Cartoon Update: Muslim Editors and University Newspapers

by Norwegian Chef Wed Feb 15th, 2006 at 05:25:05 AM EST

The plight of the 8 Muslim Editors continues. Here is the latest from Reporters without Borders:

Jordan
Hashem al-Khalidi, editor-in-chief of a weekly tabloid of Al-Mehwar
Jihad Momani, the former editor-in-chief of Shihane newspaper.

Jihad Momani and Hicham al Khalidi, editors of two Jordanian newspapers who were arrested, released and then rearrested for publishing the cartoons, were freed on bail on 12 February. A verdict is expected in the week of 20 February. Both journalists have pleaded not guilty.

Yemen
Mohammad al-Asaadi, the editor-in-chief of the English-language Yemen Observer
Akram Sabra, the managing editor of al-Hurriya weekly newspaper
Yahya al-Aabed, Reporter of al-Hurriya.
Kamal al-Aalafi, the editor-in-chief of al-Rai al-Aam is in hiding as a warrant has been issued for his arrest.

Reporters Without Borders expressed dismay at the arrest, on 10 February 2006, of Abdel Halim Akram Sabra, editor of the independent weekly Al-Hurriya, journalist Yahya Al Aabed and editor of the Yemen Observer Mohammed Al Asaadi, for publishing the controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. Al Hurriya and two other newspapers that published the cartoons, the Yemen Observer and the Al Raî Al Aam have been closed.
"We express our solidarity with Abdel Halim Sabra, Yahya Al Abed and Mohammed Al Asaadi and urge their immediate release," said Reporters Without Borders. "They have only done their job in choosing to publish the controversial cartoons, as have dozens of other media worldwide."
"It cannot be justified for them to pay for an editorial decision with their freedom, all the more so since they did it with a desire to inform and not in a provocative manner," the organisation added. "We appeal to the prosecutor who launched this action against them to demonstrative understanding and openness by withdrawing the complaints. The three newspapers should also be quickly allowed to resume publishing", it concluded.
The prosecutor in Sanaa has also ordered the arrest of the editor of Al Rai Al Aam, Kamal el Aloufi. Al-Hurriya, Yemen Observer and Al Raî Al Aam are privately-owned liberal newspapers which are facing legal action under a clause in the Yemeni press law which "bans publication of anything that harms the Islamic faith, denigrates a mono-theistic religion or a humanitarian belief".
The journalists' union, which at first reacted against the publication of the cartoons and announced the "suspension" of Abdel Halim Sabra, a member of the union, has now retracted and said it is troubled by these unfair arrests. Al Huriya, Al Rai Al Aam and the Yemen Observer had published the cartoons, in the context of reporting on the reactions they had unleashed around the world.

Algeria
Kahel Bousaad, Editor of Errisala
Berkane Bouderbala, Editor of Irqaa

In Algeria, Kamel Bousaad and Berkane Bouderbala, respectively editors of the Arab-language weeklies Errisala and Essafir were arrested, on 8 and 11 February 2006, for reprinting the Mohammed cartoons. Both publications have been closed.

Meanwhile in Malaysia

Reporters Without Borders today deplored the Malaysian government's decision to suspend the Sarawak Tribune daily newspaper's publishing licence for reprinting the controversial caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed in its 4 February issue. A tabloid in Indonesia was seized by authorities for the same reason.
"This measure is excessive, especially as the newspaper in no way intended to be provocative and reprinted the cartoons simply to complement its news coverage," Reporters Without Borders said. "The entire staff do not deserve to be punished like this. Although some of these cartoons may be found repulsive, press freedom is once against threatened in this case."
It was Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who yesterday ordered the suspension of the Sarawak Tribune's licence until further notice. The newspaper is based in the eastern province of Sarawak (on the island of Borneo). The New Straits Times newspaper said the entire cabinet shared Badawi's view that reprinting the "humiliating caricatures" was offensive and required a stern reaction from the government.
Badawi, who is also internal security minister and the current chairman of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, said reprinting the cartoons was "irresponsible and inhuman" for Muslims and gave a negative image of his country. Representatives of the ministry of internal security and information refused to give the foreign press any comment.
"We foresaw this reaction from the government and we will suspend publication as soon as we are ordered to," Polit Hamzah of the Sarawak Press Newspaper Group told the Associated Press. The group, which owns the daily, apologised for the decision to publish the cartoons in order to illustrate a report about the ongoing demonstrations in the Muslim world.
The editor present when the decision was taken, Lester Melanyi, a non-Muslim, was interrogated for two hours by the police, who are still investigating to see if a crime was committed. Melanyi resigned a few hours later.

