| Muhammad Cartoons Editor Among Speakers Discussing Muslim Images David Astor -- Editor and Publisher July 6, 2007 |
WASHINGTON Any discussion about how Muslims are depicted in cartoons
will inevitably include comments about the Danish drawings of Muhammad
that sparked riots about 18 months ago.
At an Association of American Editorial Cartoonists conference session
Thursday, some of those comments came from the Jyllands-Posten
newspaper editor who published the Muhammad cartoons.
Flemming Rose said the decision to publish wasn't made in a vacuum. The
Danish editor noted that among the incidents inspiring what his newspaper
did included several artists turning down the opportunity to illustrate a Danish
children's book about Muhammad because of fears for their personal safety.
So the Jyllands-Posten page of Muhammad drawings was partly a
commentary on self-censorship.
Rose said he asked artists to draw something about Muhammad, not
necessarily something NEGATIVE about Muhammad. "It was very neutral," he
recalled.
"We could have done a feature story and gotten one or two letters," added
Rose. "Instead, we decided to show it rather than tell it. That demonstrates
the power of cartoons."
Rose criticized the decision of many American newspapers not to publish the
Muhammad cartoons after the rioting started. He said describing the cartoons
wasn't enough, and that not showing them made people imagine that the
cartoons were more controversial than they actually were.
Panelist Nik Kowsar, an Iranian artist who was jailed and received death
threats for his cartoons before moving to Canada in 2003, said cartoonists
have to be careful not to equate Islam with terrorism.
"I was targeted by Islamic extremists, but Islam itself isn't the problem," said
Kowsar, who this week was reunited with his Iranian wife and child after four
years. He noted that extremists account for a tiny percentage of Muslims.
The session -- moderated by editorial cartoonist Mike Thompson of the Detroit
Free Press and Copley News Service -- also included discussion of how
Muslim and Arab artists look at the United States.
Joe Szabo, the WittyWorld International Features founder, reported that he
found a lot of anti-U.S. sentiment while traveling around the world doing
research for a book called "The Image of America."
People described the U.S. with words such as "expansionist," "hypocritical,"
"materialistic," and "self-absorbed." And Szabo said cartoonists from the
Muslim and Arab world are doing cartoons showing images such as the Statue
of Liberty stomping on a globe of the world and U.S. soldiers dragging one of
their bloody victims on the ground to create the red stripes in the American
flag.
will inevitably include comments about the Danish drawings of Muhammad
that sparked riots about 18 months ago.
At an Association of American Editorial Cartoonists conference session
Thursday, some of those comments came from the Jyllands-Posten
newspaper editor who published the Muhammad cartoons.
Flemming Rose said the decision to publish wasn't made in a vacuum. The
Danish editor noted that among the incidents inspiring what his newspaper
did included several artists turning down the opportunity to illustrate a Danish
children's book about Muhammad because of fears for their personal safety.
So the Jyllands-Posten page of Muhammad drawings was partly a
commentary on self-censorship.
Rose said he asked artists to draw something about Muhammad, not
necessarily something NEGATIVE about Muhammad. "It was very neutral," he
recalled.
"We could have done a feature story and gotten one or two letters," added
Rose. "Instead, we decided to show it rather than tell it. That demonstrates
the power of cartoons."
Rose criticized the decision of many American newspapers not to publish the
Muhammad cartoons after the rioting started. He said describing the cartoons
wasn't enough, and that not showing them made people imagine that the
cartoons were more controversial than they actually were.
Panelist Nik Kowsar, an Iranian artist who was jailed and received death
threats for his cartoons before moving to Canada in 2003, said cartoonists
have to be careful not to equate Islam with terrorism.
"I was targeted by Islamic extremists, but Islam itself isn't the problem," said
Kowsar, who this week was reunited with his Iranian wife and child after four
years. He noted that extremists account for a tiny percentage of Muslims.
The session -- moderated by editorial cartoonist Mike Thompson of the Detroit
Free Press and Copley News Service -- also included discussion of how
Muslim and Arab artists look at the United States.
Joe Szabo, the WittyWorld International Features founder, reported that he
found a lot of anti-U.S. sentiment while traveling around the world doing
research for a book called "The Image of America."
People described the U.S. with words such as "expansionist," "hypocritical,"
"materialistic," and "self-absorbed." And Szabo said cartoonists from the
Muslim and Arab world are doing cartoons showing images such as the Statue
of Liberty stomping on a globe of the world and U.S. soldiers dragging one of
their bloody victims on the ground to create the red stripes in the American
flag.
| ISLAMIC CONFLICT 1988 Ayatollah Khomeini issues fatwa against Salman Rushdie after publication of The Satanic Verses 2001 The author Khalid Duran faces mass condemnation from Muslims for his book which sought to explain Islam to Jews, culminating in alleged death threats for his apostasy 2002 Fatwa issued against the Nigerian journalist Isioma Daniel after she suggested that Muhammad might approve of the Miss World contest 2004 Extremist kills the Dutch director Theo Van Gogh after he made Submission, a ten-minute film about the abuse of Muslim women featuring Koranic verses written on female bodies 2005 Swedish museum is forced to remove a painting depicting a couple making love while covered in verses from the Koran FROM NEWSPAPER CHALLENGE TO DIPLOMATIC INCIDENT September 30, 2005 Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten publishes 12 cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad October 20 Ambassadors of ten Muslim countries complain to Danish Prime Minister. Jyllands-Posten reports that illustrators have received death threats November 14 Jamaat-e-Islami, a Pakistan-based group, protests in Islamabad January 10, 2006 Cartoons reprinted by Magazinet, a Norwegian newspaper January 26 Saudi Arabia recalls its ambassador and initiates boycott of Danish goods January 27 Thousands denounce the cartoons during Friday prayers in Iraq January 28 Danish company Arla places adverts in Middle Eastern newspapers to try to stop boycott of its produce January 29 Jyllands-Posten prints a statement in Arabic saying the drawings were published in line with freedom of expression and not a campaign against Islam. Palestinians burn Danish flags and Libya announces it will close its embassy in Denmark January 30 EU says it will take World Trade Organisation action if boycott persists. Several Islamic groups, including Hamas and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, call for worldwide boycott of Danish products. Masked gunmen in storm EU office in Gaza |
| Link to view cartoons -- http://www.courrierinternational.com/dessins/galeriedessin.asp?dos_id=229 5&p |
Flemming Rose, Editor of the Danish newspaper, Jylands-Posten, is introduced by
Nikahang Kowsar of the Cartoonists Rights Network to a gathering at the National
Press Club in Washington D.C.
Nikahang Kowsar of the Cartoonists Rights Network to a gathering at the National
Press Club in Washington D.C.