[Reader-list] Muhammad Cartoons

Sat Feb 4 04:16:01 IST 2006

An interesting article on the controversy in today's IHT.

  Sarang
  ---
  Publishing those cartoons was a mistake 
  Zsofia Szilagyi International Herald Tribune 
  FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2006 

BUDAPEST The Western news media is unlikely to heed the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, and the European politicians who have condemned the provocative nature of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, which have provoked rage in the Muslim world. But it does need to engage in serious debate about its preferred role in mediating between cultures. This should start with the admission that publishing and republishing the cartoons was a grave mistake. 

Of course, the Danish and Norwegian newspapers that originally published the cartoons had no intention of setting off mass demonstrations, diplomatic rows and economic boycotts of their products in the Middle East. They simply wanted to make a statement about the extensive self-censorship that has developed within news media and artistic circles since the murder of the Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh in 2004.

But when making a point about self-censorship and press freedom, newspapers should have considered the cartoons' potential effects on Europe's growing anti-Islam sentiments. Why make a negative point about Islam in an environment where Islam is already getting extensive negative press through the coverage of hostage-takings, bombings and terrorist groups?

On Monday, the Danish paper Jyllands-Posten issued a statement regretting the offense the cartoons had caused to Muslims around the world, but continued to insist that their publication was justified under freedom of speech principles. To show solidarity, several European newspapers republished the cartoons, some of them urging tough action in defense of press freedom. 

Newspaper editors should have been aware, however, that in a world of global information flow there is an insurmountable contradiction between traditional free speech values and public discussion about Islam. 

In our networked world, existing societal and political tensions can be inflamed instantly through the transfer of messages from one cultural context to another. Media messages, films and art works cannot be addressed to a specific cultural group - traditional borders of culture and nation no longer exist. 

Whether we like it or not, now we all effectively live next door to one another. This raises the stakes in the century-old debate on how to strike a balance between individual and collective press freedom rights. 

The central question in this debate is as simple as it is difficult. What is more important for the democratic advancement of a society - to ensure the freedom of expression of all its citizens (within the limits marked by law) or to protect the collective interests of society? 

Both these goals cannot be fully accomplished at the same time, and the two dominant philosophies of the press - the libertarian and the social responsibility theories - have come up with very different definitions of the media's main mandate.

The former hails individual freedoms, even to the detriment of the quality of media output, while the latter places more emphasis on the media's responsibility in leading an informed, high-quality discussion, with due respect for minority rights.

Backers of the social responsibility theory now have a new powerful argument against the libertarians - that once messages are out in public, they develop a life of their own and become subject to multiple interpretations, and often manipulation that serves political agendas. 

There is no doubt that freedom of speech is an essential foundation of any democracy. But when newspapers insist on this right, they have to understand that they do not - alone - create the context and lifespan of their messages. 

Freedom of speech has never been a static value, and the responsibilities of the press evolve with every new social and political development around the world - requiring the limits of media output to be subjected to constant review. 

The press needs to serve the ever-evolving public interest, and it needs to do so by focusing on responsibility, and not solely on freedom.

(Zsofia Szilagyi is a Budapest-based political analyst and director of the Human Rights Film Foundation.) 

punam zutshi <punam.zutshi at gmail.com> wrote:
  Many thanks Rajesh and Mahmood.
Here's a little more on the issue in the article entitled "Musharraf
condemns Mohammad cartoon".The link is
http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/feb/03cartoon.htm
Punam