Meanwhile in Indonesia

Meanwhile, the authorities in neighboring Indonesia ordered the withdrawal from sale of 3,000 copies of Peta, a tabloid weekly, in which the caricatures had also been reprinted. The police chief said he intended to prosecute the newspaper for "blasphemy."

Please contact Amnesty International or Reporters with Borders. to see how you can help. This can be done by giving either of these good charities funding or following their advice on campaigns to support the editors.

Meanwhile at the Universities
The Cartoon War has been raging across universities in the USA, UK and Canada. Seven Universities have published one or more Mohammed cartoons:

University of Cardiff (Gair Rhydd) 7 February
University of Prince Edward Island (Cadre) 8 February
Harvard University (Salient) 8 February
University of Illinois (Illini) 9 February
University of North Carolina (Daily Tar Heel) 9 February
Northern Illinois University (Northern Star) 13 February
University of Wisconsin (Badger Herald) 13 February

Specific details for the above information can be found here on Wikipedia. However, here is an overview of the repercussions.

University of Cardiff >>Editor apologised, Took Leave, Paper Confiscated.
University of Prince Edward Island >> Paper Confiscated, Administration apology. Major Battle Looming between administration and Editors
Harvard University (Salient) 8 February>>No known immediate repercussions.
University of Illinois (Illini) 9 February>>2 Editors suspended without pay. Administration apology. Papers taken off Shelves, Major Battle Looming between administration and Editors.
University of North Carolina (Daily Tar Heel) 9 February>>No known immediate repercussions.
Northern Illinois University (Northern Star) 13 February>>No known immediate repercussions.
University of Wisconsin (Badger Herald) 13 February>>No known immediate repercussions.

If anyone has any updates, please advise.

Meanwhile in the rest of the world
115 newspapers and magazines in 47 countries have published one or more cartoons of Mohammed. The figure DOES NOT include specific political party newspapers such as those from the rightwing Swedish and Finnish parties that were recently published. The complete list and map can be found on the Wikipedia article. Newest countries to publish have been Macedonia, Chile and Perú.

Cross-posted from Daily Kos

Cartoon Update: Muslim Editors and University Newspapers | 26 comments (26 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Cartoon Update: (none / 0)

This story just keeps on going...

"Once in awhile we get shown the light, in the strangest of places, if we look at it right" - Hunter/Garcia

by whataboutbob on Wed Feb 15th, 2006 at 07:21:28 AM EST

Re: Cartoon Update: (none / 0)

Yeah...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4715084.stm

Is it just me, or is this getting slightly ridiculous? If the US were to, say, bomb Iran back to Gonswana land, how could the outrage be upscaled proportionally after three weeks of white-hot fury over... Danish cartoons?

The world's northernmost desert wind.

by Sirocco (sirocco2005ATgmail.com) on Wed Feb 15th, 2006 at 10:19:03 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Cartoon Update: (none / 1)

Cartoons don't hurt muslims, muslims hurt muslims.

(and yes, as this is inspired by the disingenuous slogan of the NRA, feel free to consider this is also a criticism of my saying this)

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Wed Feb 15th, 2006 at 10:27:32 AM EST
[ Parent ]

While I have been one of those who (none / 0)

have been staunch in defending the Danish newspaper, I can't claim I don't understand the level of resentment that continues to burn through the Muslim world. This is obviously about more than just cartoons, and so--given the recent history--we shouldn't be all that surprised, I believe.

Nonetheless, as someone who always tends to question the devoutness of religious leaders, I do wonder about the Saudi and Danish Muslim clerics who commissioned the depiction of Muhammad being raped. If you were honestly that devout, would you have authorized such a depiction?

That central fact tends to diminish any religious boundary or limitation against the depiction of Muhammad. If it's ok for the senior clerics to do it, then...

