Cartoon row hits Denmark—again

Over two years after the publication of the controversial cartoons that mocked Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and have elicited fury and boycott of Danish goods in Muslim countries, unrest has again gripped Denmark.

Danish police arrested some people allegedly planning to assassinate the cartoonist who drew the cartoon.

Danish paper Jyllands-Posten, which first published the cartoons in September 2005, reprinted one of the caricatures as a response to the news of the arrest.

Critics slammed the cartoons as Islamophobic, racist, blasphemous to the Islamic faith, intended to humiliate a Danish minority, and a demonstration of ignorance in the history of Western imperialism, which supposedly dates from colonialism to the current conflicts in the Middle East.

Denmark has said, “freedom of expression has a wide scope and the Danish government has no means of influencing the press. However, Danish legislation prohibits acts or expressions of blasphemous or discriminatory nature. "

But such cases often lose in Danish courts because they contradict with the country’s putting forward of freedom of expression to the primacy.

The cartoons had been widely published throughout Europe and in some countries outside in 2005 and 2006, except in the US.

At the height of the tensions in 2006, CNN said it was not publishing the cartoons “because the network believes its role is to cover the events surrounding the publication of the cartoons while not unnecessarily adding fuel to the controversy itself."

Some of the caricatures depict Prophet Muhammad as: wearing a lit bomb for a turban; holding a sword while his eyes covered are by a black rectangle; his arms raised at the gates of heaven, saying to men who seem to be suicide bombers, "Stop, stop, we have run out of virgins;" has devil's horns emerging from his turban; and two women entirely veiled, with only their eyes showing, and the prophet standing between them with a strip of black cloth covering his eyes, preventing him from seeing.

Former US President Bill Clinton warned that anti-Semitism would be replaced with anti-Islamic prejudice.

The Organization of the Islamic Conference appealed “to the Muslims to stay calm and peaceful in the wake of sacrilegious depiction of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), which has deeply hurt their feelings” because “Islam being the religion of tolerance, mercy and peace teaches them (Muslims) to defend their faith through democratic and legal means.”

Protesters in Manila, Marawi, Cotabato and Basilan demanded for Denmark's apology and for President Arroyo's condemnation of the caricatures. They ripped apart Danish flags and set them on fire.

The Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society and other Moro concerned groups denounced the publication of the cartoons, called for solidarity of the Bangsamoro people, and urged dialogue and respect with other faiths.

Fr. Roberto C. Layson, interreligious program coordinator of the Archdiocese of Cotabato, condemned the publication of the cartoons and assailed the “Western media's lack of sensitivity to what other people hold as dear to them.”

“It could only come from a society that does not anymore regard religion as a value because they have made gods of themselves," he said

He described the publication of the cartoons as “tantamount to inciting violence,” adding that he could not imagine how Christians would have responded if the Pope were caricatured with an armalite as crozier (staff) and a swastika in his cap.

Dr. Abdulwahab Meddeb, a known French Muslim scholar, and France Ambassador to the Philippines Gerard Chesnel, in a recent visit to Mindanao State University in General Santos, cited the importance of dialogue in resolving interreligious conflicts, such as the ones caused by the publication of the Danish caricature.

“If you read Sura Al-Maida, you will learn that we can merge and live with the Christians and the People of the Book (Jews),” Meddeb said.

Many Muslims in the country have experienced being discriminated against in job employments, denied of credit in appliance stores, becoming immediate suspects in terrorist incidents and facing illegal detention.

A film that attacks the Qur’an will be shown in the Netherlands soon. The brain of the movie is Geert Wilders, a fiercely anti-Islam Dutch politician.

Reportedly Wilders is a populist who often badmouths against his political opponents, migrants, and Islam, while avoiding dialogue.

Concerned Dutch groups have already expressed anxiety over the possible ramifications of the movie in the Netherlands’ relationship with the Muslim world.

International human rights groups attribute the attacks on Islam in Europe to racism and xenophobia.