa, secretary general of the European Council for Fatwa and Research.

These arguments seemed to have little influence at Liberation, the Paris daily that joined the European media's solidarity wave on Friday and reprinted two Danish cartoons.

It called the Danish caricatures "The Satanic Drawings," referring to "The Satanic Verses" whose criticism of Islam earned British author Salman Rushdie death threats in 1989.

"Rushdie's novel would be almost impossible to publish today," it wrote.

Tranquil nation at the centre of a clash of cultures

By Stephen Castle in Copenhagen
Published: 04 February 2006

Outside the offices of Denmark's biggest paper, a row of bicycles stands alongside the windows that overlook one of Copenhagen's grandest squares. But the door of Jyllands-Posten is barred by security guards, nervously checking those entering a building which is now the target of bomb threats.

Denmark, once the epitome of Nordic tranquillity, finds itself at the epicentre of a clash of cultures. Four months after Jyllands-Posten published 12 cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed, a nation used to a warm reception around the world has been shocked to see its flag burned, its diplomats threatened and its products boycotted.

Publication of any image of Mohamed is considered blasphemous by Muslims. But, in a taxi speeding across the city, the paper's culture editor, Flemming Rose, said that, when the decision was taken in September to commission the cartoons, the intention was freedom of expression, not provocation.

The paper's journalists were discussing the case of Kåre Bluitgen, the author of a children's book on the life of Mohamed, who struggled to find a cartoonist willing to make an image of the Prophet. The idea of challenging Denmark's society of cartoonists to do the same, said Mr Rose, came not from him but from a colleague whom he does not want to name.

Though Jyllands-Posten has apologised for causing offence, and its editor-in-chief has been quoted as saying that he would not have published had he known the consequences, Mr Rose is not in a mood to say sorry. He said: "I stand by the publication. Wearing a short skirt at the discotheque in our culture does not imply that you invite everybody to have sex with you. When you draw a cartoon of the Prophet, in our culture that does not mean that you are denigrating, that you are marginalising, that you are humiliating religion. This is just the way we do things."

Although the row rumbled on for months, it escalated last weekend after Denmark was denounced by clerics across the Middle East. The furious international reaction has, Mr Rose says, "very little to do with these cartoons".

"This has more to do with this campaign by radical imams who travelled to the Middle East, who lied about the context, who said that Muslims are suppressed, that it's awful to be a Muslim in Denmark, while they were travelling to a country that violates Muslim human rights every single day."

Among those in his sights is Ahmad Abu Laban, a radical cleric and leader of the Islamic Society in Denmark. On the way to preaching in Copenhagen's main mosque, Mr Abu Laban said there can be no compromise: "We are not against freedom of speech but the Prophet Mohamed has unique status."

"Some Danish people - and the media - started to tell Muslims that they should sit down, keep quiet, and behave themselves".

But why has this row blown up in Denmark? The dispute has touched a nerve in a country where immigration is a hot political issue.

According to Toger Seidenfaden, editor-in-chief of Politiken newspaper, the dispute "reflects the general shape of the debate in Denmark which has been strongly xenophobic and islamaphobic". It has, he adds, been mishandled by the Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who allowed the crisis to escalate when he should have used diplomacy to defuse it.

Mr Rasmussen was elected on a tough, anti-immigration platform and has tightened rules on asylum. Moreover, his government has relied on the far right, anti-immigrant, Danish People's Party for support.

For weeks after the publication of the cartoons, the Prime Minister refused to get involved, arguing that this was an issue for the newspaper alone.

Mr Rasmussen rejected a request from ambassadors of 11 mainly Muslim countries, staying aloof until the dispute escalated to a crisis. But yesterday he changed course and appeared on al-Arabeya television, defending freedom of expression, but arguing: "I would never depict religious figures in a way that could hurt other people's feelings." The question is if the effort to dampen the flames has come too late.