Northern Light

August 22nd, 2007 12:50 am

Cartoon crisis in Sweden

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A group of secular Muslims in Sweden wants to organize an exhibition showing drawings of the prophet Mohammed as a dog and subsequently stage a public debate with the artist, Islamic scholars and other opinion makers.

SEMUS, Secular Muslims of Sweden, presented their initiative last week as a reaction to Swedish art institutions’ rejection of drawings of Mohammed made by Lars Vilks. Hooman Anvari, spokesman for SEMUS, explained that the debate about the drawings has focused exclusively on the issue of free speech, and in order to move beyond this issue somebody has to show the drawings to the public.

”It’s impossible to engage in a public debate about the drawings without having seen them. That’s the reason why I find it important to have them on public display. It’s my intention to have a dialogue with Lars Vilks about the drawings,” Hooman Anvari told Svenska Dagbladet.

He added that he finds the drawing tasteless and awful.

Lars Vilks, 60, who was a professor at the Academy of Art in Bergen, Norway 1997-2003, said that he had been invited by an art school to participate in an exhibition having dogs as it main theme. The organizers put no restrictions on the works to be presented. But right before the opening of the exhibition the art school removed the drawings of Mohammed. So did another art institution. Both referred to a possible security threat, and one of them in an interview with Jyllands-Posten underlined the fact that the drawings might be offensive to the Muslim minority in Sweden.

The controversy has caused a heated debate in Sweden, and last week a member of parliament called on the government to provide security for art institutions that present exhibitions with controversial art.

”Artistic freedom and the right to free speech has been put on hold and needs to be defended,” Cecilia Wikstroem, member of parliament for the conservative People’s party, said to Dagens Nyheter.

”What we have seen over the last couple of years since the publication of the Mohammed cartoons in Jyllands-Posten is that people are showing all kinds of considerations,” she added.

She has raised the issue with the minister of justice and the government.

”It should be possible to call on the police in cases like this. We need a serious survey of the situation in order to find out what happened to free speech. Do the institutions feel more insecure today? If there is a sense of a growing threat then we have to provide ressources to strengthen security.”

Lars Vilks, the artist behind the drawings, doesn’t think there is any need for more security.

”The threat only exists in the minds of the organizers. They have watched too much television,” Vilks told Dagens Nyheter.

But he supports the idea that art institutions should be able to contact the authorities if they feel threatend.

Writing on his blog Vilks acknowledges that his work hasn’t been supported by the art world.

”To change the situation the art world has to reconsider its relationship with Islam and so called weak minorities lacking confidence. But that’s a big change that isn’t likely to take place in the near future. Anyway, I think I am on to something: When you define Muslims as weak and lacking confidence you create a reality of ”we feel sorry for them”. You put a whole group of people under the same label ”weak”. Probably, it would be better to do exactly the opposite. I hold the view that this exposed group is strong enough to be taken serious and that they are capable of defending themselves in a debate.”

It’s important to stress that the Swedish media for a long time has avoided this kind of debate, and it’s a widely held view in Sweden that the Danes are xenophofic and racist because of it’s tighter immigration policy. Many swedes think that the publication of the Mohammed cartoons in Jyllands-Posten proved this point. None of the big Swedish newspapers published Jyllands-Posten’s cartoons back in 2006. Jyllands-Posten and other Danish newspapers have published Vilks drawings of the prophet. It caused no reaction whatsoever.

25 Comments

1. Knute:

Lars Wilks is admirable. Not many in that generation in Sweden have been able to avoid getting stuck in the year of 68.

Aug 22, 2007 - 4:30 am 2. ali rabiei:

These people are not Muslim.Anyway Muslims should follow Jews in this case.
Instead of Yelling,shouting,burning … they can relax at home like Jews and be sure that NOBODY dare to publish,express anything against their faith.

Aug 26, 2007 - 12:23 pm 3. drzz:

The Iranian government just called the Sweden embassy in Teheren and asked for apologizes.

http://leblogdrzz.over-blog.com

Aug 27, 2007 - 7:23 pm 4. drzz:

Godbless Flemming Rose.

Did you know you were among the “Heroes of our times” ? :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7mCAfoKOLk

Aug 27, 2007 - 7:24 pm 5. steve:

Freedom of expression is a right that needs defending. It can be taken away by a vocal minority, so we must fight to keep it. There is a line between free speech and deliberate provocation, however, but that is what modern societies need to keep debating and dicussing through open dialog.