As usual, I suspect that clerics are really ehtno-nationalist prudes who like to control people more than they like to believe in a God. This incident has only reinforced my rather crass overgeneralization, but when it comes to religion, I rarely try to dig under that surface. I try to preserve myself instead.

by Upstate NY on Wed Feb 15th, 2006 at 02:26:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Sort of like Communist mass mentality (none / 1)

It seems to me a bit like mass mentality, such as after the death of a communist leader, where it is obligatory to be seen wailing and rolling on the ground in despair. Once the Fundamentalist leadership gives the command, as has happened here, the brainwashed followers need to be seen to outdo each other in their anger and outrage.

But this is clearly a leadership driven response, because as you see with the publication of the cartoons on October 17th In Egypt in a popular tabloid, nobody cared because nobody told them it was important.

It was only after the OIC and the Danish Imams got involved and started orchestrating that anybody in the Middle East cared.

Also the response is clearly targeted, many very large South American newspapers and magazines have now published the cartoons, many quite recently, but there is no targeting of them--noone in front of the Argentinian, Chilean, Brazilian, Mexican Embassies.

So it is in my mind very planned, orchestrated and targeted by the leadership, who rely then on carefully crafted mass hysteria from people who have nothing else to live for, largely unemployed, poor and idle and religious students and will do whatever their Fundamentalist leaders tell them to and try to outdo each other to see who can hysterise the best, loudest and most violent.

I like the silence of a church, before the service begins better than any preaching. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

by Norwegian Chef (hephaestion@surfbirder.com) on Wed Feb 15th, 2006 at 04:41:14 PM EST
[ Parent ]

See but this is it (none / 0)

This isn't like Communism. Islam is a much more deeply imbricated ideological disposition. It isn't a vanguardist cult. It is a whole civilization that has been created over 1000s of years, and in the Middle East, has become an especially important refuge in the last 50 years for people who haven't had much else to be proud about.

As such, it can't simply be compared to communism or even Christianity in Europe. For the most part, people in Europe aren't religious don't know deeply religious people. In the US, we do, for better or worse. As such, Americans are much less quick to dismiss religion belief as superficial or a con.

by Ben P (wbp@u.washington.edu) on Thu Feb 16th, 2006 at 01:15:39 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: See but this is it (none / 0)

I think you seriously underestimate the number of Christians in Europe. Most people DO know others that are Christian, even thought they might not be themselves. Just because European Christians don't tend to be as loud or right-wing as their American cousins, do not by any stretch of the imagination mean that they aren't there.

I agree with you that there is little point in drawing a connection between Communism and Islam thought. It only really makes sense if one is actively looking for "the next big threat", Clash of Civilisations-wise.

by Trond Ove on Thu Feb 16th, 2006 at 07:11:44 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: See but this is it (none / 0)

Oh that's nonsense. Of course we all at least know religious people. Hell, lots of us live in religious countries. It's just not considered good form to be too loud about it. A good chunk of my relatives would be deeply religious.

by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Thu Feb 16th, 2006 at 07:18:32 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: See but this is it (none / 0)

In the US you don't have a "Christian Democrat" party, do you? They would be shot down instantly for violating the separation of Church and State, even if that wasn't their platform. It's much better for theocrats to hijack the innocuously named "Republican" party.

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Feb 16th, 2006 at 07:22:07 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: See but this is it (none / 1)

Actually that's an artifact of different historical development. The CD movement was mostly, though not entirely, a vehicle for political Catholicism and the decision of Catholics to get involved in democracy. It also was directed against explicitly secularist movements. In America the Catholic minority became active through the Dems, particularly the big city political machines. You never had any large scale anti-clerical political party and anti-Catholicism, while more common among Repubs than Dems, existed in both parties (think the South) and was to a large extent a vehicle for anti-immigrant sentiment.

by MarekNYC on Thu Feb 16th, 2006 at 11:20:56 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Cartoon Update: Muslim Editors and University (none / 0)

Nice job, thanks for the update.

