Violence Erupts In Denmark After Re-Publication of Danish Cartoon

According to police reports over 30 people were arrested last night in various Danish cities following the eighth day of local unrest that some folks, particularly international news agencies, are tracing to events including last week's foiled assassination plot against cartoonist Kurt Westergaard and the subsequent republication in Denmark newspapers of his 2005 cartoon featuring Muhammed wearing a turban that was turning into a bomb, one of the infamous Jyllands-Posten cartoons that led to worldwide turmoil in early 2006. Almost 90 fires where reported during Sunday night in the affected cities.

As far as international repercussions go, the biggest reaction seems to have been in Iran, where various political leaders seem to be calling for a two-tired approach of a) reconsideration of current diplomatic relationships with Denmark, and b) the flat-out murder of the people who made, printed and published the cartoons. A scheduled trade mission of Denmark representatives to Iran was canceled.

At least some international organizations like the Organization of the Islamic Conference urged peaceful protests, still citing the re-publication of the cartoon as an incitement to hatred. There were also a few editorials over the weekend reminiscent of 2006 in that they cast the events in terms of the larger issues of free speech rights and how to blend societies with completely different views on such issues, or at least how to get along.

I still think that a key issue is that part of the offense as it seems to be conceived by those who object to the republication is that many entities reprinted the cartoon in order to show solidarity with Kurt Westergaard, not because they're newspapers and the republication of the cartoon was necessary in order to completely tell the story facing Mr. Westergaard. While free speech demands that both forms of expression be allowed, it's harder to argue that newspapers are compelled to show solidarity with anybody than it is that newspapers must be allowed to present whatever information is out there in a way that best fulfills their mandate to educate and inform. I think this blending of motivation weakens the position of the papers who participate, and if this were simply about non-violent protests being made against institutions for their acting as public advocates distinct from their journalistic mission, I think that would be an interesting discussion to have. It would also be a lot less depressing than this one, or at least less tragic.

For a sensibly articulated view that says the Danish Cartoon re-publication is a quick but not substantive answer to the question of why these riots started, check out this essay by Thomas Thorhauge at Metabunker.
 
posted 9:15 am PST | Permalink
 

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