Arab Toon Tantrum Update: Everyone's Printing Them in Solidarity
According to this article in Al-Jazeera (via Classical Values), armed groups in the Palestinian territories are continuing with "Operation Stop Making Fun Of Us Or We'll Really Give You Something To Make Fun Of" -- and even escalating it to include new threats against new targets:
Armed groups in the Palestinian territories have threatened to attack Danish, French and Norwegian nationals after cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad appeared in European newspapers.
Norwegians? I hear you ask. Didn't they totally cave in and apologize for exercising their basic rights? I did a double-take on this too, but later read that the apology came, in a confidential letter, from Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre to Norway's embassies in Muslim countries. More recently, however, Norway's Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg (Labour), countermanded this fumbling, furtive apology by saying (publicly this time): "As prime minister in a country with freedom of speech I cannot apologise for what is printed in Norwegian newspapers."
Two militants groups released a joint statement on Thursday that said: "All nationals and those who work in the diplomatic corps of these countries can be considered targets of the Popular Resistance Committee and Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades."
Two militant groups releasing a "joint statement" pretty well proves that this is not a sincere or spontaneous grass-roots expression of outrage, but an orchestrated campaign of intimidation, and probably diversion as well. The two groups in question are part of Fatah, who just lost an election, and are now probably trying to restore some irresponsible-terrorist cred, blow off some steam, and have some fun in the process. I'm guessing Hamas are too busy governing to join the fun.
Meanwhile, in France, according to the BBC, a newspaper-owner's spinelessness is being met with vocal resistance from his own employees:
France Soir's editor, Jacques Lefranc, was dismissed by the paper's French Egyptian owner [for reprinting the offending cartoons] in response to criticism from Muslim groups.
But journalists at France Soir stood by their editor's decision on Thursday, printing a front page picture and editorial in which they strongly defended the right to free speech.
The same article relays encouraging news from Jordan (emphasis added):
Jordanian independent tabloid al-Shihan reprinted three of the cartoons on Thursday, saying people should know what they were protesting about, AFP news agency reports.
"Muslims of the world be reasonable," wrote editor Jihad Momani.
"What brings more prejudice against Islam, these caricatures or pictures of a hostage-taker slashing the throat of his victim in front of the cameras or a suicide bomber who blows himself up during a wedding ceremony in Amman?"
Here's a timetable of other events that might bring prejudice against Islam:
And here's more wacky news from Islam-Online:
The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Arab League, the Muslim world's two main political bodies, are seeking a UN resolution, backed by possible sanctions, to protect religions following the publication of cartoons depicting and ridiculing Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
I'd love to hear the UN discuss how they might enforce such a resolution. UN troops in New York? I don't think so. A global Budweiser boycott? The Danes could take up the slack, and the world would be better off. (The next beer I buy will be Danish, if possible.)
Meanwhile, other newspapers all over Europe are starting to print the offending cartoons, just to say NYAAH NYAAH! in a gesture of solidarity with Denmark. The Germans, sticklers for good order that they are, went a little further to put things into context:
In Germany, the conservative Die Welt printed one image on its front page and declared in an editorial: "The protests from Muslims would be taken more seriously if they were less hypocritical. When Syrian television showed drama documentaries in prime time depicting rabbis as cannibals, the imams were quiet."
There are two things I feel compelled to emphasize here. First, this is not merely about whether to print this or that cartoon; this is about the basic rights of Westerners, and the very ability of Westerners to govern ourselves according to our own laws; and the stakes are life and death. Newspaper editors have received explicit threats of murder over these cartoons, made credible by recent experience. We're all in danger here, tasteless cartoons or not.
Second, the fanatics who recently threatened violence against us because we're occupying Iraq, are now making very similar threats because we print cartoons they don't like. This should serve as a clear reminder that yielding to any such blackmail, in any way, large or small, will not bring peace -- only more demands, both large and petty, with no decrease in the actual threat level.
PS: here's a really nice collection of pictures of Mohammed, from all over the world, from the Middle Ages to today. Pictures of the Prophet are not nearly as forbidden as some Muslims contend. Of course, one can't blame the Palestinian extremists if they'd prefer to harass the Danes, rather than Iranians or Saudi Arabs.
UPDATE: Editor Jihad Momani of that Jordanian tabloid I mentioned has been fired "over the 'shock' he had caused" by asking Muslims to be reasonable, according to Jordan's official Petra news agency. Also, the man named to replace the fired editor of France-Soir has refused to take up his post.
UPDATE 2: Secular Blasphemy, the Norwegian blog from which I'm getting most of my information about this ongoing meltdown, just got its first death threat. The guy was posting from Pakistan, and barely able to form a coherent English sentence, and his threats seemed to be "directed" at just about everyone who reads the blog. And there's a bit of Jew-bashing as well. Why does none of this surprise me?
Armed groups in the Palestinian territories have threatened to attack Danish, French and Norwegian nationals after cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad appeared in European newspapers.
