|
| The first multi-expert blog dedicated solely to counterterrorism issues, serving as a gateway to the community for policymakers and serious researchers. Designed to provide realtime information about terrorism cases and policy developments. |
|
Search CTB
Navigation
Home
About Contact Us CT Blog Experts in the Media CT Library Counterterrorism Foundation Websites & Centers RSS & PDA Feeds Monthly Archives POSTS ON ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR POSTS ON 2008 MUMBAI ATTACK Counterterrorism Blog Panels: Reforming U.S. Counter-Terrorism Assistance Programs, Feb. 12 The 2008 Mumbai Attacks, Dec. 4 Future of Turkey-U.S. Strategic Partnership, May 19 Iran & U.S.: Outlook for Next Decade? April 15 Compañeros de Armas ("Friends in Arms"): Chavez, FARC & South America, March 19 Meta-Terror: Terrorism & the Virtual World, Feb. 29 Evolution of US Counterterrorism Policy, Feb. 12 Terrorism Litigation After Boim Decision, Jan. 28 Holy Land Foundation & Muslim Brotherhood, Dec. 11, 2007 ------------ July 2008 Posts and August 2008 Posts Contributing Experts
Douglas Farah, Editor
Steven Emerson & The Investigative Project on Terrorism Dennis Lormel Bill West Evan Kohlmann Michael Cutler Victor Comras Michael Kraft Dr. Zachary Abuza Dr. Walid Phares Daveed Gartenstein-Ross Olivier Guitta Kenneth Conboy Aaron Mannes David Schenker Animesh Roul Matthew Levitt Jonathan Winer Michael Jacobson Frank Hyland Roderick Jones Paul Cruickshank Farhana Ali Lorenzo Vidino Madeleine Gruen James McGinnis Michael Braun James Gordon Meek, Guest Expert Margot Williams, SNS Global, Newslinks Editor Phillip Smyth & Mark Offenbach, Asst. Newslinks Editors Andrew Cochran, Founder & Editor Emeritus EXPERTS' ARCHIVES & BIOS Recent Posts
The Return of IIRO?
"Jihobbyists" No More: English-Speaking Western Jihadists Coming of Age Indonesia Counter-Terrorism Raids Continue Hezbollah's Penance--Hizballah works to rebuild its Tarnished Image India’s strategic role in countering Jihadism Closing Loopholes: Another Vital Aspect of Sanctions on Iran The Unraveling of Hugo Chávez and His Terrorist Ties Dinner in Damascus: What Did Iran Ask of Hizballah? The Internationalization of the fight against the Jihadists "Threat from Jamaat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh": ICG Report Experts' Books
Walid Phares: The Confrontation and "The War of Ideas: Jihadism against Democracy" and “Future Jihad: Terrorist Strategies Against America”
Michael Kraft & Yonah Alexander (Editors): "Evolution of U.S. Counterterrorism Policy" Douglas Farah & Zachary Abuza in Countering the Financing of Terrorism Douglas Farah: "Merchant of Death" and "Blood From Stones: The Secret Financial Network of Terror" Michael Jacobson: "The West at War: U.S. and European Counterterrorism Efforts, Post–September 11" Daveed Gartenstein-Ross: "My Year Inside Radical Islam: A Memoir" Steven Emerson: "Jihad Incorporated: A Guide to Militant Islam in the US" and "American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us" Victor Comras & Matthew Levitt (contributors): "Terrorism Financing and State Responses," Stanford University Press Matthew Levitt: "Negotiating Under Fire: Preserving Peace Talks in the Face of Terror Attacks" and "Hamas: Politics, Charity, and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad" and "Targeting Terror: U.S. Policy toward Middle Eastern State Sponsors and Terrorist Organizations, Post-September 11" Zachary Abuza: "Political Islam and Violence in Indonesia" and "Militant Islam in Southeast Asia: Crucible of Terror" Lorenzo Vidino "Al Qaeda in Europe: The New Battleground of Global Jihad" Kenneth Conboy: "The Second Front: Inside Asia’s Most Dangerous Terrorist Network" Evan Kohlmann: "Al-Qaida's Jihad in Europe: The Afghan-Bosnian Network" Credits
Powered by Movable Type 4.23-en
Site design by Sekimori Thanks to Marvin Hutchens of ThreatsWatch.Org, our webmaster Site Meter
Creative Common License
 |
The Danish Cartoon Controversy in ContextBy Daveed Gartenstein-Ross