Aug 27, 2007 - 8:27 pm 6. Erik:

The drawing was made as a “roundabout dog”.
Maybe some background is needed for that. “Roundabout dogs” is a Swedish fad as of lately. People started placing homemade wooden dog figures of various appearances in the center of roundabouts, as a sort of quiet protest for the usually awful art that is usually placed there.
There’s no obvious reason why this started with dogs and not anything else, but as it is “roundabout dogs” is a established fact in Sweden, and this is what Vilks used as a basis for his cartoon.

Aug 27, 2007 - 8:50 pm 7. KGS:

It’s not only the Swedish media that has avoided any kind of debate in the honest sense of the word. The Finnish media is as tight lipped as it’s Scandinavian neighbor.

Hardly a whisper was heard over last year’s firing of the editor of the Finnish culture magazine Kaltio, Jussi Vilkuna.

http://virtual.finland.fi/stt/showarticle.asp?intNWSAID=11874&group=General

Finnish MO Pictures are viewable here:

http://tundratabloid.blogspot.com/2006/02/finnish-magazine-sacks-editor-for.html

I happen to believe these pictures are more to the point than the Danish cartoons, for they specifically deal with the intimidation and appeasement of the MSM.

An prime example is the Finnish publishing house, Gummerus, which changed the cover of book that featured the Muslim’s prophet, shortly after the Mo cartoon brouhaha erupted. Viewable here:

http://tundratabloid.blogspot.com/2006/02/what-once-was-is-not-anymore.html

Need I say anthing more? *L* KGS

Aug 27, 2007 - 8:56 pm 8. Mr. Zug:

This comment is directed to “ali rabiei”.

I want to ask “ali” : why do you even raise the name of the Jews when the subject matter of the article posted above is confined to the inability of muslims to tolerate pen & ink caracatures of a historical person important only to those who believe in a self-discrediting political ideaology bent on worl domination (according to the qur’an)? Is your faith so frail that it cannot tolerate scrunity and critisim? Is not your faith all peaceful and tolerant? Peaceful how? Peaceful only once the world is controled by the imams you fail to question? Tolerant only of those who accept dhimmi status and pay the required jizya?

Please do not hesitate to respond, ali. We here in the West do not threaten death to those who do not hold with our beliefs, unlike your brethern, and unlike yourself.

Aug 27, 2007 - 10:43 pm 9. VJ:

Ali,

You should look at Lars Vilks website. He also draws a Jew on a pigs body. This is probably quite offensive to many Jews. Do you think a Jew would put on an explosive vest to take out a gallery displaying this drawing? I bet the “religion of peace” would love to.

Aug 27, 2007 - 11:47 pm 10. CJK Wheaton Il.:

It appears that the farther left a given society is, the more easily it comprimises it’s supposedly ‘core’ beliefs and ideals. What integrity this ‘enlightened’ society so jealously protects! At heart they are hypocritical cowards on their way to enslavement without even a hint of that reality residing in their blinded minds.

Aug 28, 2007 - 1:08 am 11. Hossam Kandeel:

Peace be upon you all ..

It is a pity to see freedom of speech crossing the border of Respect. It is not what you say, but it is How you say it.

I pity Lars that he missed on knowing Prophet Muhammad’s biography (Peace & blessings be upon him).

I encourage you to Read this book

http://www.witness-pioneer.org/vil/Books/SM_tsn/index.htm

http://www.kalamullah.com/Books/Ar-Raheeq%20Al-Makhtum.pdf

Aug 28, 2007 - 3:50 am 12. Kazem:

I am a Muslim and let me say to you all that the greatest offender here are people like Ali Rabiei who want to pull the veil on the head os 1.3 billion Muslims,in order thwy can be exploited and ruled over and abused by the mollas and othe Mohammedans.

Muslims have self-defeated themselves into a corner. Muslims cannot debate - not because they lack confidence or are weak, but because they do not have logic and reason and are ignorant of the facts. Victimhood and self-indulged martyrdom is the highest aspiration of the Muslim.

Aug 28, 2007 - 9:39 am 13. Kazem:

Hossam - Respect is something you earn. You are not born with the entitlement that everyone must respect your silly ideas or questionable characters?

Prophet Mohammad (Peace be Upon Him) was an assassin and a thug. He murdered bint Marvan among others. How come he did not respect this innocent woman? Why should anyone respect an assassin? Would you know, or are you just reifying a silly concept?

Aug 28, 2007 - 9:44 am 14. Zia Ul Islam:

These Commects are Directly to Mr. ZUG…….

I think you are the bloody Jew who always kill their Prophets in the entire history of the humanity. So we Muslims have no debate with such dogs like you Jews. The question here is of the caricatures. these cartoons shows how fearful you people are about the Great Religion Islam & How irritated your Fuckened society is. The Jews and the Cristians and all others know very well in their Scriptures also that the ruling will be Islam so you people please dont scream in mothers laps look at the facts & figures and make debates. And also do you forget the HOLOCAUST what the GREAT GREAT & GREAT HITLAAR did with you … you really deserve this.