Norwegians? I hear you ask. Didn't they totally cave in and apologize for exercising their basic rights? I did a double-take on this too, but later read that the apology came, in a confidential letter, from Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre to Norway's embassies in Muslim countries. More recently, however, Norway's Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg (Labour), countermanded this fumbling, furtive apology by saying (publicly this time): "As prime minister in a country with freedom of speech I cannot apologise for what is printed in Norwegian newspapers."
Two militants groups released a joint statement on Thursday that said: "All nationals and those who work in the diplomatic corps of these countries can be considered targets of the Popular Resistance Committee and Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades."
Two militant groups releasing a "joint statement" pretty well proves that this is not a sincere or spontaneous grass-roots expression of outrage, but an orchestrated campaign of intimidation, and probably diversion as well. The two groups in question are part of Fatah, who just lost an election, and are now probably trying to restore some irresponsible-terrorist cred, blow off some steam, and have some fun in the process. I'm guessing Hamas are too busy governing to join the fun.
Meanwhile, in France, according to the BBC, a newspaper-owner's spinelessness is being met with vocal resistance from his own employees:
France Soir's editor, Jacques Lefranc, was dismissed by the paper's French Egyptian owner [for reprinting the offending cartoons] in response to criticism from Muslim groups.
But journalists at France Soir stood by their editor's decision on Thursday, printing a front page picture and editorial in which they strongly defended the right to free speech.
The same article relays encouraging news from Jordan (emphasis added):
Jordanian independent tabloid al-Shihan reprinted three of the cartoons on Thursday, saying people should know what they were protesting about, AFP news agency reports.
"Muslims of the world be reasonable," wrote editor Jihad Momani.
"What brings more prejudice against Islam, these caricatures or pictures of a hostage-taker slashing the throat of his victim in front of the cameras or a suicide bomber who blows himself up during a wedding ceremony in Amman?"
Here's a timetable of other events that might bring prejudice against Islam:
- 1989: Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Khomeini calls on Muslims to kill British author Salman Rushdie for alleged blasphemy in his book "The Satanic Verses".
- 2002: Nigerian journalist Isioma Daniel's article about the Prophet and Miss World contestants sparks deadly riots.
- 2004: Dutch film maker Theo van Gogh is killed after release of his documentary about violence against Muslim women.
- 2005: London's Tate Britain museum cancels plans to display sculpture by John Latham for fear of offending Muslims after the July bombings.
And here's more wacky news from Islam-Online:
The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Arab League, the Muslim world's two main political bodies, are seeking a UN resolution, backed by possible sanctions, to protect religions following the publication of cartoons depicting and ridiculing Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
I'd love to hear the UN discuss how they might enforce such a resolution. UN troops in New York? I don't think so. A global Budweiser boycott? The Danes could take up the slack, and the world would be better off. (The next beer I buy will be Danish, if possible.)
Meanwhile, other newspapers all over Europe are starting to print the offending cartoons, just to say NYAAH NYAAH! in a gesture of solidarity with Denmark. The Germans, sticklers for good order that they are, went a little further to put things into context:
In Germany, the conservative Die Welt printed one image on its front page and declared in an editorial: "The protests from Muslims would be taken more seriously if they were less hypocritical. When Syrian television showed drama documentaries in prime time depicting rabbis as cannibals, the imams were quiet."
There are two things I feel compelled to emphasize here. First, this is not merely about whether to print this or that cartoon; this is about the basic rights of Westerners, and the very ability of Westerners to govern ourselves according to our own laws; and the stakes are life and death. Newspaper editors have received explicit threats of murder over these cartoons, made credible by recent experience. We're all in danger here, tasteless cartoons or not.
Second, the fanatics who recently threatened violence against us because we're occupying Iraq, are now making very similar threats because we print cartoons they don't like. This should serve as a clear reminder that yielding to any such blackmail, in any way, large or small, will not bring peace -- only more demands, both large and petty, with no decrease in the actual threat level.
PS: here's a really nice collection of pictures of Mohammed, from all over the world, from the Middle Ages to today. Pictures of the Prophet are not nearly as forbidden as some Muslims contend. Of course, one can't blame the Palestinian extremists if they'd prefer to harass the Danes, rather than Iranians or Saudi Arabs.
UPDATE: Editor Jihad Momani of that Jordanian tabloid I mentioned has been fired "over the 'shock' he had caused" by asking Muslims to be reasonable, according to Jordan's official Petra news agency. Also, the man named to replace the fired editor of France-Soir has refused to take up his post.
UPDATE 2: Secular Blasphemy, the Norwegian blog from which I'm getting most of my information about this ongoing meltdown, just got its first death threat. The guy was posting from Pakistan, and barely able to form a coherent English sentence, and his threats seemed to be "directed" at just about everyone who reads the blog. And there's a bit of Jew-bashing as well. Why does none of this surprise me?