The Wikipedia main article is also good, detailing several facts ignored by many who decry the Danish government's conduct. E.g.:

Having received petitions from Danish imams, eleven Arab ambassadors asked for a meeting with Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen in 12 October 2005, in order to discuss what they perceive as an on-going smearing campaign in Danish public circles and media against Islam and Muslims.[1]. The government declined because it apparently interpreted the letter as asking Rasmussen to take legal steps against the newspaper, and the government did not see this as an acceptable basis for a meeting.[15] However, Foreign Minister Per Stig Møller received them.[16]

(emphasis added)

In fact, Fogh Rasmussen explained his government's position in a formal reply to the ambassadors. Besides, ambassadors, even a whole slew of them, don't automatically get to meet with heads of government. A meeting with the foreign minister is far from a snub.

The world's northernmost desert wind.

by Sirocco (sirocco2005ATgmail.com) on Wed Feb 15th, 2006 at 08:43:46 AM EST

Re: Cartoon Update: Muslim Editors and University (none / 0)

Well, Rasmussen refused to meet with the Arab ambassador in September since there was no immediate threat involved. He only met with the ambassadors now since the riots occurred and as prime minister he had a responsibility to do so.
But, lets not forget that governments are also responsible for integrating their minorities and European governments tend to ignore problems related to their Arab population. I am not justifying the riots, but just pointing out that European governments have helped the Arab marginalization, which in turn has led the Arabs to feel the antipathy towards the European countries where they have immigrated.

In response to the comment by the Norwegian Chef

I know this is related to the situation occuring in the Middle East, but since you put so much epmhasis on the fact that the Arab leaders organize the masses, than shouldn't Rasmussen have used the opportunity back in September to talk to the Arab ambassadors and maybe through dialogue with the ambassadors, some of the recent events would have been avoided.

I just think that governments should not ignore the Muslim issue in Europe, even if they are right-wing governments and fear losing elections.

by qika PR (qikadreqit@yahoo.com) on Thu Feb 16th, 2006 at 07:46:43 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Cartoon Update: Muslim Editors and University (none / 0)

There was a peaceful demonstration of 5000 muslims in Denmark in October. If four months later the newspaper was going to end up saying "we did no mean to offend but we're sorry if we did" they might have said so then. As it is, the "winners" within the muslim community are the radical imams, not the moderates who protested peacefully.

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Feb 16th, 2006 at 07:52:39 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Cartoon Update: Muslim Editors and University (4.00 / 2)

In fact, that may not be so. The radical imams like Abu Laban (formerly known in the Danish press as "Mr. Islam") have been thoroughly unmasked as the hate-mongers they are, and in consequence, cut off from the access to the government they so enjoyed. Moderates led by Denmark's most popular politician, Naser Khader (RV), have taken their place. In turn, this - and the awareness among Muslims that the cartoon war threatens to backlash on them - will diminish the popularity of the radicals within the Muslim population, aside from a slightly expanded faction of angry militants.

In recognition of this, they have even issued a mea culpa, assuming "one third" of the responsibility for the incidident. But like the newspaper, rather too late.

The world's northernmost desert wind.

by Sirocco (sirocco2005ATgmail.com) on Thu Feb 16th, 2006 at 09:05:34 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Cartoon Update: Muslim Editors and University (none / 0)

Well, if that is true it is certainly good news. I'll be curious to see how the competition between Naser Khader and the also quite popular Pia Kjærsgård plays out.

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Feb 16th, 2006 at 09:15:09 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Cartoon Update: Muslim Editors and University (none / 0)

Pia is gaining in the short term. DF is surging on the polls, as must be expected in this type of situation.

The world's northernmost desert wind.

by Sirocco (sirocco2005ATgmail.com) on Thu Feb 16th, 2006 at 09:18:28 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Cartoon Update: Muslim Editors and University (none / 0)

Are they close to being the 2nd party if there were an election soon?

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Feb 16th, 2006 at 09:21:50 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Cartoon Update: Muslim Editors and University (none / 0)

Can't find any poll later than February 3; then they were only at 12 percent.

The world's northernmost desert wind.

by Sirocco (sirocco2005ATgmail.com) on Thu Feb 16th, 2006 at 09:43:56 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Cartoon Update: Muslim Editors and University (none / 0)

That's worse than their latest election result, but if they get all their supporters out to vote and there is 1/3 abstention they might end up getting up to 18%...?

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Feb 16th, 2006 at 09:52:35 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Cartoon Update: Muslim Editors and University (none / 0)

Dunno, but that's in 2009 anyway.

