Exploring

1

• Exploring
• Freedom of Expression
• in the Islamic World
• Dr. Arne H. Fjeldstad

2
Understanding Europeans

• To reveal the European perspective on freedom of
  expression and why they always offend the Muslim
  people?

3
Why Freedom of Expression?

• "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and
  expression this right includes freedom to hold
  opinions without interference and to seek,
  receive and impart information and ideas through
  any media and regardless of frontiers."
• Article 19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of
  Human Rights

4
Charter for a Free Press

• A free press means a free people
• Free flow of news and information both within and
  across national borders
• Independent news media, both print and broadcast,
  must be allowed to emerge and operate freely in
  all countries

5
Freedom of Speech

• Freedom of speech versus blasphemy represents the
  tension which exists between political freedom,
  particularly freedom of speech, and certain
  examples of art, literature, speech or other acts
  which some consider to be sacrilegious or
  blasphemous.

6
Understanding Europe

• Not always freedom of expression in Europe
• A result of a long and hard battle against the
  absolute power of monarchs and the church

7
Understanding Europeans

• Muslims must understand that laughing at
  religion is a part of the broader culture in
  which they live in Europe, going back to
  Voltaire. Cynicism, irony and indeed blasphemy
  are part of the culture. Tariq Ramadan

8
Understanding Islam

• It is against Islamic principles to represent in
  imagery not only Muhammad, but all the prophets
  of Islam. This is a clear prohibition.
• In the Muslim world, we are not used to laughing
  at religion, our own or anybody elses. . . For
  that reason, these cartoons are seen, by average
  Muslims and not just radicals, as a transgression
  against something sacred, a provocation against
  Islam.
• Tariq Ramadan

9
Europeans are Different

• Why do some people in Europe divine the freedom
  of expression at the expense of other peoples
  belief?
• How different are the Europeans and the Muslim
  people regarding blasphemy?
• Why are many people in Europe yet to understand
  Islamic values?

10
Post-Christian Europe

• Europe is largely Post-Christian
• Most believing Christians feel their faith is
  made fun of, and they are a minority too . . .
• Europe is dominated by post-modern secularism and
  deconstructionism

11
Post-modern Secularism

• Europe is marked by post-modern secularism No
  absolute TRUTH
• Nothing is truly sacred, everything becomes
  relative and privatized
• So Nobody should really be offended. You have
  your private truth, I have mine, they are both
  equal, but they might change over time, who can
  tell?
• Consequence Nobody has the RIGHT to make any
  judgement

12
Post-modern Secularism

• Post-modern, deconstructionist folk belief makes
  reality segmented and privatized.
• The text is NOT the meaning it is in the receiver

13
Post-modern Secularism

• . . makes religion privatized and marginalized in
  society
• People tend not to understand the role and
  importance of faith
• Relativism and pragmatism rule

14
The Scandinavian Way
Pragmatism in practice . . .
15
Understanding Denmark

• A small country
• Domestic affairs are really domestic
• Highly homogeneous people
• No tradition dealing with ethnic/religious
  minorities
• No post-colonial traumas
• no developed sensitivity to religions/ cultures
  of others

16
Denmark Religion

• Strong tradition being critical toward religion
• Criticizing religion criticizing old social
  order
• Anti-religious feelings and thoughts common,
  sometimes high fashion

17
The Danish Cartoons

• People had a variety of different opinions
• Rumours Illustrators are afraid to draw cartoons
  for the childrens book about Muhammad
• Late Summer Two newspapers put old cartoons on
  the cover page, nothing happened
• September 30 12 cartoons. No controversy
• Most media harmless, maybe childish provocation

18
The Danish Cartoons

• No legal limits to freedom of speech and freedom
  of the press
• No one denies that Jyllands-Posten had the legal
  right to publish the cartoons
• The article Religions and religious people
  should learn to accept insults/provocations as a
  way of life in a democracy

19
The Danish Cartoons

• The Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy
  really began when Danish Muslim organizations
  started a tour of the Middle East and attended
  the meeting of OIC. As the controversy has grown,
  some or all of the cartoons have been reprinted
  in newspapers in more than fifty countries, which
  led to violent protests, particularly in the
  Islamic world.

20
The Cartoon Riots

• Several death threats and rewards for murdering
  those responsible for the cartoons have been
  issued, resulting in the cartoonists going into
  hiding.
• 11 Islamic countries demanded action from the
  Danish government, and several Arab countries
  eventually closed their embassies in Denmark.
• A large consumer boycott was organised in Saudi
  Arabia, Kuwait, and other Middle East countries.
  Rumours spread via SMS and word-of-mouth.

21
Cartoon Politics

• The Organization of the Islamic Conference and
  the Arab League have demanded that the United
  Nations impose international sanctions upon
  Denmark and that the EU introduce blasphemy laws.
• The foreign ministers of seventeen Islamic
  countries renewed calls for the Danish government
  to punish those responsible for the cartoons, and
  to ensure that such cartoons would not be
  published again.

