Hidden motives behind cartoon riots

[frigidmagi]

BBC

Several people have died in Pakistan in continuing violence over the publication in the West of cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad. But some targets seem far removed from the cartoon row.

KFC in Peshawar
American fast food outlets were dragged into the cartoon row

Protests in Pakistan against cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad have been slow to take off but violent nevertheless.

In two days of heavy rioting, five people have been killed in two major cities and public as well as private property worth millions torched.

Even the high security around the diplomatic enclave in Islamabad was breached, though without resulting in any major damage.

Pakistan's religious parties, who had been calling for mass demonstrations against the cartoons since the controversy first flared up, have disowned the violence.

But they have stopped well short of a categorical condemnation of the rioters while vowing to continue with their "peaceful protests".

"If the government is unable to respond appropriately to a situation, the people are left with no choice but to take to the streets," senior provincial minister Sirajul Haq told reporters in Peshawar.

Mr Haq belongs to the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), a religious alliance of six parties which rules the volatile North West Frontier Province.

'Spontaneous'

Like most other religious leaders, he describes the violence as a result of a spontaneous outpouring of Muslim grief at the cartoons.

But given the nature of the violence, few seem convinced the riots are either spontaneous or driven purely by public indignation at the satirical cartoons.

For one, most of the public and private property attacked by the rioters cannot even remotely be linked to the cartoons.

The buildings burned in Lahore and Peshawar included cinemas, a theatre, banks, mobile phone outlets, fast food restaurants, the Punjab assembly building, petrol stations, music and video shops.

Most of the vehicles set alight were motorbikes, which are owned mostly by lower middle class people.

Protesters burn American flags in Peshawar
The protesters' anger is aimed at all western symbols

Such targets have nothing to do with the cartoons but have historically been the target of choice for religious activists whenever they have had a reason to take to the streets.

Why motorbikes and cars? Because they are readily available - parked on roadsides and unprotected - burn easily and provide the media with fiery images.

Cinemas, fast food joints and banks are also targeted because they represent entertainment, US economic interests and the interest-based Western financial system.

Powerful statement

Attacking such properties makes for a powerful statement of the cultural agenda pursued by almost every Pakistani religious organisation.


Is this the image of ourselves that we want to paint for the outside world?
Pervez Ellahi
Punjab's Chief Minister
Pakistani observers point out that while the protests may have done little to bring the alleged blasphemers under pressure they have certainly conveyed the destructive potential of injured religious sentiment to the outside world.

"Is this the image of ourselves that we want to paint for the outside world?" Punjab Chief Minister Pervez Ellahi asked of the riots in Lahore.

"Are we trying to convince the West that Muslims are indeed violent people?"

Maybe not, but perhaps Pakistan's religious leadership may not be averse to the idea of demonstrating to the world that Pakistanis remain a deeply religious people despite Gen Musharraf's liberal rhetoric.

And if demonstrating this requires arson and looting, it may be a small price in the mind of the country's religious leadership for emphasising an orthodox cultural agenda which has been under consistent pressure since the September 2001 attacks on the US.

Baffling

That may be the reason why the MMA's attempts to distance itself from the violence have not been very convincing.

Even as MMA president Qazi Hussain Ahmed was busy disowning the violence in Lahore and Peshawar, the student wing of his party was scuffling with the police at Punjab University in Lahore.

Traffic policeman keeps an eye on protests in front of portrait of Pres Musharraf
Is President Musharraf's liberalism the real target?

Western observers may be baffled at the images of Muslim rioters burning the properties of other Muslims in protest at sacrilege committed by Danes.

But they may find the situation easier to understand if they give a thought to what might be the real target of the rioters.

Is it a bunch of nameless and faceless cartoonists living in Denmark or a government at home which is threatening their orthodoxy with its liberal rhetoric?

How about we call this what it is? Islamic imperialism. Before you start screaming think about it. The cartoon was printed in Denmark, by a Danish paper, for a Danish audenice. Why in the name of all that's holy should they have to take into account what the Arab world feels about it? Why is it okay for the Arabs to print anti-jewish cartoons and work and then scream when it's their turn? This is an attempt at heavy handed cultural imperialism, an attempt to force their cultural ways upon Denmark.

[frigidmagi]

BBC

Blatantly anti-Semitic literature is on sale in Cairo, just like many other Arab capitals. The BBC News website's Martin Patience reports on the apparent inconsistency in the Egyptian reaction to the Danish cartoons caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad.

