The Muhammad cartoons controversy
What happened in Denmark?
On September 30th, 2005, Jyllandsposten, the largest selling newspaper in Denmark,
published an article by the cultural editor of Jyllandsposten, Flemming Rose, entitled
“The Face of Muhammed”. Jyllandsposten had initiated members of the Danish editorial
cartoonist union to send in their contributions in order to raise a debate about Islam, selfcensorship and freedom of expression.
Twelve editorial cartoons, most of which depicted the Islamic prophet Muhammad,
illustrated the article that discussed self-censorship as a result of the fear of Muslim
fundamentalists, after an author of a children’s book entitled The Koran and the life of the
prophet Muhamed had experienced difficulties getting illustrations to his book. Some
artists expressed that they were afraid to illustrate the book because of the recent attacks
on a teacher at the Carsten Niebuhr-institute in Copenhagen, who had read from the
Koran to non-muslim students at a lecture, and to the recent killing of the filmmaker
Theo Van Gogh in the Netherlands. The illustrations to the book ended up being done
anonymously.
The newspaper called the article and the publishing of the cartoons an attempt to
contribute to the debate regarding criticism of the Islam and the self-censorship observed
among publishers because of their fear of the consequences.
What was the response?
The article on September 30th and the publishing of the cartoons resulted in protests by
Danish Muslim organizations, partly because to some branches of Islam, the prophet
Muhammed shall not be depicted. Others do not find portrayal of the prophet offensive,
but the cartoons published in Jyllandsposten were both provocative and cutting to many
to Muslims in Denmark.
It should also me mentioned that the Danish society has had more problems with
immigrants and integration than for example Norway. They also have stricter
immigration laws, a recent law passed in 2004, for example, makes family reunions
harder than it used to be. Muslims in Denmark remain over-represented when it comes to
unemployment and among prison population. The recent years the Danish Peoples Party
have increased, with their nationalistic anti-immigration politics.
The first critic was in general aimed at the fact that Muslim communities in Denmark
were hurt and offended by the cartoons, some of them quite brutal in their mockery. They
asked for an apology from the newspaper, but the newspaper insisted on their right to
publish these cartoons and called it freedom of expression.
Later it was argued that the same newspaper in 2003 had refused to publish caricatures of
Jesus. When Hamshiri, a major Persian national newspaper in Iran, in February 2006
announced a competition where artists were to make cartoons about Holocaust,
Jyllandsposten ended up not printing these either. (Important to remember that many
people, muslims included, saw the paradox between the rage about the Mohammed
cartoons and the acceptance of a similar cartoon controversy about holocaust and
holocaust denial.
The fact that many newspapers and countries defended Jyllandsposten and freedom of
expression, but wouldn’t publish the cartoons themselves was also a contribution to what
many people fest: The whole issue as a striking example of western double standards.
Who printed the cartoons?
After the demonstrations and the media attention to Jyllandsposten, Denmark and the
Cartoons, several other countries also printed the cartoons. Newspapers in Denmark,
Canada, France and Russia, among others, printed large versions of the Cartoons. The
papers in among others Norway, Finland, Egypt and USA printed small versions or a
facsimile of the spread in Jyllandsposten. Sweden, Great Britain, Pakistan, Israel and
China were among the countries that chose not to publish the cartoons.
What happened around the world?
Riots were reported in amongst others Pakistan and Syria. Flags were burned, the
Norwegian and the Danish embassy in Syria as well as the Danish embassy in Beirut
were set on fire. Some people were killed during demonstrations, mainly when police
tried to remain control and fired into large crowds of violent demonstrators. Some
countries boycotted Denmark, others supported, for example by organizing “buy Denish”
campaigns.
October 12th, 2005, eleven ambassadors from Muslim-majority countries asked for a
meeting with the Danish prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen. The government
replied with a letter saying that the government can not interfere with the press, however
the case could be brought to court as Danish law prohibits blasphemy and discrimination.
They did, but lost the case.
Some Muslim leaders were accused of adding fuel to the whole issue by distributing the
cartoons and other offensive pictures in order to spread the hate towards Denmark and
Jyllandsposten.
Later on, Jyllandsposten published an open letter still holding on to their right to publish
the cartoons, but apologizing for offending any Muslims.
How was it covered by the press?
The coverage of the whole controversy was massive, all over the world. Later on, several
reports have claimed that the demonstrations and the violence was exaggerated in the
media, that the riots were not as massive as they were portrayed after all.
Elisabeth Eide at the Oslo University College was in Pakistan when the cartoon crisis was
at its peak. She explained that the riots we saw on television back in Norway where very
limited. She was given advice by diplomats and the university she visited to “stay low”,
not showing she was a Norwegian, but her experience was that this was no problem:
Most people were eager to discuss the issue with her and she did not feel threatened. One
thing she noticed was how people would phrase it at “Norway printed the cartoons” –
which shows in many places the idea of a political tradition of distinguishing between the
state and the press is not common.
The latest news in the story:
On August 19th, 2007, the debate rose again, when the Swedish newspaper Nerikes
Allehanda published a drawing by the Swedish artist Lars Vilks portraying the prophet
Muhammed as a “rondellhund”, which directly translates into a “roundabout dog”. The
roundabout dog is a Swedish phenomena that started in 2006, when anonymous artistd
placed home-made sculptures of dogs, made from various materials, in roundabouts all
over Sweden.
On wednesday, Jyllandsposten.dk could announce that the artist now is working on a
one-hour musical about the prophet Muhammed (he compares it to the Andrew Lloyd
Webber-musical Jesus Christ Superstar), entitled Dogs.