Author Archives: Bob Pitt

Abu Aardvark on the cartoons crisis

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Marc LynchMarc Lynch writes: “By emphasizing angry voices on both sides, but especially on the Muslim side, the media is playing into the hands of extremists. It’s typical of the media – sensationalism sells papers, and gets viewers. But it isn’t constructive.

“When Qaradawi says that Muslims should be angry and should boycott, but should not engage in violence, don’t report the first and ignore the second…. this is not a clash of civilizations, and we should stop treating it as such. Yes, most Muslims I know are angry and genuinely offended, but they aren’t violent about it.

“If a similar cartoon had been run about Jesus, or Anne Frank … or Martin Luther King, lots of Americans would be angry and genuinely offended. By focusing on the extreme voices, the media really does an injustice to the legitimate, human feelings and ideas of that vast majority of Muslims who deserve the right to be heard without being reduced to some cliche of Muslim rage.”

Abu Aardvark weblog, 9 February 2006

Somebody should point this out to Anthony Garton Ash, who in yesterday’s Guardian endorsed the prominent media coverage given to irrelevant and totally unrepresentative nutters like Omar Bakri and Anjem Choudary.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali backs cartoons provocation

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Dutch politician and self-styled Muslim dissident urged Europeans to stand firm on Thursday in an international crisis over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, saying it was “necessary and urgent” to criticise Islam.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali praised newspapers in many countries which have printed the cartoons, considered blasphemous by many Muslims, but said others had held back for fear of criticising what she called “intolerant aspects of Islam”.

“Today I am here to defend the right to offend within the bounds of the law,” she told a news conference organised by her publisher during a visit to Berlin. “It’s necessary and it’s urgent to criticise Islam. It is urgent to criticise the teachings of Mohammad.”

Reuters, 9 February 2006

See also BBC News, 9 February 2006

And over at Jihad Watch, Robert Spencer hails “More heroism from the great Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who in a sane world would be Prime Minister of the Netherlands”.

Dhimmi Watch, 9 February 2006

Friday sermons to reflect on Islamophobia and urge peaceful protest

Posted on by Bob Pitt

MAB logoMuslim Association of Britain called on Mosque imams around the country to use their tomorrow Friday prayer sermons to reflect on the offensive Islamophobic campaign in Europe and to urge their followings to attend the rally against Islamophobia on Saturday.

The Trafalgar Square event will be attended by figures from across public life in an attempt to provide a legitimate stage to voice concern and anger over the cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, as a terrorist.

Commenting, Anas Altikriti, spokesman for MAB said:

“The Islamophobic attitudes which have been pervading across the European continent for a sustained period have come to a head over these cartoons. There is an understandable anxiety among Muslims about where this kind of portrayal will lead. Many are rightly linking these to similar anti-Semitic caricatures over the years, which are now being used against Muslims.

“The imams will in their Friday sermons simply reinforce that we have to work with the many non-Muslims that are ready to hold hands, to create a more peaceful and respectful world. We’ll be seeing that in force no doubt on Saturday itself.”

Muslim Association of Britain press release, 9 February 2006

Pipes on the ‘clash of civilisations’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The key issue at stake in the battle over the twelve Danish cartoons of the Muslim prophet Muhammad is this: Will the West stand up for its customs and mores, including freedom of speech, or will Muslims impose their way of life on the West? Ultimately, there is no compromise….”

Daniel Pipes in a predictable response to the Danish cartoons controversy.

New York Sun, 7 February 2006

See also the excellent reply at Mere Islam, 7 February 2006

It’s no joke if you’re on the receiving end

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Mark SteelToday’s Independent includes an excellent piece by Mark Steel, entitled “It’s no joke if you’re on the receiving end”, on the issue of freedom of speech arising out of the Danish cartoons controversy. Steel points out that:

“… it isn’t just The Sun denouncing Muslims for ‘threatening free speech’. Almost everyone regarded as vaguely clever has appeared somewhere to confirm that free speech, however unpalatable, is the foundation of etc etc. I expect the Shipping Forecast has gone ‘Biscay, five rising to eight, a gale that, while I may not like it, I would die for its right to blow. Easterly.’

“But a debate about free speech is meaningless unless it relates to the society in which things are being spoken. When Goebbels commissioned cartoons of grotesque paedophile Jews, he was exercising free speech. So if you approach the matter as an abstract debating point, we should defend his right to do so. But that’s obviously mad. Similarly, it wouldn’t have helped much to advise Jews to draw their own cartoons of grotesque paedophile Nazis, saying ‘Then we’ll all be laughing at each other, so isn’t that lovely.’

“But you get the impression that if the academics discussing the matter now had been around back then, there’d have been an edition of The Moral Maze which began ‘Our first witness is a Miss Anne Frank. Now you’ve been complaining about some of the images that have appeared recently, but surely if you’re not prepared to accept other people’s viewpoints you’ve no right to be in the country.’

“Because speech leads to actions. The reason we no longer accept golliwogs and black and white minstrels and the joke of throwing bananas at black footballers is because their existence effects the status of black people in society. If it’s legitimate to portray an entire race as sub-human idiots, they’re more likely to be attacked, abused and made to feel utterly dreadful. And yet the debates about the reaction to this Danish cartoon have almost all ignored the position of those who feel most threatened by it.”

Socialist Worker on Danish cartoons

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Issue is RacismLots of coverage of the Danish cartoons issue in this week’s Socialist Worker.

The front page article is headlined: “Cartoon Row: The Issue Is Racism”. Further relevant items are “Racism against Muslims has rocketed since 9/11” and “Cartoon caricatures were designed to offend”. Alex Callinicos contributes an article entitled “Freedom to spread hate?” And there’s a polemical piece from John Game on “Cultural Relativism”.

Game points to the double standards applied when it comes to Islam: “We live in a society where if a Catholic bishop talks reactionary nonsense about homosexuality there is some mild tut-tutting in the media. But if a Muslim does the same, articles are written about the ‘failure of multiculturalism’ and the need for Muslims to collectively embrace secularism.”