The world's northernmost desert wind.

by Sirocco (sirocco2005ATgmail.com) on Thu Feb 16th, 2006 at 09:59:44 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Cartoon Update: Muslim Editors and University (none / 1)

Sorry for long post but it is NYT [we want you to fill out a form]

There seems to be some surprise that the Danish people and their government are standing behind the Jyllands-Posten newspaper and its decision to publish drawings of the Prophet Muhammad last fall. Aren't Danes supposed to be unusually tolerant and respectful of others?
Not entirely. Denmark's reputation as a nation with a long tradition of tolerance toward others -- one solidified by its rescue of Danish Jews from deportation to Nazi concentration camps in 1943 and by the high levels of humanitarian aid it provides today -- is something of a myth.
What foreigners have failed to recognize is that we Danes have grown increasingly xenophobic over the years. To my mind, the publication of the cartoons had little to do with generating a debate about self-censorship and freedom of expression. It can be seen only in the context of a climate of pervasive hostility toward anything Muslim in Denmark.
There are more than 200,000 Muslims in Denmark, a country with a population of 5.4 million. A few decades ago, Denmark had no Muslims at all. Not surprisingly, Islam has come to be viewed by many as a threat to the survival of Danish culture.
For 20 years, Muslims in Denmark have been denied a permit to build mosques in Copenhagen. What's more, there are no Muslim cemeteries in Denmark, which means that the bodies of Muslims who die here have to be flown back to their home countries for proper burial...
This is not the only example of Denmark's new magical thinking. After the flag burnings, the Danish news media began to refer to the white cross on the flag's red background as a Christian symbol.
There was something discordant about this, for we've come to connect the flag less and less to religion. Denmark, after all, is one of the most secular countries in Europe. Only 3 percent of Danes attend church once a week.
Still, the news media were right. Up to a point. Legend has it that the flag fell from heaven during a battle between the Danes and the Estonians nearly 800 years ago. It was a sign from God, and it led the Danes to victory. Now that flag has become a symbol around the world of Denmark's contempt for another world religion.
[...]
According to the cultural editor of the newspaper, Flemming Rose, it was aimed at "testing the limits of self-censorship in Danish public opinion" when it comes to Islam and Muslims. He added: "In a secular society, Muslims have to live with the fact of being ridiculed, scoffed at and made to look ridiculous."
When the anticipated reaction by the Muslim community failed to arise, the newspaper continued its campaign, determined to create a full-scale scandal. After a week had gone by without protest, journalists turned on Danish Islamic religious leaders who were well known for their fundamentalist views and demanded: "Why don't you protest?" Eventually, the latter reacted and alerted their co-thinkers in the Middle East.
[...]
Official politics and the media throughout Europe are increasingly preoccupied with such agitation. Muslims are collectively held responsible for acts carried out by terrorist groups, although they bear no responsibility for them. In the German state of Baden-Württemberg, Muslims seeking to stay in the country must answer a catalog of questions probing their religious beliefs.
Television news presenters regularly malign Muslims for being prepared to protest against the defamation of Muhammad, but not against acts carried out by terrorist groups in the name of Islam, suggesting that they secretly support such acts.
A campaign is emerging to depict Islam as an inferior culture that is incompatible with "Western values." There are clear parallels here to the anti-Semitic caricatures that were spread in the 1930s by fascist newspapers such as the Nazi Stürmer. The depiction of Jews as sub-humans served as the ideological preparation for the Holocaust.
Today the systematic defamation of Muslims is being used to prepare public opinion for new wars against countries such as Iran and Syria--wars which will be even more brutal than the Iraq war, and could well involve the use of nuclear weapons.
It is no coincidence that it was the Jyllands-Posten that took up this initiative. The newspaper is notorious for its declarations of support for the Nazis in the 1930s, and has played a key role in Denmark's recent shift to the right.
With editorial offices in the rural area of Arhus, Jyllands-Posten remained a relatively insignificant provincial newspaper until the beginning of the 1980s. (Note: I was in Aarhus back in the 80's, when the paper was a local rag.) At that time it began an aggressive policy of expansion. It bought up smaller regional and local newspapers and launched a price war with the two established newspapers in the Danish capital--Berlingske Tidende and Politiken--and rapidly built up its circulation to 170,000, becoming the biggest circulation newspaper in the country. (Amazing!)
In the 1990s the decidedly conservative paper increasingly developed into a mouthpiece for openly xenophobic, right-wing forces. Nearly a quarter of the editorial board was dismissed, and the quality of the paper sank as its aggressiveness rose.
Shortly before the publication of the Muhammad cartoons, Jyllands-Posten ran a headline reading, "Islam is the Most Belligerent." The newspaper ran an exposé about an alleged Muslim death-list of Jewish names--until it emerged that the whole thing was a fabrication.
One year ago the editor-in-chief resigned because the newspaper carried a report, in the midst of an election campaign, alleging the systematic abuse of welfare rights by asylum-seekers. The sensational charges were published against his will.

