Libya joins the boycott bandwagon
First Saudi Arabia and now, as the BBC reports, Libya has decided to close its embassy in Denmark over the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy.
As with the Saudis and the Jordanians, Tripoli appears to believe that the Danish government should abandon centuries old traditions of tolerance and freedom of speech because some lying imam says so.
Libya is also threatening to take “economic measures” against Denmark, but is unable to say what these would be.
In other news, the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the Arab League are seeking a UN resolution, backed by possible sanctions, to protect religions. I very much doubt that they’ve stopped to think what effect this resolution would have on a country led by a holocaust denier, such as Iran.
On a more rational note, although Afghan President Hamid Karzai considers the drawings to be a mistake, he has also said “Prime Minister Rasmussen explained Denmark’s position on that (the drawings), which was very satisfactory to me as a Muslim.”
On a more craven note, Norway has advised its Middle East embassies to voice regret after Norwgian Christian magazine, Magazinet, published the cartoons and Jyllands-Posten reports that Danish Company, Arla Foods, is about to start printing adverts in Saudi newspapers in order to deflect the much threatened boycott.
Maybe they are reacting a little too quickly because, as Arab News observes:
Reaction by supermarket managers in Jeddah to the controversial cartoons published in the Danish and Norwegian media is patchy. In some supermarkets, gaps with labels in English and Arabic, indicate that Danish products have been withdrawn; in others shelves were fully stocked with familiar Danish products yesterday.
And finally, The Brussels Journal argues that appeasing demands from various Muslim groups simply encourages more extreme elements to push for more and more. As such, they claim that the best way to bring this argument to an end would be for as many websites, blogs and papers in Europe just to publish the cartoons in an act of defiance to extremists.
I find myself increasingly in agreement with this point of view, so here’s my contibution…
And if you want ro quickly lay your hands on the individual cartoons, Sameer at Creative Destruction has put them all into a zip file for easy downloading.
Monday 30 Jan 2006 | Paul | Denmark, Libya
Thank you for publishing the cartoons. I have done the same on my blog along with the Brussels Journal report thread. I urge all bloggers to do the same. See http://pbswatch.blogspot.com/2006/01/farenheit-451-alert.html
May god open your hearts and may god forgive you. Read the Quran just once with an open heart please. Then do what you want.
nice this cartoon. Can you send to my email this cartoon? I want colection.
-sandro-
Well done,we need to fight back against this while we still have the freedom to do so.
For u all who not so clever…….
Mohammed the Prophet is not for jokes!!!!!!!
believe me, if i saw u in the street, i shall cut out your head until it seperated from your body!!!!!
from: Javaneese Moslem
Maybe it’s time to ask “Do you believe in GOD”? and help those with a free trip to meet their maker.
Thank you, thank you for publishing the cartoons.
I hope that the people in Europe and the USA now start to realize what kind of people the muslims are. There is no friendly western islam!!!
When some danish guys make some cartoons they start to get crazy. When they kill dozens and dozens of christians and burn down their churches, nobody cares.
WAKE UP EUROPE AND USA!!!
Islam is a religion of hate and killing!
I am a true believer of democracy, whether eastern, northern, southern, or western. This includes freedom of speech. My belief has been maligned and bedeviled numerous times by many. My only response to them is “I hope you meet your fate. What goes around comes around”. I strongly disagree in fomenting violence as a rebuttal. Worst, murder. If you (Islamist) sincerely believe that you yourself and your faith and your own kind is better than the western world, why did you leave your turf and migrated to a nation whose culture is influenced by democratic principles? To assert yourself and impose your will on your adopted country? Man, some fool you are. You might as well go back and starve with your belief. You do not belong. I do not despise Islam. I despise the people who malpractise it to satisfy themselves with their wonton acts. You are the one who needs to be condemned to hell.
God & his Prophet do not need you or I to defend them. In Saudi Arabia & other Islamic countries foreigners are required to behave according to what is normal social behaviour, however Muslims want to go to other countries with different cultures and act as if they never left home (even though a lot of the rubbish they spew abroad, they can’t say at home). How have the burning & boycotts glorified God? What has it done to change the perception that Islam is a backward and violent religion?
I saw an islamic cartoonist on CNN condemn the cartoons because they supposedly represent Islam as a violent and horrible religion. I was momentarily speechless at his brushing away a cartoonist’s expression of how Islam is perceived. The cartoonist is mirroring an attitude, not creating it, and if we are seeing Islam as violent and horrible, wouldn’t the caring religious leaders of Islam want to have this information? The sad thing is of course that the cartoons published in Denmark and republished elsewhere are intelligent and emotional representations of our attempt to work with Muslims. Yet the 3 additional cartoons published in the Islamic leaders’ report are probably the ones that got the whole protest and violent reaction started. Nothing in fact could be perceptive than the picture of the time bomb about to go off, even though I would judge it’s probably the most “offensive”. As a side note, CNN did comment that muslim-orientated newspapers publish cartoons that depict Jewish people in unflattering representations. But for some reason even though I am not a Muslim, I am supposed to follow all the dictates of the Islamic leaders. This is just poppycock.
I may think that people who have been insulted are over-reacting, but I also feel they should be treated with respect - despite how different (or not so different) their values and beliefs may be from my own.
What Do Denmark citizens and Denmarki Jyllands-Posten, who made - Muhammad cartoons, they only have in their heads only sex ideas, drugs night life dancing, etc. They never thinks of HELL they will go to so soon…????