A redefinition of the freedom of expression that incorporates "standardized" universally accepted religious taboos is becoming increasingly necessary in the light of the enormous row triggered by the controversial Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, prominent academics and media experts suggested on Thursday. They contend that the caricatures, regarded throughout the Islamic world as...
Sequence and consequence do not always follow the same logic: The publication of the gratuitously offensive cartoons against the Prophet of Islam (you can translate that, literally, to the Prophet of Peace for Islam means peace) has already resonated through contemporary events. It will also echo far into the future. Any single day’s newspaper was sufficient to indicate that simmering resentment...
Respect is not a right. Almost anything one can think of these days is, supposedly, a right, and judging from the angry demands on all sides for respect, one might easily be bamboozled into thinking respect is somehow a right as well. Not so, rightly not. Yet all the terrifying Muslim uprisings across the world in response to the Danish cartoons have all been about a demand for respect, as of...
They came, the organisers said, to sound the "legitimate voice" of the Muslim community in Britain. After a week dominated by images of a hook-handed fanatic and placards in praise of the 7 July suicide bombers, it was a day for the moderate majority to stand up and be counted. The thousands who gathered in Trafalgar Square in London for yesterday's rally did so to protest against both the...
COPENHAGEN, Feb. 11, 2006 – For decades, the Christiania neighborhood here was an informal symbol of Danish tolerance – a leafy district dotted with hippie communes and stalls where people could openly buy and smoke marijuana despite nominal laws against it. But today the stalls are empty and the revelers have gone home. Many here see the change as indicative of a societywide shift that has also...
The role of media in promoting better understanding between different cultures calls for a "robust and frank" dialogue among journalists and media professionals, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said Sunday on the row over cartoons in Danish media which have sparked outrage in some parts of the Muslim world. IFJ called on media on all sides to avoid action that might provoke...
The Islamic Council Norway now regards the controversy around the publishing of the facsimile of the caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed as closed, and ask people to not take part in demonstrations that are not authorized. A total of 46 Muslim organizations in Norway now ask Muslims to accept the apology from the editor of the Christian paper Magazinet, which published the facsimile of the...
Let's begin with a simple argument before we start dancing, with the angels and prophets, on the head of a pin: The Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten had every right to publish the now-famous/infamous cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. At the same time, Muslims and anyone else who might have been offended by the depictions have the right to protest against their publication. Freedom of expression...
The editor of the Los Angeles Times does not think you need to see any of the cartoons that have triggered deadly riots across the Muslim world. Earlier this week, I proposed illustrating this column with examples of the caricatures first published last fall in a Danish newspaper. If readers are to form rational opinions about both the ferocity of Islamic reaction and the American news media's...
BEIRUT - The whole world has been surprised by the scope and intensity of angry crowds throughout the Islamic realm that are demonstrating against the offensive cartoons about the prophet Muhammad that were published last year in a small, right-wing Danish newspaper. It is perhaps time that we stopped being surprised by a phenomenon that has become routine: the affirmation of Islamic identity as...