With all the attention that politicians and the media have devoted to the controversy generated by Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten's publication of twelve cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, it's important to understand this controversy in its proper context. Jyllands-Posten decided to publish these cartoons because it wanted to test what editor-in-chief Carsten Juste described as "an article of self-censorship which rules large parts of the Western world." In other words, Juste contended that there is a real fear of being seen as criticizing Islam in large parts of the Western world, and that this fear has bred self-censorship. Juste is right on both counts. An article that I wrote for the Daily Standard back in November documents in some detail the trend toward criticism of Islam being met with threats or actual physical violence. Examples of this include Ayatollah Khomeini's fatwa sentencing writer Salman Rushdie to death after publication of The Satanic Verses; the murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh after he directed a film dramatizing the mistreatment of women born into Muslim families; the death threats directed against actor and Muslim convert Omar Sharif after he praised his role as St. Peter in an Italian TV film; Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali being driven underground by threats after admitting in a televised debate that she had left the Islamic faith; and Dutch painter Rachid Ben Ali being forced into hiding after one of his shows featured satirical work critical of Islamic militants' violence. These are but a few examples of a far broader trend toward speech crticizing Islam being met not with counter-speech, but with threats -- and in extreme instances, with death. So Jyllands-Posten's publication of the cartoons of Muhammad is best understood not as an attack on Islam, but as a reaction to this trend, and an attempt to dramatically reassert the primacy of free speech. In the past, when criticism of Islam was met with threats, Westerners haven't always been vigilant about standing behind speech rights. After a bounty was placed on Rushdie's head, for example, British novelist John le Carr offered an excuse for Rusdie's would-be assassins by stating that "there is no law in life or nature that says that great religions may be insulted with impunity." Likewise, Western legal systems -- through such vehicles as religious vilification laws -- frequently send mixed signals by suggesting that the slander of religion can be punished by law. So it is encouraging to see that the controversy over these cartoons wasn't met with wholehearted Western self-flagellation and apologies, but rather with defiance. When newspapers like France's France Soir, Germany's Die Welt, Italy's La Stampa, the Netherlands' Volkskrant, and Spain's El Periodico republished the cartoons, they did so not out of anti-Islam animus, but rather because they understood the principles that are here at stake. Of course, Westerners have not unanimously stood in solidarity with freedom of speech in this latest controversy. In an excellent article published in the Weekly Standard, Paul Marshall, a senior fellow at Freedom House's Center for Religious Freedom, notes the reaction from the UN's high commissioner for human rights after the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) complained to her about the cartoons:
When the U.S. State Department and British foreign secretary Jack Straw condemn the publication of these cartoons, it only demonstrates that they are either unaware of the threat to free speech -- or else would like to pretend that it does not exist. The fact remains, though, that the threat to free speech is real. Even in the West, people are threatened and sometimes killed for criticizing Islam. The Danish cartoons struck a blow against the resulting self-censorship. How we as a culture are able to weather the current controversy will say much about our understanding of the importance of free speech rights -- and about our prospects of keeping these rights vibrant in the future.
TrackBackTrackBack URL for this entry: Listed below are links to weblogs that reference The Danish Cartoon Controversy in Context:
» The Danish Cartoon Controversy in Context from NoisyRoom.net
» Danish Muslim Cartoon Controversy in Context from Outside The Beltway | OTB
» WWIV gets hotter from Kesher Talk
» WWIV gets hotter from Kesher Talk
» "WITH OUR BLOOD WE WILL REDEEM OUR PROPHET" from Michelle Malkin
» Cartoon Jihad from absentee blog
» I question the timing from Winds of Change.NET
» Loony Toons, redux from protein wisdom
» I question the timing from Kesher Talk
» VIDEO: BREAKING THE TABOO from Michelle Malkin
» VIDEO: BREAKING THE TABOO from Michelle Malkin
» Danish Cartoonists, Political Correctness and Freedom of the Press from U.S. Politics: Current Events |