Criminalising religious slurs
Ibrahim Nafie argues that the response to the Danish cartoon crisis should be to campaign for legal protection of religious symbols
The cartoons published by a Danish newspaper sent angry crowds onto the streets in many Arab and Muslim countries. The wave of protests escalated after Arab and Muslim ambassadors were denied an audience with the Danish prime minister. Calls have been made for a boycott of Danish products by Arab and Muslim countries. In France, Spain, Italy and Germany newspapers decided to republish the drawings in a show of solidarity with Denmark and also to assert their commitment to free speech.
What the Danish newspaper has done, though, has nothing to do with free speech. The drawings were an uncalled-for insult against Islam and Muslims. Free speech has its boundaries. Insulting other people's faith is not a sign of free speech but of bad decorum. Europe has free speech, and yet it has laws that prohibit denial of the Holocaust, to give one example.
Those who lecture us about free speech know full well that they cannot say anything that may involve a slur against Jews. And anything other than the mainstream account of the Holocaust is a taboo, in both America and Europe. Read the articles of the law passed by the US congress in 2004 concerning the fight against anti- Semitism and you'll have a clear picture of how things stand. Anyone who criticises the Zionist movement, or Israel, or Judaism is liable to prosecution. And yet it is still alright, apparently, to slur Christianity and Islam.
We have a problem here. We have a problem with how the West handles questions of faith. You cannot discuss historical facts, such as the Holocaust, freely in Europe. And no one objects when the US Congress passes a law on anti-Semitism. The West seems a bit inconsistent when it comes to matters of faith and this is alarming.
Protests against the offending drawings have forced the Danish newspaper to apologise. Now we have to move on. We need coordinated action on questions of faith and creed. Arabs and Muslims should act, in cooperation with Western partners, to ensure that such a situation does not arise again. We are not against free speech, but we believe that religious slurs are unacceptable.
Sporadic anger followed by sudden amnesia is unhelpful. Arabs and Muslims should launch an organised and orderly campaign to prevent future slurs against Islam. And we have to do this consistently, not through sabotage. We can find like-minded people in the West to help us in the campaign.
The Vatican and Eastern churches are on our side when it comes to stopping religious slurs. Already, many in the West have denounced the offending drawings in no uncertain terms. I have a specific proposal to make here. I would like to see an Arab or Islamic organisation draft a resolution that is then endorsed by Arab and Muslim countries and submitted to the UN. The resolution should demand protection for the sanctity of belief. Once such a resolution is passed by the UN we will be in a position to monitor violations and bring the perpetrators to court. I believe that we must move on from short-term anger to international legislation.
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/781/op1.htm