In
a recent Blanket
article which centered on the anti Islamic cartoons
published in the Autumn of last year by the Danish
newspaper Jyllands Posten, David Adam's wrote
the following: "Whether we like it or not,
most people do associate today's Islam with terrorism
and brutality, and that is something that Islam
has brought upon itself."
Whilst
not wishing to belittle Davids work as for me he
is one of the better writers to emerge out of the
NI 'troubles' and is a man of principle, on the
aforementioned I cannot but disagree with him as
I believe what he writes is untrue. Whilst I would
concede that it is just possible that these days
a majority of people in the West may well [mistakenly
IMO] equate Islam with terrorism and brutality,
in the wider world they simply do not do so. Few
people beyond the Europe and the USA see Islam as
the violent nihilistic religion which is portrayed
in our Newspapers and on our TV screens on a regular
basis, but see Islam in much the same way as Christianity
is looked upon within Europe.
This
misunderstanding of the Islamic faith is one of
the main reasons why I opposed the re-publication
of the cartoons both in the Blanket and elsewhere
and believe that to have published them in the first
place was a deliberate act of provocation on the
part of the Danish newspaper Jyllands Posten. What
other intent could they have had in the current
anti Islamic climate that prevails in the West post
9/11. It is for me impossible to conclude otherwise,
as the cartoons were not originally published because
they were informative or funny, nor are they satire.
They simply reinforce the existing prejudice of
that papers mainly right wing readership and sadly
it seems much of Danish society as a whole.
David
also claims that Muslims have not in the past felt
it necessary to protest when detrimental images
of Muhammad have been published. Whilst this is
not strictly true and not wishing to get into an
argument over theology and the prohibition of images
of God and his messengers within the islamic faith,
he misses the real point. We live in different times
post 9/11. People who live in some of the nations
where the main faith is Islam are under unrelenting
attack from the USA and some of its political acolytes.
Thus understandably their Co-Religionists in other
lands have sympathy for there fellow believers who
find themselves under this onslaught. Believing
for example the invasion of Iraq or the continued
persecution of the Palestinian people have a relevance
to their own lives.
As
an example of how the world has changed post 9/11
as far as tolerance for the Islamic faith is concerned,
consider this. In 1981 a Turkish Muslim, Mehmet
Ali Agca shot and almost killed Pope John Paul 11,
yet at the time the fact he was a Muslim was never
an issue within the media or to the general public
in the West. Does any reader feel the lack of interest
shown in Mehmet Ali Agca's faith would be repeated
today after such an event. To ignore this fact about
the change in western attitudes towards those who
belong to the islamic faith; and publish provocative
images like the cartoons in question, is like handing
the likes of bin Laden and his Al Qaeda associates
around the globe, a container full of hand held
surface-to-air missiles.
David
also claims the people of the Islamic nations are
themselves responsible for the image we in the west
have of them. In truth I find this accusation outrageous.
Although these days it is par for the course for
we live in a world in which the powerful portray
life's victims as the perpetrators of both their
own misfortune and the evils which flow from it.
Occupiers become according to some in the western
media the oppressed, whilst those who resist oppression
become the oppressors. No where is this nonsense
more portrayed in the media than over the conflicts
in the middle east, especially within the occupied
west Bank and the hemmed in miniscule piece of land
called the Gaza strip. Plus of course in poor, desperate
and illegally occupied Iraq.
With
freedom of speech comes responsibility, for make
no mistake it was not middle class Intellectuals
who live in the west who suffered and died due to
the street protests the Whabbis were able to stir
up over the cartoons. It was ordinary Muslims who
died or were injured during the disturbances that
took place in the streets and alleyways of the cities
of Pakistan, the Middle East and the far East.
To
claim this is an issue of Freedom of speech is in
my opinion just plain wrong for not only were the
cartoons published, they have been republished in
countless other newspapers across the globe, including
in parts of the Middle East. They have been shown
on TV throughout much of the world and posted all
over the internet. There have also been countless
demonstrations throughout the world, some in favor
some against the cartoons.
The
fact that Muslims have had the temerity to object
to the publication of these cartoons is what seems
to have angered many in the west, what are those
who claim to be for open society saying, Muslims
have no right to defend their religion via public
protest. Yes placards demanding violent acts were
displayed and blood curdling slogans shouted on
some of the anti cartoon demo's. But perhaps we
should get this into proportion, do we have such
short memories that we on the left have forgotten
we regularly called for Maggie Thatcher to be strung
up, let alone forgotten what we suggested should
happen to Bush, Blair, Clinton, Reagan and Uncle
Tom Cobley and all. Nor a good few of us in the
1960s demanded on our streets that the US armed
forces be bombed and blasted out of Vietnam by the
Vietcong.
We
should also not forget that there are approximately
1.2 billion Muslims in the world, which is about
22 per cent of the worlds population. Thus the numbers
of Muslims who protested against the cartoons and
more importantly those amongst them who demanded
a restriction on the right to freedom of speech,
were a tiny minority of that number. Indeed the
overwhelming majority of Muslims like the majority
in all the main faiths wish to have more freedoms,
not less and to suggest otherwise displays a total
lack of understanding about what makes the majority
of our Islamic brothers and sisters tick.
To
conclude, as far as I am aware no one connected
with these cartoons in the West has had a Fatwa
worthy of the name placed upon them, or has had
to be placed under police protection. But even if
they had, the world is full of political cranks,
both in the west and beyond. To suggest that it
is only the Islamic world that such people inhabit
is silly; and to do so can only further demonize
those who believe in the Islamic faith. Which in
itself, whether intentional or not, in the long
run would be a far greater crime than any those
two-bit killers, fanatics and lunatics who inhabit
Mr bin Laden's world may commit, For by doing so
we will be helping to turn the Islamic world into
bin Laden's and those who think like him willing
accomplices, which is perhaps what some in the West
really wish.
