One of the most amusing things about the blogosphere is instantaneous and unfiltered reaction to events that are currently affecting the world, such as the Palestinian elections last month, the London Bombings last year, or the Live8 concert over the summer.
Over the past two weeks, one topic has been dominating aggregators, top searches, and blogs- the now infamous Danish cartoons, and the reaction of Muslim world to this fiasco.
The bloggers on toot, being Arab and/or Muslim, have done their fair share of opinion giving on this matter, enough to represent several sides of the argument. Here’s a little round up of the thoughts of some of the best bloggers in the Middle East on the Danish cartoons:
Farah’s Sowaleef from Saudi Arabia: “I don’t believe it is my right to bully a whole nation, and its government and its people, and them good old cows because of what one sleazy individual drew. Furthermore, the newspaper apologized and the Danish envoy in Riyadh made a statement and the apology was addressed to the citizens of Saudi Arabia. There. People who are absolutely unrelated to the sleazy cartoonist jumped in to apologize in a country where individualism is treasured. Now, enough. Why, oh why, must the drama always outlast every event?”
Serdal from the UAE: ما حدث في الأيام الماضية من دعوات مقاطعة ومواضيع كثيرة تنشر ومواقع تخصص للمقاطعة أمر جميل ويجعل المرء يسعد لأن الناس يتحركون، يبقى هناك شيء واحد يجب أن يفعله عدة أشخاص، وهو التذكير وتجديد العهد، مقاطعة البضائع الأمريكية مثلاً لا زلت أطبقها، وأعترف بأنني تساهلت بضعة مرات مع أصدقائي، يدعوني أحدهم لتناول العشاء ويكون المطعم أمريكي، كنت في السابق أقول: لا أريد أن أغضب هذا الصديق أو أكون عنيداً، لكن الآن لن أفعل ذلك، ما يمكن مقاطعته يجب ألا أشتريه ولن أتنازل عن هذا المبدأ، وإن لم يفهمني الآخرون فهذه مشكلتهم، فجددوا العهد.
Moorish Girl from Morocco: “I say, ‘Leave the cartoonist alone! He has a right to his stupidity!’ And also, for the love of all that is holy, don’t we have better things to do than to worry about a cartoon?”
Desert Pundit from Palestine/ Dubai: “I was disgusted by the Arab reaction, not because it rejected the cartoons, which is a right, but how it was non-discriminating, and ignorant in the way it expected the state (Denmark) to control it media the way they do in the Arab World.”
Tololy’s Box from Jordan: “One is bound to get a decent amount of reactions, some wise, and most unwise, if one limits people’s freedom or if one lets it off the leash. I find it most amusing how most current trends, and so-dubbed-liberals-in-their-own-words, and kindly do not mistake this for an attack targeting a certain group of individuals (for any such a notion is a false claim), think it appropriate to mock the outrage that is taking the Muslim awareness by storm, and yet to overlook the simplicity of the situation that the caricatures did, in actual fact, insult someone respected by “some” people who happen to have a lot of family.”
Rantings of a Sandmonkey from Egypt: “They were actually printed in the Egyptian Newspaper Al Fagr back in October 2005. I repeat, October 2005, during Ramadan, for all the egyptian muslim population to see, and not a single squeak of outrage was present. Guess we will have to Boycott Egypt now as well, huh? Now while the arab islamic population was going crazy over the outrage created by their government’s media over these cartoons, their governments was benifitting from its people’s distraction. The Saudi royal Family used it to distract its people from the outrage over the Hajj stampede. The Jordanian government used it to distract its people from their new minimum wage law demanded by their labor unions. The Syrian Government used it to create secterian division in Lebanon and change the focus on the Harriri murder.”
Abu Aardvark, American Middle East Specialist: “So far this controversy is running according to script: strengthening extremists on both sides and silencing the middle, creating a clash of civilizations that shouldn’t exist and making a mockery of reasonable public discourse. And that, my friends, is a StupidStorm. Can voices of reason break through?”
Beirut Spring from Lebanon: “Westerners will sooner or later accept the notion that many Muslims have a weird sense of prioritization. If they starve because of bad government policy or corruption, they attribute it to ‘God’s will’. But if some ‘heathen’ westerner insults their beliefs, they will be seriously offended.”
The Black Iris from Jordan: “Islamic governments failed to distinguish between a newspaper in Denmark and the whole of Denmark. Instead of focusing on the newspaper they went after its government which had nothing to do with it. Instead of focusing on the newspaper they went after companies that had nothing to do with it. Did they not think that there are Muslims who live in Denmark that could be affected by it?”