22
Danish Imams travelling

• A group of Danish Imams lobbied in the Middle
  East with a 43 page dossier with many additional
  allegations.

• It contained hate-mail pictures and letters that
  the authors alleged were sent to Muslims in
  Denmark.
• At a 6 December 2005 summit of the OIC, with
  many heads of state in attendance, the dossier
  was handed around, and an official communiqué
  issued.

23
The Imams Dossier
BBC This image was circulated by Danish Muslims
to illustrate the atmosphere of
Islamophobia. This image was later found to be a
wire-service photo of a contestant at a French
pig-squealing contest (picture under)
24
Self-Inflicted Blasphemy?

• If the images first published in Jyllands-Posten
  are so inherently offensive that they cannot be
  viewed in any context, why did Danish Muslims
  distribute them across an Islamic world that
  seldom looks at Copenhagen newspapers?
• Do we have a case of "self-inflicted blasphemy
  (Bernard-Henri Levy) ?

25
The Cartoon Riots

• For weeks, numerous protests against the cartoons
  have taken place worldwide, some of them violent.

• On February 4, 2006, the buildings containing
  the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Syria were
  set ablaze, although no one was hurt. In Beirut
  the Danish Embassy office was set on fire,
  resulting in the death of one protester inside.

26
Demonstrations Indonesia

• INDONESIA The leader of the world's most
  populous Muslim country, Indonesian President
  Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, condemned the cartoons
  as 'clearly insensitive.'
• At least 200 Muslims protested against the
  cartoons in Surabaya.

27
Demonstrations and Riots

• Not really spontaneous, volunteer and huge
  gatherings
• Rather staged, well organized rallies
• Often to serve a much larger socio-political
  purpose than just to express personal or
  collective religious offense

28
1 mill Dkk in Reward

• I offer the reward of 10 Million Rupees (1
  Million DKK, 120000US) for anyone who kills one
  of the Cartoonists, says Syes Athar Bukhari, the
  President of the Bar Association in Pakistan.
• Bukhari is supported by the Jamaat-i-Islami
  party, the second-largest part of the Pakistani
  coalition government.

29
Still Sentenced to Death . .

• One of the cartoons Lars Refn draws a young
  immigrant named Muhammed in a public school, the
  text in Persian "Jyllands-Posten's journalists
  are a bunch of reactionary provocateurs."

30
Why So Offensive?

• The cartoons were taken out of their cultural
  context
• Some of them labelled the Prophet as well as all
  Muslims as suicide bombers with oppressed and
  fearful women behind

31
Nobody Noticed at first . . .

• The Egyptian newspaper Al Fagr printed six of the
  cartoons during Ramadan in October 2005, strongly
  denouncing them.
• Not a single squeak of outrage was present.
  The blogger Sandmonkey

Sandmonkey The Arab Islamic population was going
crazy over the outrage created by their
government's media, their governments was
benifitting from its people's distraction.
32
Sandmonkeys Explanation

• The Saudi royal Family used it to distract its
  people from the outrage over the Hajj stampede
• The Jordanian government used it to distract its
  people from their new minimum wage law demanded
  by their labor unions
• The Syrian Government used it to create sectarian
  division in Lebanon and change the focus on the
  Harriri murder
• The Egyptian government is using it to distract
  the people while it passes through the new
  Judiciary reforms and Social Security Bill

33
The Cartoon Riots

• Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has
  described the controversy as Denmark's worst
  international crisis since World War II.

34
Why Not Apologize?

• Danish PM Rasmussen stated he was sorry that
  Muslims "felt insulted," but the Danish
  government cannot be held responsible for what is
  published in the independent media."
• Similarly, Norwegian PM Jens Stoltenberg was
  sorry "this may have hurt many Muslims," but said
  the Norwegian government "cannot apologize for
  what the newspapers print."

35
Swedish Minister Sacked

• On March 21, 2006 Laila Freiwalds resigned as
  Foreign Minister after accusations of lying to
  media about her involvement in the closing of a
  website publishing the cartoons, belonging to the
  Sweden Democrats.
• Her involvement in closing the website is seen by
  many as a violation against that part of the
  Swedish constitution dealing with press freedom.

36
It Will Happen Again

• A recent survey in Denmark reveals that 57
  believe a new Muhammad crisis will happen
  within 5 years.
• Only 13 think this is not likely
• Only 34 of Danish voters believe Islam and
  democracy are compatible (down from more than
  50)
• Zapatera Research Institute for Monday Morning
  Newspaper

37
Worldviews in Conflict

• The Muhammad cartoons raises several important
  issues and questions
• The concept of blasphemy is different in the West
  and in Islamic countries
• The actual crime is also viewed very differently
  in the two cultures.
• Depicting Muhammed has long traditions within
  Shia Islam.

