On mobility, community, citizenship and difference
In my urban cultures seminar we’ve been following global responses to the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed - it’s proving to be a very interesting way to engage the more theoretical readings on mobility, community and citizenship.
A Muslim student brought copies of the cartoons to one class, and we had a very thoughtful and engaged discussion about them, the question of global citizenship and the management of difference.
In The Guardian: “The prophet for many of them is the ultimate symbol of the good strong Arab Islamic leader at a time where such leaders are inexistent. It’s the only role model, only hero, they have left. So naturally they are not exactly the most understanding people when it comes to what they view as attempts to mock or discredit him.”
And now that the debate has reached Canada, things are getting particularly interesting as the global meets the local.
While the Muslim Canadian Congress blog has been tracking local and national news stories, and Toronto’s OMNI TV has covered the issues from a multicultural perspective but not broadcast the pictures in any context, yesterday conservative Alberta political magazine Western Standard published the cartoons.
From a CBC interview with publisher Ezra Levant:
“I’m doing something completely normal. I’m publishing the centre of a controversy. That’s what news magazines do…We’re not publishing them for their editorial merits. They’re boring cartoons, they’re bland. We’re not running them because we share their views. We’re running them because they’re the central fact that caused radical Muslims around the world to riot.”
The Globe and Mail reported the local Muslim reaction:
“‘We will use every means within the Canadian legal system to stop this intellectual terrorism,’ Syed Soharwardy, president of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada, said yesterday. ‘This is yellow journalism. It is not civilized. The people will have to pay the price for what they have done. They have disturbed the peace in our society,’ he said.”
In last night’s news there were also Muslim leaders calling for the publication to be prosecuted under Canada’s hate propaganda laws. Some even called for “all blasphemy” to be legally punishable. So much for fundamental freedoms?
Update 16 Feb 06
Israeli group announces anti-Semitic cartoons contest! (via)
February 14th, 2006 at 11:42 am
There’s a question here about who speaks for Muslims, particularly in the instances of people calling for more punitive measures. It is certainly the case that such calls misrepresent some Muslims the way Pat Robertson’s calls to kill Hugo Chavez misrepresent some Christians and some Americans.
What we are seeing in the press is mainly the continuing effort to court controversy. People on all sides are susceptible to this practice, and people on all sides will continue to over-react.