Aug 28, 2007 - 2:45 pm 15. VJ:

Zia,

What can I say, no wonder your people live in mud huts and burn camel dung in the 21st century. God greated man in his own image, regardless of faith. Therefore if a Jew is a dog, God is a dog, according to Zia. I pity your soul.

Aug 28, 2007 - 5:58 pm 16. irfan98:

Humulating prophets is such a big sin that God will never accept such a person in Heavens.Such people will be punished in this life and hereafter.

Aug 28, 2007 - 7:41 pm 17. KGS:

VJ: “God greated man in his own image, regardless of faith. Therefore if a Jew is a dog, God is a dog”.

And if that is all true, so is Mohamed, which means Lars Vilks’ art is factual.

Aug 28, 2007 - 8:02 pm 18. Kazem:

irfan98 - for illiterates and ignorants like you, Muhammed (Peace be Upon Him) is a prophet. For educated people who have brains, Muhammed (PBUH) was not a prophet, but was an assassin, bandit, pan-Arabist, and pedophile epileptic poet.

Therefore, there is no chance that people with brains will be punished in afterlife. After all, Mohammed (PBUH) was never a prophet.

Aug 28, 2007 - 9:10 pm 19. Anonymous:

Zia,

Kazem made a point above above when he said muslims have painted themselves into a self-defeating corner because muslims do not have (use)logic and reason. And they are ignorant of facts.

You prove his point perfectly. Your inability to debate is because your faculty for reason and logic is impaired.

irfran,

I note your comment that those who humiliate your so-called prophet will be punished here on earth and in the hereafter.

Let me guess: muslims will take it upon themselves to punish the infidel on earth while allah gets to do it again in the afterlife?

Why not just let your allah take care of it in the afterlife. You muslims have no right to punish any infidel on earth for making light of that you hold dear.

Aug 28, 2007 - 9:15 pm 20. Kazem:

Therefore, there is no chance that people with brains will be punished in afterlife. After all, Mohammed (PBUH) was never a prophet.

Aug 28, 2007 - 10:30 pm 21. Richard Bronstein:

Here we go again - many members of the Islamic faith and many so-called progressives will be offended by the Swedish cartoon. But none of them will say a word about this:

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan - “Pro-Taleban militants have released a video of an apparently teenage boy beheading one of 16 Pakistani soldiers kidnapped in a restive tribal area bordering Afghanistan.

“The gruesome recording, a copy of which was obtained by AFP . . . .

“The 35-minute video entitled ‘Revenge’ first shows the 16 soldiers, all of them in uniform, who were taken hostage on August 9 in the South Waziristan tribal district.

“Four teenage boys with Kalashnikov assault rifles, daggers and headbands with jihadi slogans are then shown along with one of the soldiers kneeling in front of them.

“One boy cuts off the soldier’s head using a knife and holds it up for the camera. The soldier’s body was recovered on August 14 from a nearby town.”

Aug 28, 2007 - 10:55 pm 22. LSD:

Ha, the point of your post has been sucked in to the gravitational pull of the crisis of our times!

Does media-enforced tolerance suggest an attitude of cultural superiority? I think so. And I imagine the authors of this policy see themselves as progressive.

Sure, government should protect its citizens from harm, but if we expect anyone to protect us from offense we ask the impossible.

It’s interesting that in merely pointing out this issue you have triggered a tempest of rude comments and hyper-sensitivity.

Are these the folks the Swedish media seek to protect?

Aug 28, 2007 - 11:15 pm 23. Hossam Kandeel:

It is a pity to see how much misconceptions are there - I do not believe this is the place or space for taking them.

What Kazem wrote makes me again recommend reading.. Do not limit your readings to one side. Basic rule of justice.

Aug 29, 2007 - 6:14 am 24. ali.rabiei@gmail.com:

To My Zug
Please don’t put words in my mouth. Did I threaten anyone? I just said what we Muslims should do. It didn’t involve killing anyone as you said!!

I tolerate all kinds of religions and non-religions and I don’t/didn’t advocate killing or anyother allegations you reaised. I just said that we should learn from Jews for be a better future.

Jun 12, 2008 - 1:30 am 25. Ali Rabiei:

You lost me. I know that Jews are alos offended but they use no-violence methods. These so-called Muslims have used violent methods. If you re-read my post ,you’ll noticed that I criticised violent methods and Iadvocated peaceful methods as Jews do.
It was in plain English I don’t know why some didn’t understand!

Jun 12, 2008 - 1:33 am