Since
the Blanket made its decision to re-publish
the anti islamic cartoons which were first published
last Autumn in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten,
I have faced a certain amount of criticism from
'some' comrades on the left due to my decision to
stick with the Blanket and to continue to
write for the e-magazine.* What these people have
to understand is the Blanket is not a collective
in the sense we all sit around and come to an agreed
consensus about the e-magazines content. What happens
is much the same as within most magazines, the Editor
has the final say as to what goes into it.
Ireland's
media is a small pond with a long history of self;
and governmental censorship. Indeed the latter was
one of the reasons why the Blanket was first
established and I believe this history of periodic
censorship undoubtedly played a part in the Blanket's
decision to run the cartoons. Thus when the Republic
of Ireland President, Mary McAleese went to Saudi
Arabia and said "Ireland [and its people] abhors
the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed",
the Blanket felt the Irish people and not
just their leaders had a right to see what the fuss
was about.
I have made my position against publication clear
in an article in the issue of the Blanket
in which the first cartoon to be published appeared.
However I am not going to get into a public kerfuffle
condemning the Blanket nor those who run
it, as knowing them reasonably well, I do not believe
for one moment they were motivated by racism or
prejudice. By publishing the cartoons the Blanket
believes it is sticking limpet-like to its mission
statement which is as follows:
However, having said this l feel there is a double
misunderstanding going on here. Firstly those few
on the left who have either withdrawn from publishing
there work in the Blanket or criticized the
likes of me for continuing to do so have IMO misunderstood
what the raison detr'e of the Blanket is
as spelt out in its Mission Statement. It is not
some democratic centralist publication of this or
that central committee or even primary a vehicle
of the socialist left. Nor is it there as a tool
to condemn the Provisional Republican Movement without
rhyme or reason. Its purpose is what it say's it
is in its Mission Statement which is clear and precise;
and to put it bluntly I find it hard to understand
why for example Eamonn McCann would withdraw from
publishing his work in the Blanket over a
single, although admittedly for him an important
political difference, when he has had no qualms
about publishing in the Belfast Telegraph
and various other capitalist publications which
have a long history of attacking working class people
and those engaged in struggle, including millions
of Muslims in Palestine and Iraq. Whilst I am not
criticizing him for so doing as I believe it is
the first duty of a writer to get his/her opinions
out by whatever means within reason; and I may well
be mistaken here, but one cannot but help feel his
decision to withdraw from the Blanket has
more to do with toeing the SWP party line due to
the connection the British SWP has with the Respect
Party than the actual publication of the cartoons
by the Blanket.
Having said this I feel the Blanket's editor
has not handled this situation well and in my opinion
is misunderstanding Islam as a religion and more
importantly what Islam means and how it interacts
within the daily lives of the majority of those
who believe in that faith. By failing to understand
this, the Blanket on this issue has substituted
the public statements of a minority of prominent
[in the western media] and reactionary imams, ayatollah's
and their political acolytes and acted upon them
by publishing the provocative cartoons.
For
example few people who live in the World would see
the US right wing Christian fundamentalists as being
the mainstream representatives of 21st century Christianity,
let alone the voice of the majority of Christians
throughout the world. Yet whilst this is so, many
Christians who disagree with these fundamentalists
christians would be hurt if a non Christian, started
by criticizing these fundamentalist christians,
but in the process proceeded to call Jesus Christ
a terrorist etc or indeed published a cartoon which
portrayed him, bomb in hand. This hurt and how they
expressed it would have little to do with the fundamentalist
christians beliefs, but everything to do with how
they themselves felt about their own Christianity
being portrayed in such a sacrilegious manner. If
we can but try and understand this, it is not difficult
to foresee why those who demonstrated against the
cartoons felt so aggrieved.
What
some bigoted Islamic scholar or imam may proclaim
does not impact as much as many in the West presume
on ordinary peoples life's in the Muslim world.
True with the USA's despicable foreign policy and
military adventures post 9/11, which in turn have
kick started the rise of political Islam, such reactionary
statements cannot be completely ignored and we on
the left have a duty to defend the secular nature
of the societies we live in. However such bigotry
is only very rarely put into practice by the billion
or so Muslims here on earth. If anyone doubts this
they should analyze who the main victims of fundamentalist
Islamic extremists are and they will find they are
Muslims who mainly live in the Chaotic States the
West, especially the USA, had a hand in creating.
Thus
to publish cartoons which equate violent acts with
all those who practice the Muslim faith or in the
very least could be interpreted as such is a grave
error, as it is just a short step within the current
post 9/11 climate to equate all Muslims with bigotry
and reaction from which it is but a slippery slope
to a repeat of the type of holocaust that took place
between the years 1933-45, only this time it will
be the Muslim people who are the victims. This being
so perhaps it is time for the Blanket to
cease publishing these anti Islamic cartoons or
at the very least stop this drip drip approach and
be done with it by publishing them all at once.
* If we were to do this nothing would ever appear
as we are a group of writers who have a host of
differing opinions.
