Danish paper rejected Jesus cartoons

[Al-khiyal]

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.....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/internatio...703501,00.html


aha, so let us hear what all the 'champions of the Danes' right to free speech' have to say about this revelation. Do the terms 'stinking hypocrisy' or 'deliberate provocation' come to mind at all?


Fact file on the development of the controversy from Juan Cole:

http://www.juancole.com/2006/02/fact...to-danish.html

[HOUDA-K]

Are Muslims not also human beings worthy of equal respect?

The lie about Muslims not being able to accept freedom of speech by Muslim-haters now lies in ruins.

[Al-khiyal]

Rotten in Denmark: Flemming Rose and the clash of civilizations


"....The publication of the 12 cartoons, and the reaction on both sides, is a classic case of how propaganda of the crudest sort is utilized to mold mass attitudes and whip up entire populations into a state of hysteria. Hate and fear are created out of thin air by the most skillful means, and stereotypes take the place of reality as the world prepares for war. That's what this is all about: the hate propaganda emanating from certain quarters in Europe and the U.S. amounts to preparations for war just as much as the manufacture of arms and the mobilization of armies at the border. We are being psychologically prepared for another world war, and the first shots are being fired from the pages of Jyllands-Posten. I have the sinking feeling that they won't be the last…"

http://antiwar.com/justin/



A useful book to read which will prepare you for the type of arguments and allegations that you can expect to hear more of is:

The New Crusades: Constructing the Muslim Enemy by Michael A. Sells & Emran Qureshi.

http://www.word-power.co.uk/catalogue/0231126670

Amazon.com availability:

U.S.A.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/023...Fencoding=UTF8


U.K.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...655303-1521554


France

http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/ASI...449515-0210540


I cannot recommend this book highly enough, it contains all the perspectives and refutations relating to the 'clash of civilizations' debate and is well worth reading.

[WASSIL]

I am not surprised about the double standards operated by these newspapers and I still feel it’s a deliberate provocation.
All this is part of an ongoing trend since 9/11, we’ve since noticed an attitude change towards Muslims and an increase in racial and religious attacks on Muslim minorities all over Europe and if that wasn’t enough we’ve also seen new laws legislated to Curb civil liberties on the pretext of protection again terror.

Its sad that many have died as a direct consequence of publishing these cartoons and I hope that those responsible will now reflect on how much harm they’ve caused to race relations in Europe and international relations worldwide.

Finally I now feel there is an urgent need to legislate new laws to prevent something like this happening again.







[Edited by WASSIL on 11th February 2006 at 01:04]

[HOUDA-K]

So it is about Islam vs Denmark then. From yesterday's The Times.



Danes accuse the imams of 'speaking with two tongues'
By Anthony Browne

Tensions are on rise as Denmark's Muslims accused of betraying land they live in


THE Danish media and Government have accused a group of Danish imams of stoking up the “cartoon wars” by touring the Middle East with a dossier to seek international support for their protest.

The clerics, whose trip was organised by Imam Abu Laban, of the Islamic Belief Society, were accused of showing more offensive cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad than those published by the daily Jyllands-Posten, including one of Muhammad looking like a pig and another of him having sex with a dog.


Although Jyllands-Posten published twelve cartoons last September, the wrath of the Islamic world did not fall on Denmark until after the imams’ tour in December and last month.

As the row escalated, Danes blamed their Muslim minority for fuelling the furore, in which Danish embassies have been attacked and Danish companies boycotted across the Middle East. Newspapers in almost 30 countries have now printed the original pictures of Muhammad, one of which shows him wearing a bomb-shaped turban.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Danish Prime Minister, has already angrily accused the imams of “double speak” in telling Arab media not to buy Danish goods, while insisting in the Danish media that they do not support the boycott.
Mr Rasmussen said: “Some people are speaking with two tongues. The Government watches the news circulated in Arabic countries very carefully so we can catch these false stories and correct them immediately.”

The centre-right Government said yesterday that it would exclude the imams from talks on integrating ethnic minorities. Rikke Hvilshoj, the Integration Minister, said: “I think we have a clear picture today that it’s not the imams we should be placing our trust in if we want integration in Denmark to work.”

The integration of ethnic minorities has become a priority for the Danish Government, which has also introduced some of the strictest immigration controls in Europe. Out of a population of 5.4 million, Denmark has 180,000 Muslims.
Resentment of Muslims has led to a surge of support for the far-right Danish People’s Party (DPP), which has described Islam as a terrorist religion and has said that it is an inferior civilisation.

Mr Rasmussen’s Government relies on the support of the DPP, whose leader, Pia Kjaersgaard, wrote in a newsletter this week: “The seeds of weeds have come to Denmark — Islamists and liars — who have fuelled the lethal fire through their tour of the Middle East. We will deal with them.”
Jyllands-Posten drew back yesterday from breaking another taboo. The newspaper had planned to call the bluff of an Iranian newspaper and print cartoons about the Holocaust.
The Tehran newspaper Hamshahri, which has close links to the Iranian regime, had accused the West of double standards in denigrating Islam while being frightened of appearing anti-Semitic. It announced a competition for Holocaust cartoons.

Flemming Rose, the cultural editor of Jyllands-Posten, who commissioned the 12 cartoons of Muhammad in the name of freedom of speech, said that he would print the Iranian cartoons. But last night his Editor-in-Chief, Carsten Juste, trumped him. “Jyllands-Posten does not want to publish Holocaust drawings of an Iranian newspaper under any circumstances,” Mr Juste said.

“I have committed an error,” Mr Rose admitted later. “I am 100 per cent with the newspaper’s line and Carsten Juste in this case.”

[Sacha]

It's very saddening to come to terms with the fact that the media has so much power. I agree that it was wrong to both compose and publish these derogatory cartoons. I also believe that the accessability of the media on a global basis has lead to some of the extreme reactions among Muslims in countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Lebanon and so on. While I think people should have the full right to protest (if they didn't do so, it would be hard to bring about change and protect civil liberties) they should not protest violently. I don't believe that violence achieves anything and only leads to resentment.
Tell me this: Why should Denmark suffer (and its scandanavian neighbours) because some idiot cartoonist has been allowed to publish his work? This is not just his own individual fault, but that of the media for taking advantage of it in the first place.
Do you believe that the Danish or French media's sole purpose was to criticise and blacken the name of Islam?
I agree that the media is hypocritical - but this is worldwide, not just within Europe. Why are we surprised that this is the case? We don't expect it to be pure. This hardly sells papers/tv programmes etc, does it? Surely we all know that the media is a money-operating business.

Believe me, I am wholly in favour of people understanding Islam in its purest form. My motivation is not simply because my husband and many friends of mine are Muslim, but because I too am sickened by the islamophobia that is fuelled by the disproportionate representation of Islam in the media - e.g. the violent protests, burning of embassies as shown recently.

[nesreen]

Al

He also did not print the Holocaust Cartoons he was supposed to do as a defiance . He has No Ba... to do it , but he has them when he wants to insult one billion and half muslims . (Flemming Rose and Arnaud Levy From France soir are nothing but 2 zionists who hate Muslims . theyhave been exposed , we are not stupid . zionists destroyed Iraq and are planning to destroy Iran and syria and god knows who later on.. like Jewish Algerians Bushnak and Bacri caused the Invasion of Algeria in the late 1800ss..(according to Elijah Beaver )