Two hundred metres from the Arab League's headquarters in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, there are two newspaper kiosks on the pavement.

Cairo bookstall
Cairo bookstalls and shops sell anti-Semitic texts
They sell all sorts of Egyptian papers and magazines - including Hijab, a fashion monthly for religious Muslim women showing a cover-girl wearing the latest style of headscarf.

Passing customers can also buy books - trashy romance novels, computer guidebooks, and children's story books.

But on closer inspection, both kiosks openly stock the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a notorious anti-Semitic text that purports to be an account of Jewish plans to rule the world, but was actually written by Tsarist secret police in 1905.

They also sell Hitler's autobiography, Mein Kampf.

West accused

With protests continuing throughout the world over cartoons satirising the Prophet Mohammed, Arab League Secretary General Amr Mousa weighed into the crisis recently, accusing the West of operating "double standards" when it came to freedom of expression.

When Islam is insulted, certain powers... raise the issue of freedom of expression. Freedom of expression should be one yardstick, not two or three
Amr Mousa

"What about freedom of expression when anti-Semitism is involved?" asked Mr Mousa.

"Then it is not freedom of expression. Then it is a crime.

"But when Islam is insulted, certain powers... raise the issue of freedom of expression. Freedom of expression should be one yardstick, not two or three," he said.

But it's clear that some publishers in Egypt do not practise the kind of respect for religious groups that Mr Mousa is calling for from the West.

As numerous commentators have pointed out, in many Arab and Muslim countries anti-Semitism is widespread.

'Nothing to hide'

One of the newspaper sellers, Mohammed Ahmed, insists he has nothing to hide.

"People want to buy the books," says the 32-year-old. "Why shouldn't I sell them?"

He argues that selling the book is "freedom of expression and that liberty is the best way".

At the Sharouk bookstore along the road, Harry Potter fever has taken hold. The shop's windows are crowded with displays of the latest instalment of the series.

But as with the kiosks, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is on sale inside.

Politics not faith

Shop manager Mustapha Said insists that he is respectful of all religions including Judaism.

Ahmad Radwan
Ahmad Radwan, says books offensive to Jews should be banned

While he insists he believes in freedom of speech, he is furious about the cartoons caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad.

He argues that slandering any religion should be punishable.

But when it comes to selling the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, he says: "The book is about politics not about religion. I don't have a problem with books criticising politics."

At the American University of Cairo, many students agree with Mr Said's comments.

But Ahmed Radwan, 20, argues that if Jews are outraged by the book "then it shouldn't be sold."

He adds that Jews should take to the streets in protest about the Protocols.

My case in point.

[frigidmagi]

bbc

Twelve caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad published last year have had a huge impact around the world, with riots in many Muslim countries causing deaths and destruction - so what do the drawings actually say?

They originally appeared in the best-selling Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on 30 September to accompany an editorial criticising self-censorship in the Danish media.

Since then some media outlets have republished the pictures in solidarity or outrage, while others - including the BBC - have refrained from publishing them to avoid causing offence to their audiences.

The issue arose after Danish writer Kare Bluitgen complained he was unable to find an illustrator for his children's book about the Prophet because he said no one dared break an Islamic tenet banning the portrayal of his image.


We are on our way to a slippery slope where no-one can tell how the self-censorship will end
Jyllands-Posten editorial
Jyllands-Posten asked cartoonists to "draw the Prophet as they saw him", as an assertion of free speech and to reject pressure by Muslims groups to respect their sensitivities.

The paper chose as its central image a visual joke about the Prophet among other turban-wearing figures in a police line-up and the witness saying: "I don't know which one he is".

It is presumably an ironic appeal for calm over the issue, the suggestion being that, if a Danish illustrator were to portray the Prophet, it is not known what he looks like and is therefore a harmless gesture.

The humour comes from the fact that the line-up also includes people like Jesus Christ, the far-right Danish politician Pia Kjaersgaard and Mr Bluitgen himself.

'PR stunt'

Eleven other cartoons are printed around the edge of the page showing the Prophet in a variety of supposedly humorous or satirical situations.

One seems to criticise Mr Bluitgen for exploiting the issue for publicity to sell his book.

He is portrayed holding a child's drawing of the Prophet, while an orange inscribed with "PR stunt" drops into a turban he is wearing. (The expression "orange in the turban" connotes a "piece of luck" in Danish.)

