If journalists described Jews or gay people as they do Muslims, they would be hounded out of what is left of Fleet Street, agues Ziauddin Sardar.
More slander against Qaradawi from Harry’s Place
Those great defenders of democracy over at Harry’s Place evidently dismiss the democratic right to protest when it’s Muslims who are exercising that right:
“This Danish cartoon business is rapidly turning into mainland Europe’s version of the Satanic Verses affair. Here’s how a man Ken Livingstone described as a moderate reacted yesterday to the escalating tension: ‘The wave of protest was triggered by Sheikh Yussef al-Qaradawi, head of the International Association of Muslim Scholars, who last night called on Muslims all over the world to observe ‘an international day of anger for God and his prophet’.”
Harry’s Place, 3 February 2006
Predictably, the right-wing press took the same line, referring to Qaradawi as a “leading hard-line Muslim cleric”.
Daily Telegraph, 3 February 2006
This would of course be the same Dr al-Qaradawi who has condemned violent demonstrations and called on Muslims to “express their anger in a prudent manner”.
Danish paper rejected Jesus cartoons
Jyllands-Posten, the Danish newspaper that first published the cartoons of the prophet Muhammad that have caused a storm of protest throughout the Islamic world, refused to run drawings lampooning Jesus Christ, it has emerged today. The Danish daily turned down the cartoons of Christ three years ago, on the grounds that they could be offensive to readers and were not funny.
In April 2003, Danish illustrator Christoffer Zieler submitted a series of unsolicited cartoons dealing with the resurrection of Christ to Jyllands-Posten. Zieler received an email back from the paper’s Sunday editor, Jens Kaiser, which said: “I don’t think Jyllands-Posten‘s readers will enjoy the drawings. As a matter of fact, I think that they will provoke an outcry. Therefore, I will not use them.”
‘Muslims and their appeasing liberal/left allies’
Brett Lock of Outrage wants to know: “Why are some Muslims and their appeasing liberal/left allies getting so het up about fantasy cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, while ignoring real-life murderous insults and threats by Islamist fundamentalists in London, Europe and many other parts of the world?”
Posted in Analysis & comment, Secular, UK
Muriel Gray writes: “… what of moderate Islam? British Muslims are represented by the unelected Sir Iqbal Sacranie, a man at the forefront of the book-burning mob who threatened Rushdie’s life, when Sacranie declared: ‘Death, I think, is too easy for him.’ For this part in incitement to murder, Sacranie was awarded not the stiff custodial sentence one might expect, but a knighthood.” Sunday Herald, 5 February 2006 I particularly liked Gray’s reference to “the Western values so vigorously and courageously fought for over two bloody world wars”. So World War I was fought in defence of “western values”, was it? Although, on reflection, she does have a point here. “Western values” do indeed include a tendency to heap up vast piles of corpses as imperialist powers pursue their interests through military aggression without the slightest concern for the human consequences. Elsewhere in the same paper, Torcuil Crichton writes: “Yesterday Hizb ut-Tahrir, an extremist organisation that believes in a Muslim Caliphate, demanded that European governments exert pressure on their media outlets to retract the offensive caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad, apologise for the offence caused and guarantee no further repetition of such abuse. The demands reflect those of the gunmen in Gaza who threatened to bomb the EU presence in Palestinian Authority.” Which of course omits to mention the minor difference that Hizb didn’t threaten to bomb anyone. Ex-leftist turned warmonger Christopher Hitchens writes: “… there is a strong case for saying that the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, and those who have reprinted its efforts out of solidarity, are affirming the right to criticize not merely Islam but religion in general…. if Muslims do not want their alleged prophet identified with barbaric acts or adolescent fantasies, they should say publicly that random murder for virgins is not in their religion. And here one runs up against a curious reluctance.” “We have had suicide bombers in London and we are seeing riots across the Channel. However the media and our Government try to cloud the issue by blaming British and French society and not the terrorists and rioters. They deliberately avoid pinpointing the driving force behind these attacks, which is a religion that is alien to these shores and in its latest fundamental form threatens our very way of life. “A large section of British people feel threatened by the rapid growth of the Muslim population in Britain but at present have no way of voicing this concern. Our ‘May 4th is Referendum Day’ campaign will give people that voice. Every vote for the British National Party tells Tony Blair of this groundswell of disquiet.” “A group calling itself Action Against Anti-Semitism marched into the Statesman’s offices, demanding a printed apology. One eventually followed. The then editor, Peter Wilby, later confessed that he had not appreciated ‘the historic sensitivities’ of Britain’s Jews. I do not remember talk of a clash of civilisations in which Jewish values were inconsistent with the western traditions of freedom of speech or democracy. Nor do I recall editors across Europe rushing to reprint the cover in solidarity. “Quite why the Muslim response to 12 cartoons printed by Jyllands-Posten last September should be treated differently is illuminating…. they are vilified twice: once through the cartoon, and again for exercising their democratic right to protest. The inflammatory response to their protest reminds me of the quote from Steve Biko, the South African black nationalist: ‘Not only are whites kicking us; they are telling us how to react to being kicked’.” Excellent article by Gary Younge in the Guardian, 4 February 2006 In the opinion of this Islamophobia Watch contributor the New Statesman cover was indeed anti-semitic and protests against it were justified. We have reproduced it here from Ha’aretz. A march in which protesters chanted violent anti-Western slogans such as “7/7 is on its way” should have been banned, a leading British Muslim said. Asghar Bukhari said the demonstration in London on Friday should have been stopped by police because the group had been advocating violence. The chairman of the Muslim Public Affairs Committee said the protesters “did not represent British Muslims”. More protests over cartoons of Muhammad on Saturday passed off peacefully. Mr Bukhari told the BBC News website: “The placards and chants were disgraceful and disgusting, Muslims do not feel that way. I condemn them without reservation, these people are less representative of Muslims than the BNP are of the British people.” Meanwhile, in Denmark itself, a far right party aims to provoke further conflict by publicly burning copies of the Qur’an. No doubt the National Secular Society and the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty will welcome this blow for secularism and free speech.‘How can we have respect for Islam?’ Muriel Gray asks
Hitchens defends cartoons provocation
Fascists launch ‘referendum’ on Islam
Taking immediate advantage of last week’s acquittal at Leeds Crown Court, the British National Party has launched a new leaflet inciting hatred against Muslims. The fascists announce that they intend to turn the May council elections into a “referendum” on Islam. The editor of the BNP paper, Freedom, is quoted as saying:Gary Younge on the Danish cartoons controversy
“In January 2002 the New Statesman published a front page displaying a shimmering golden Star of David impaling a union flag, with the words ‘A kosher conspiracy?’ The cover was widely and rightly condemned as anti-semitic….MPACUK condemns protesters
Far right racists in Denmark threaten to burn Qur’an