38
Religious Freedom

• Religious freedom means being free to reject
  somebody else's religion and even to insult it.
• Government should encourage its citizens to be
  tolerant of one another, but its primary
  responsibility is to protect its citizens' rights
  and freedoms.
• The fact that some people sometimes may feel
  insulted is one cost of freedom.
• Paul Marshall

39
Worldviews in Conflict

• Ambassadors represent countries, not a religion
• Some countries actually maintain a strict
  separation between the media and the government
  and any interference is anti-constitutional
  (Swedish Minister resigned)
• Distinguish criticism from threats
• Distinguish who or what is being made fun of

40
Self-Censorship in the West

• The Telegraph published an interview with Dr.
  Patrick Sookhdeo where he criticized some Muslim
  leaders and their efforts to bring Sharia to the
  UK, titled 'The day is coming when British
  Muslims form a state within a state' (19 February
  2006.)
• The article later was pulled from the Telegraph's
  website for "legal reasons"

41
What Did Dr. Sookhdeo Say?

• "They believe that the British Government has
  capitulated to them, because it feared the
  consequences if it did not. The cartoons, you
  see, have not been published in this country. To
  many of the Islamic clerics, that's a clear
  victory.
• In a decade, you will see parts of English cities
  which are controlled by Muslim clerics and which
  follow, not the common law, but aspects of Muslim
  Sharia law.
• Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo was brought up as a Muslim
  in Guyana

42
An Honest Explanation. . .

• The Boston Phoenix was honest in explaining why
  they wouldn't publish the cartoons
• out of fear of retaliation from the
  international brotherhood of radical and
  bloodthirsty Islamists who seek to impose their
  will on those who do not believe as they do. This
  is, frankly, our primary reason for not
  publishing any of the images in question. Simply
  stated, we are being terrorized, and as deeply as
  we believe in the principles of free speech and a
  free press, we could not in good conscience place
  the men and women who work at the Phoenix and its
  related companies in physical jeopardy.

43
Resisting Intimidation

• Accusations of apostasy and blasphemy are also a
  means to silence Muslim reformers wherever in the
  world they may reside
• "Supporters of God's Messenger" ("Al-Munasirun li
  Rasul al Allah") announced April 12, 2006 it
  would kill "atheists," "polytheists" and their
  supporters unless they repented, and it listed
  its targets, and many of their family members, by
  name
• If cartoonists rein in their satire, if pundits
  and politicians carefully guard their language,
  violent Islamists will accept their victory and
  move on to demand the next part of their agenda
  the silencing or death of those who reject or
  criticize their program, including, especially,
  Muslims. Paul Marshall

44
Many Questions Remain

• Some of the added pictures are maybe even worse
  and many people ask if they are home-made by
  Danish Muslims?
• Why no reaction when Al Fagr published these
  cartoons on its front page during Ramadan?
• Why so tolerant of death threats by radical
  Muslim peoples/groups?

• Why are actually some of the cartoons viewed as
  blasphemic not distinguish between them?
• Is it acceptable that a particular punishment
  according to Sharia (death sentence) should be
  made valid globally and imposed on citizens of
  another country and faith? (the cartoonists)

45
A Greater Awareness

• The debate has given new prominence to the issue
  of offensive behavior in general and blasphemy in
  particular
• People in the West have started debating and
  thinking about respect for peoples beliefs and
  values
• Also Christians have become more aware of the
  sacred issues of our faith

46
Freedom Not to Publish

• The cartoons have spurred an important debate
  within media on self-censorship, respect for
  peoples faith, etc
• Media in general tend to jump on the latest
  hype and uncritically publish it
• Religion and faith has been put on the medias
  agenda
• How things are presented is often as important as
  the actual content

47
New Debate in the West

• Some would argue that Muslims receive special
  treatment particularly in Europe, and that the
  Christian faith is treated much more offensively
  and malicious
• But the recent debate has also inspired
  Christians in the West to fight deeply offensive
  behavior against God and Jesus in a peaceful way,
  and convince f.ex. A TV-channel not to air a
  comedian burning pages from the Old Testament

48
The Dilemma

• For Muslim majority countries to react
  emotionally to these cartoons with boycotts is to
  nurture the extremists on the other side, making
  it a test of wills. On one side, the extremists
  argue "See, we told you, the West is against
  Islam." On the other side they say, "See, Muslims
  cant be integrated into Europe, and they are
  destroying our values by not accepting what we
  stand for."
• Tariq Ramadan

49
A Way Forward?

• Muslims have to understand there is free speech
  in Europe, and that is that. On the other side,
  there needs to be an understanding that sensitive
  issues must be addressed with wisdom and
  prudence, not provocation. Just because you have
  the legal right to do something doesnt mean you
  have to do it. You have to understand the people
  around you. Do I go around insulting people just
  because Im free to do it? No. Its called civic
  responsibility.
• Tariq Ramadan

50
A Way Forward?

• When will the Muslim majority stand up to reject
  inflamatory or humiliating language and help
  build platforms of understanding?
• When will believing Christians all over the World
  stand up and do the same?
• One platform built on common human dignity and
  values
• One platform built on mutual respect for faith
  itself, as well as of other people of faith?