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Feb. 24, 2006
Defending our freedom
Three Canadian papers reprint cartoons.
DAVE GORDON
Worldwide riots have been the main reaction to the Danish cartoons
portraying Mohammed. Yet despite the news coverage of the rioting,
most media in North America have refused to reprint the perceived
catalyst for the outrage.
In Canada, just three publications, the Western Standard,
Calgary's Jewish Free Press and a student paper in Prince
Edward Island, reprinted the cartoons. In the United States, there
were a handful, including the Philadelphia Inquirer, New York Sun
and Daily Illini, whose editor was fired as a result.
The controversy started when Danish author Kåre Bluitgen complained
that he could not find an artist to illustrate his book about Mohammed.
The newspaper Jyllands-Posten issued a call for submissions
from artists in order to determine if anyone would be brave enough
to draw Mohammed.
They printed the now-infamous 12 editorial cartoons in September
2005. An Egyptian newspaper reprinted them soon after, without incident.
It was when European papers began reprinting the cartoons three
months later that rioting began. Imams distributed three incendiary
fakes in the Middle East and it is believed that those, too, inflamed
Muslims. Western media outlets began covering the issue as riots
began throughout the Middle East, however most abstained from reprinting
the cartoons.
Ezra Levant, publisher of the Western Standard magazine in
Calgary, said his decision had nothing to do with jumping on the
bandwagon. He expected his fortnightly magazine, from print-time
to shipping, would ultimately be behind the pack.
Levant said he believes reprinting the cartoons is essential to
properly telling that news story. "We're not running them out
of agreement," he said. "We're running them as a central
fact of the story: Muslim riots and reaction. We published them
as a symbol of freedom of the press, in defiance of those around
the world who would censor us through threats of violence."
The cartoons are tucked in the middle of the magazine.
After a few hundred calls about the cartoons, Levant said that support
has been 40 to 1 in favor of the publication. Little negative reaction
has arisen, despite some newsstands that have pulled the issue and
a few complaints. Out of 40,000 copies printed, he said a total
of 50 copies were removed from stores.
"The purpose of the censors is obvious: hurt our magazine economically
and make an example of us as a warning to all other media,"
he said. "I never imagined that we would have been at the centre
of a fight for our culture's basic freedoms – or that the rest
of Canada's media would be so silent, leaving us to fight this fight
by ourselves."
A Calgary Muslim leader has tried to get the Western Standard
charged with hate crimes. And a complaint was filed against
with the Human Rights Commission on the same grounds, according
to Levant.
"Those are nuisance suits, of course," he said. "But
the idea is to cost us money and time, break our spirit, erode our
freedom of speech and teach a lesson to all other media: that anyone
who doesn't censor themselves will be made to wish they did."
As for the reactions worldwide to the reprintings, Levant said only
the rioters are to blame.
"Cartoons don't kill people; people do. I've read a lot of
cartoons and I've never seen a cartoon that torches embassies,"
Levant said.
Richard Bronstein, editor of the Jewish Free Press, also
defended his position, saying it was more than just a freedom of
speech issue. "These protests were happening because of 12
negative portrayals? I just simply said, 'I don't believe you,'
" Bronstein declared.
He said that there was no reason for anyone in Canada to publish
them and no reason for any Jewish periodical to publish them either,
"but when Muslims worldwide are being duplicitous about this
issue, we have to pull the camera back and take a wide shot,"
he said. "No Jew ever rioted because of a cartoon. And there
was no outcry before when thousands of other drawings of Mohammed
were printed over history."
To prove his point, along with a few of the Mohammed cartoons, Bronstein
printed historical artistic portrayals of the prophet – including
TV's recent South Park animated version – and juxtaposed
them with virulently anti-Semitic editorial cartoons the likes of
which are printed daily in the Arab and European press. Some of
the latter were, "as bad as the infamous Der Stermer Jew
from Nazi-era Germany," he said, referencing the infamous propaganda
newspaper.
Syed Soharwardi, the president of the Islamic Supreme Council of
Canada, complained recently about the Free Press to the Alberta
Human Rights Commission, but the public prosecutor deemed the cartoons
not hateful.
"We should not be stampeded into taking one side or another
of a controversy," Bronstein said. "In that context, it
is permissible and advisable to give us access to information. Gather
facts, debate and discuss freely and make your own conclusions."
The Progressive Muslim Union of North America (PMUNA) has issued
its own statement on the matter. "These cartoons pander to
the basest prejudices, defaming the Prophet's character with gross
stereotypes of Arab culture, equating the mistakes of his followers
with his personage," they have written on their website. "The
actions of Prophet Mohammed's followers, however, are no less an
insult to him."
However, PMUNA said it extols freedom of the press.
The statement continued, "We must defend the right of cartoonists
to draw satirical, biting, even blasphemous commentary and the right
of papers to publish items which may be offensive or perceived as
heretical by some. A society without such freedom rapidly becomes
poisonously repressed.... But at the same time, we must insist that
the practice of freedom of expression must be responsible."
Dave Gordon is a freelance writer whose work has appeared
in the Baltimore Sun, Forward and Toronto Sun.
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