Other images appear not especially critical of Islam in their content.

One shows the Prophet wandering through the desert with the sun setting behind him. In another his face merges with an Islamic star and crescent.

Several cartoonists, however, do seem to take the Jyllands-Posten commission as an invitation to be deliberately provocative towards Muslims.

Critical views

The most controversial image shows the Prophet Muhammad carrying a lit bomb in the shape of a turban on his head decorated with the Islamic creed.

The face is angry, dangerous-looking - a stereotypical villain with heavy, dark eyebrows and whiskers.

Demonstration in Indonesia
Much anger has been directed at Jyllands-Posten newspaper
Another shows Muhammad brandishing a sword ready for a fight. His eyes are blacked out while two women stand behind him with their Islamic dress leaving only their eyes uncovered.

Two of the critical cartoons do not show the Prophet at all. One uses crescent moons and stars of David to form repeated abstract shapes, possibly showing women in Islamic dress.

A poem accompanies the shapes, that one translator has rendered as: "Prophet, you crazy bloke! Keeping women under yoke."

In the other, a schoolboy points to a blackboard on which it is written in Farsi: "The editorial team of Jyllands-Posten are a bunch of reactionary provocateurs".

The boy is labelled "Mohammed, Valby school, 7A", suggesting he is a second-generation Iranian immigrant to Denmark. "The future" is written on his shirt.

Humorous views

Other cartoonists have clearly attempted a more humorous approach - as with the central image - although the images will be no less offensive to Muslims.

For example, one shows Muhammad standing on a cloud holding back a line of smouldering suicide bombers trying to get into heaven.

"Stop, stop, we have run out of virgins," he says.

This is a reference to the supposed reward of 72 virgins in heaven for Muslim martyrs, although Islamic scholars often point out that there is no specific belief of this kind.

Another drawing shows Muhammad looking at a sheet of paper, but holding back two sword-wielding assassins.

"Relax guys, it's just a drawing made by some infidel South Jutlander (ie from the middle of nowhere)," the figure says.

One cartoonist portrays Muhammad with a kind of halo around his head, but it could be a crescent moon, or a pair of devil's horns.

Anger and confusion

The last cartoon on the page goes back to the theme of artistic freedom: a cartoonist draws an Arab face with headdress, inscribed "Mohammed", but he crouches over the drawing and shields it with his hand.

The Jyllands-Posten cartoons do not include some images that may have had a role in bringing the issue to international attention.

Three images in particular have done the rounds, in Gaza for example, which are reported to be considerably more obscene and were mistakenly assumed to have been part of the Jyllands-Posten set.

One of the pictures, a photocopied photograph of a man with a pig's ears and snout, has been identified as an old Associated Press picture from a French "pig-squealing" contest.

It was reportedly circulated by Danish Muslims to illustrate the atmosphere of Islamophobia which they say they live under.

There is no doubt that the some of the original Jyllands-Posten cartoons are sufficiently hostile in nature to be taken as provocative by the Muslim community, whatever their intention.

But some critics have said all the drawings and the manner of their publication betray European arrogance and Islamophia.

Muslim writer Ziauddin Sardar likens them to anti-Semitic images published in Europe in the 1920s and 30s, with Muslims being demonised as violent, backward and fanatical.

"Freedom of expression is not about doing whatever we want to do because we can do it," he wrote in the Independent on Sunday.

"It is about creating an open marketplace for ideas and debate where all, including the marginalised, can take part as equals."

No... Freedom of expression is excalty what it says it is. The freedom to express yourself regardless of the popularity or offensiveness of your views. It also means being prepared to listen to someone on a street corner pushing a kind of life that you would die to prevent. Humanity you do not have the right not to be offended and when allowed to hide in dark corners, posion of the mind only spreads. It is better to drag it out into the light, where it must stand up to honest examination that can only destory it in the end.

[SirNitram]

The agenda isn't so hidden; the cartoons that got people so riled up in the Middle East were fakes. That is to say, not from the country claimed. There were some mildly offensive ones, yes.... They got some trouble raised in the original country. Some protests, entirely peaceful. A few letters. One unstable man, already known to be mentally ill, threatened violence, but he was, as I said, unstable.

Then a man who saw them and didn't like them took them to Mecca. And the authorities were given them. And they saw a chance to employ the old standard of Xenophobia.

Government's all over are so very predictable like that.