On 2/4/06, mahmood farooqui wrote:
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: mahmood farooqui 
> Date: 04-Feb-2006 00:40
> Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Muhammad Cartoons
> To: rajesh mehar 
>
>
> You know, I think that people printing cartoons of Mohammed is not
> such a big deal-or is it?
>
> Let me approach it from the other end. Pakistan has something called
> the blasphemy laws. Under those laws anybody who says anything which
> can be shown to be undermining anything Mohammed upheld is a
> blasphemy.
>
> Consider the full implications of this. Mohammed, peace be upon him,
> said many things in llife. On occsion that he did not, the people who
> wrote his seerat and the people who wrote the Hadith, traditions and
> anecdotes of his life, are particularly garrulous and numerous.
> Altogether therefore, there is nothing, like Ali or Marx or Gandhi,
> that Mohammed has supposedly left unsaid. They include enjoining
> perfect equality, non-violence, solidarity and humility upon mankind.
> By extension, in theory and sometimes in practice, if I were to
> complain that the human race is hugely fucked up and will remain so
> forever might count as blasphemy.
>
> On the other hand, however, the western European society has been
> having a field day caricaturing Mohammed forever. Did they not
> identify him as Mahound, the name given to the anti-christ in Dante's
> Inferno-a thirteenth century text. Or was it the fourteenth century-I
> tell you, these European dates!
>
> Of course to a prosecuted and quasi-self-persecuted Muslim world it is
> a hugely cathartic occasion that they have found an issue when
> self-healing chest thumping can be accompanied by a genuine sense of
> grievance-i.e. we may, with perfect justification inflict imaginary
> violence upon the creators and purveyors of these cartoons.
>
> I share your sense of outrage. Ghalib, I think, has been there before,
>
> hum aah bhi karte hain to ho jaate hain badnaam
> voh qatl bhi karte hain to charcha nahin hota
>
> SInce it is, eventually, about power relations, I acknowledge the
> wantonness of the powers that circulated those cartoons. But they are,
> after all, cartoons. What can one say about the minds that would
> create and enjoy cartoons like these. What can we say, on the other
> hand, about jokes that continue to circulate related to the sexuality
> and other quirks of the father of our nation, viz Mahatma Gandhi. Of
> course jokes and cartoons are different media, I understand that.
>
> What I am trying to say is that our minor yet hegemonic brothers of
> Islam, that is the Arab world, have made protest enough about these
> cartoons, perhaps they have little else to contribute to the Muslim
> discourse anyway. What we should do perhaps is to hold steadfastly to
> our rising sense of importance and clout in the world. If India is
> rising, can Muslims be far behind. Then they won't bloody be able to
> say anything, will they.
>
> Of course, if our Hindu brothers want they may forsake Danish
> products-in case they know any.
>
> To approach this from another angle, yet. The annals of Mughal Empire
> are full of instances of people being brought to trial for having
> insulted the Prophet, often in the most obscure way. The MUghal qazis,
> to their great credit, usually dealt with these things in the most
> common-sensical way. One of the great casualties of modernity, and its
> attendant discourses, has been that same robust common-sensicalness of
> which we onec had aplenty.
>
> Did not Kabir once say-taapar mulla bang de, kya bahra hua khudaaye?
>
> (It wont do to blame Kabir's ignorance-for one of the meanings of
> bang daadan in farsi is to give azaan...)
>
> Mahmood
>
>
>
> On 03/02/06, rajesh mehar wrote:
> > Looks like there's been an all-out battle royale erupting all over Europe
> > and West Asia over this issue:
> >
> > "The Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy began when twelve
> > editorial cartoons depicting the Islamic prophet Muhammad were printed in
> > the Danish daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten on 30 September 2005 (and later
> > in the Norwegian Christian newspaper Magazinet on January 10 2006, the
> > German newspaper Die Welt, the French daily France Soir, and many other
> > European newspapers)..."
> >
> > Full article at -->
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jyllands-Posten_Muhammad_cartoons_controversy
> >
> > Related Wiki News articles -->
> > http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Saudis_boycott_Danish_dairy_produce
> > http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/%27Denmark_will_be_attacked%27_says_one_expert%2C_%27Denmark_safe%27_says_another
> >
> > What's even more remarkable is that the mainstream media in India has not
> > even whimpered about the issue. If not for Wikipedia's home page I probably
> > would not have come to know about this at all.
> >
> > --Rajesh.
> >
> >
> > Gonna make a lot o'money, gonna quit this crazy scene.
> >
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