Stop the massacre...
It is sad, incredible and so shocking, all the buzz and regrettable events that surrounded the publishing of the Prophet Mahomet caricatures in the Danish newspaper “Jyllands-Posten”
This issue clearly emphasizes a clash between two civilizations: the ‘west’, secular and democratic where the freedom of speech is above everything; and the Muslim world, a conservative and religious society with no democratic traditions.
While the ‘west’ watches the reaction of the Muslim world with incredulity, the anger is growing. The Danish government refuses to apologize in the name of the Danish people for the newspaper’s actions asserting that in a democracy the press is free and do not depend on the government’s restrictions.
The requests coming from several governments to condemn the caricatures are seen as a call to oppress freedom of speech. And as a reaction a movement of support to the Danish newspaper and the banned newspapers and magazines starts: newspapers relaying the caricatures, blogs, forums… in the name of freedom of speech and Democracy.
The ‘west’ couldn’t understand how Muslims all around the world are making such a big deal of simple caricatures, while they feel free to criticize the church, and caricaturize the figure of Jesus.
Unfortunately, the spiral is tearing both sides apart; a strong anti-Muslim reaction on one side (http://michellemalkin.com/archives/004446.htm, http://face-of-muhammed.blogspot.com) and claims of Islamophobia coming from a humiliated crowd leading to violent demonstrations in the streets of Damascus, Bayreuth, Palestine, Jakarta…
The reactions from both sides are escalating and the deep gap between the two societies is getting clearer and clearer.
The official calls asking the governments of Denmark and Norway to condemn the caricatures are not justified. Nor the violent demonstrations against the countries that had newspapers relaying the caricatures. How can you condemn a whole country because of a newspaper’s decision !? Radicals definitely are taking advantage of the situation to set the Muslim crowd on fire.
All this because of a gaffe in the first place, Jyllands-Posten should have examined the sensitivity of Muslims when it comes to touching the image of the Prophet Mohammed, a very strong sacred personality in Islam in which every Muslim person identifies himself.
There is a very thin line between a comment and an offense, like the width of a thread from a spider's web*. Every society has its symbols and taboos, and while the ‘west’ is losing its restrictions, they are still present everywhere else. Then we should question whether it is acceptable to infringe on the comfort zones of ‘non-western’ societies in an effort to protect the ‘West’s’ so-called right to freedom of speech?
* Katie Melua - Spider's web a song that summarizes it all.
3 Comments:
Anis I think you see and interprete things with one face. I know you are trying hard to have an even judgement as a muslim, so am I and I am not going to regret that ''some'' muslim communities are conservative and all that but I think behind the scene of a small caricature, there is so much more. You are forgetting the fact that muslims, nationality doesn't matter, have been under so much pressure and have been left out starting with 9/11 and all other terrorist attacks after that. It is SO WRONG that to many people terrorist attacks are identified with being muslim. IRA has murdered thousand of people and it claims to be a christian terrorist organization, G.Bush is a warcriminal and he's a christian and there's millions of other examples both for muslims and christians, but these examples doesn't mean that it's ok to discriminate people just because of their religious believes. I hope you inform your canadian and american friends well about these topics because most of them have prejudices.
Thank you Janset for your comment; I don't think I am two harsh with Muslim communities in what I wrote. I completely understand their reaction and their frustration versus an uprising sentiment of Islamophobia around the world. I feel it myself, and it pisses me off so much to systemically associate Islam to terrorism.
Perhaps I am harder in my judgment towards my people because I belong to this community and I regret so much its radicalization. I don’t think violence or hatred is the right way to solve any issue, there is always a way for dialogue… unfortunately, as a reaction to this Islamophobia, Muslims tend to reject the west instead of finding common grounds.
Improvements have to be made on both sides, but the political reality is not helping at all.
Spider's Web
Katie Melua
If a black man is racist, is it okay?
When it's the white man's racism that made him that way,
Because the bully's the victim they say,
By some sense they're all the same.
Because the line between,
Wrong and right,
Is the width of a thread,
From a spider's web.
The piano keys are black and white,
But they sound like a million colours in your mind.
I could tell you to go to war,
Or I could march for peace and fighting no more,
How do I know which is right,
And I hope he does when he sends you to fight.
Because the line between wrong and right,
Is the width of a thread from a spider's web,
The piano keys are black and white,
But they sound like a million colours in your mind.
Should we act on a blame?
Or should we chase the moments away?
Should we live?
Should we give?
Remember forever the guns and the feathers in time.
Because the line between wrong and right,
Is the width of a thread from a spider's web,
The piano keys are black and white,
But they sound like a million colours in your mind.
The piano keys are black and white,
But they sound like a million colours in your mind,
But they sound like a million colours in your mind
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