Looks like the JP -- from this account by a Dane -- has a track record in deliberate racial provocation. Which makes me laugh cynically when they now say, "Oh dear, we did not mean to offend."

The difference between theory and practise in practise ...

by DeAnander (de_at_daclarke_dot_org) on Thu Feb 16th, 2006 at 08:23:02 PM EST

Re: Cartoon Update: Muslim Editors and University (none / 0)

For 20 years, Muslims in Denmark have been denied a permit to build mosques in Copenhagen. What's more, there are no Muslim cemeteries in Denmark, which means that the bodies of Muslims who die here have to be flown back to their home countries for proper burial...

The NYT rides again. In fact, the above is total bunk, perhaps because the author, Martin Burcharth, hasn't lived in Denmark for many years. He has now retracted the claim about Muslims being "denied" a permit to build mosques, though the crappy newspaper hasn't run any correction. The claim that there are no Muslim cemetaries have a similar truth content.

I also have considerable contempt for this statement: "Denmark's reputation as a nation with a long tradition of tolerance toward others -- one solidified by its rescue of Danish Jews from deportation to Nazi concentration camps in 1943 and by the high levels of humanitarian aid it provides today -- is something of a myth."

As for Jyllands-Posten being "decidedly conservative"; well, it's decidedly to the left of the New York Times. And not necessarily inferior, I might add.

The world's northernmost desert wind.

by Sirocco (sirocco2005ATgmail.com) on Thu Feb 16th, 2006 at 08:58:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Cartoon Update: Muslim Editors and University (none / 0)

Where's Burcharth's retraction published? only in Danish? I don't find it via google...

The difference between theory and practise in practise ...

by DeAnander (de_at_daclarke_dot_org) on Thu Feb 16th, 2006 at 09:27:03 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Cartoon Update: Muslim Editors and University (none / 0)

Guess where. Probably elsewhere as well, but I haven't looked.

http://www.jp.dk/udland/artikel:aid=3560636/

The world's northernmost desert wind.

by Sirocco (sirocco2005ATgmail.com) on Thu Feb 16th, 2006 at 09:40:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Cartoon Update: Muslim Editors and University (none / 0)

This is not the only example of Denmark's new magical thinking. After the flag burnings, the Danish news media began to refer to the white cross on the flag's red background as a Christian symbol.

This reminds me of an anecdote my one-time Danish girlfriend told me. Once (must have been 15, 20 years ago) she and her family vacationed in Turkey with their own car, and they thought it cute to display a little Danish flag on their car. People looked at them funny, honked at their car, etc, until they figured out that they thought it was a snub on the Turkish flag.

versus

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Feb 17th, 2006 at 12:34:48 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Cartoon Update: Muslim Editors and University (none / 0)

The article in the NYT is an excellent example of what Jyllandsposten is accused of doing by printing these cartoons, put forward negative generalisations about a group of people or a nation. I do not think that was the intention of the Jyllandsposten though, despite the fact that some of the cartoons absolutely could be perceived as offensive in nature. A bit more research by NYT before printing this article could have eliminated forwarding the most blatant false accusation of the Danish society, and really should be expected of a big news-organisation like the NYT, if it is to be taken seriously by the readers.

Bitsofnews.com Giving you the latest bits.

by Geir E Jansen on Fri Feb 17th, 2006 at 06:49:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Cartoon Update: Muslim Editors and University Newspapers | 26 comments (26 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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