Eve from Lebanon:عندما “تلبنن” ايف من لبنان: “الخبر، وبدأ البعض يستغلّه ليتلاعب بمصير بلدٍ بأكمله، ونشط التّكسير والتّدمير والإحراق في ممتلكاتٍ تخصّني بقدر ما تخصّ أفراداً معيّنين، وبدأت الألسنة تحوك ألفاظاً قديمة مثل “فتنة، وطائفيّة، و1975…”، ظهر أنّ الجهل يستطيب الرّقص في الملعب اللّبنانيّ هذه الأيّام”
Haitham Sabbah from Palestine/ Bahrain: “My answer is from within the same concept. Why do you think that ALL Muslims condemn ALL of Denmark? You see my point? ALL? You think ALL in Denmark think we ALL condemn Denmark! This is not true. This is not the case, and was not the case. What you see on TV, read in newspapers, etc… is part of the truth. Muslims and Islam don’t call for hate and violence. And those you see and hear are only part of the Muslim world.”
Big Pharaoh from Egypt: “I can’t end the post without saying: when will we grow up?? The Da Vinci Code did not harm Christianity, 12 cartoons won’t harm Islam either!!”
Wael Attili from Jordan: “I know some people are calling for freedom of speech, but those people should know that the rage is not about freedom of speech, it’s about intention… And the Danish people should not defend freedom of speech. Because we know what is freedom of speech more than they do.”
Mahmood’s Den from Bahrain: “All for what? A bunch of cartoons that cannot - under ANY circumstance - denigrate the great Prophet, peace be upon him. He is MUCH bigger than those cartoons and depictions and WE, Muslims, know that and nothing will change our image of the great man.”
And Far Away… from Jordan: “First there was the boycott, which I was strongly against because I couldn’t understand why we should punish a whole country as well as freedom of speech for some irresponsible and naive cartoons drawn by people who are obviously so ignorant about Islam and the Prophet Mohammad. I also found it unneeded for governments to help ignite the anger in the citizens who didn’t see the cartoons anyway.”
Earth to Omar from Syria: “The other thing about free speech is that it shouldn’t be offensive to any culture, religion, or peoples. Call it political correctness, call it respect, call it whatever you want. We all hold our tongues at points, and we do it out of respect. It’s a quality that humans have, we call it thoughtfulness. Here I again I ask for consistency. ”
Subzero Blue from Tunisia: “We’ve let go of a lot of things, we’ve tolerated a lot of disrespect and racism over the years, but when it gets to our Prophet and touches our religion, there is no way we can just let go! It is totally unacceptable!!I’m against any violent reactions or death threats, but I’m totally for peaceful protest and political or economic boycott if necessary. If the same paper published some caricatures that touched a Jewish figure, the whole world would have stood against it and pointed the anti-semitic finger at them, and ripped them apart.”
Bloboz from the UAE: - لكل دولة قوانينها التي تضبطها، و القانون في الدينمارك و غيرها من الدول المتحضرة يسمح بحرية التعبير المطلقة و بدون أي قيود مفرضه من الدولة، و لكل شخص أن يضع قيوده بما ترضيه له نفسه، و مطالبة دولة آخرى بفرص قيود و منع التطرق لمواضيع معينة يعتبر نوع من أنواع التدخل في الشؤن الداخلية لها.- بأي حق تمنع دولة شعبها من منتج من دولة معينة ، و من آعطاها الحق في فرض قيود على الشعب، “بفعلها هذا و كأنها تقول بآن المواطن سفيه” ؟!
I will end this post with the most enlightening thing I have read about the Danish cartoon fiasco, courtesy of Ahmad Humeid from Jordan:
“In the spirit of the life of the Prophet, here are 5 ways how the Muslim world could have responded the Danish cartoons:
1. Apply to the Ministry of Culture in Denmark to organize a big exhibition about the Life of Prophet Mohammad and Islamic History. The Saudi and other Arab governments would finance this event and promote it in a big way in the Danish media.2. Invite 100 Danish children to come and live with Arab and Muslim families to learn about life in today’s Arab and Muslim world.3. Invite the editors of the Danish newspaper to a well publicized cultural debate in Doha, Qatar or Copenhagen.4. The embassies of Arab and Muslim nations could commission a website in Danish about Islam, contemporary muslim thinkers and life in today’s Islamic world. A dedicated staff would respond to incoming questions and request for information.5. Subtitle the movie ‘The Message’ in Danish and try to get many movie theaters and cultural centers in Denmark to show it. “
