Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Come si può rispettare l'Islam se si ha paura di criticarlo?

Un interessante articolo da una nota femminista scozzese, quindi di 
sinistra, sulla vicenda delle vignette.
http://www.sundayherald.com/53959
05 February 2006
How can we have respect for Islam when we are too fearful to criticise it?
Muriel Gray on the fury over the Muhammed cartoons
One of the biggest misunderstandings of the crisis caused by the Danish 
newspaper Jyllands-Posten printing cartoons of Muhammed is that the 
paper was merely satirising Islam and hadn’t realised that any image of 
the prophet, insulting or respectful, is utterly taboo to Muslims. This 
is quite wrong.
The incident arose from the fact that an author of a children’s book 
about the life of Muhammed wanted it illustrated but couldn’t find any 
artist brave enough to risk offending those who currently express their 
offence by murdering the offender. Hence in a deliberate test of freedom 
of speech, the newspaper, not Muslim and therefore not bound by this 
taboo, sought artists willing to draw Muhammed. The mild satire on the 
state of Islamic jihad was incidental.
So yes, it was a deliberate provocation, a massive shove in the 
playground, but they didn’t start the fight. The initial provocation 
came from Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989 when he pronounced a death sentence 
on the author Salman Rushdie for having a written a novel that contained 
another Islamic taboo, that of disrespecting the Koran. This was a 
stroke of genius. Whereas critics of repugnant ideologies were only in 
peril when they acted openly in the country guilty of the tyranny, and 
were free to express their disgust from the safety of a civilised 
country, Khomeini came up with the brilliant Mafia-like scheme of 
recruiting his foot soldiers everywhere.
Knowing that there are now Muslims in almost every country in the world, 
he removed that safety net once offered to people such as critics of the 
USSR or Idi Amin, so that even in safe, tolerant Britain, nobody would 
ever again dare write, paint, broadcast, film or lecture on anti-Islamic 
views for fear of their lives. Of course most Muslims, being sane, 
peaceful human beings, simply ignored the psychotic Khomeini. But 
tragically the subsequent brutal murder of Theo Van Gogh, the deadly 
riots sparked by journalist Isioma Daniel’s article about Miss World in 
Nigeria, and the threats to people like author Irshadi Manji for writing 
a witty book about reforming Islam, have had such an effect that they 
have bought Islam immunity from criticism, not through respect, but 
through fear.
This was what Jyllands-Posten was testing, and the result, as we can 
see, is that it has proved its point spectacularly. The other European 
papers which published the cartoons were, with a couple of exceptions, 
not trying to further provoke Muslims, but were engaging in an “I am 
Spartacus” moment, showing solidarity for Denmark and trying to gain 
enough similar support throughout Europe that it would make it harder 
for the extremists. What if everyone publishes? Going to kill everyone? 
Going to boycott goods from every European country? If only the Czech 
Republic would publish the cartoons then Hamas would have to boycott Semtex.
This may seem a storm in a teacup, but it is in fact a profoundly 
serious moment in our history. Fundamentalism, utterly at odds with the 
Western values so vigorously and courageously fought for over two bloody 
world wars, has successfully undermined the very linchpin of our 
freedom. Our culture falls way short of being perfect, but it is a work 
in progress. We are our own self-critics, the majority of us just as 
appalled by the trademarks of Western excesses like pornography, yob 
culture and rampant, wasteful consumerism as any mullah would be.
But when the Twin Tower murderers spent their last night alive 
experiencing Western culture, did they go to The Guggenheim? Did they 
see an Arthur Miller play, listen to a recital of Mozart’s Requiem, take 
in a showing of a Hitchcock film or even drive a Ferrari? No. They went 
to a lap-dancing bar. So when hardline Islamists shout that we don’t 
understand their culture, the greater truth is that they clearly don’t 
understand ours. For instance, how, as a feminist, can I explain to an 
extremist that while the sight of 12-year-old girl with a thong cutting 
her half-exposed bare bottom in two is offensive to me, so too is the 
sight of a woman in a burka.
But what of moderate Islam? British Muslims are represented by the 
unelected Sir Iqbal Sacranie, a man at the forefront of the book-burning 
mob who threatened Rushdie’s life, when Sacranie declared: “Death, I 
think, is too easy for him.” For this part in incitement to murder, 
Sacranie was awarded not the stiff custodial sentence one might expect, 
but a knighthood. Now this hypocrite says that he “believes in freedom 
of speech”, although he was complicit in attempting to destroy it, and 
we must all “respect other people’s beliefs”. If that is so, then 
logically we must respect the beliefs of Nick Griffin and the BNP. But 
we do not. We despise them. What we respect is Griffin’s right to be 
despicable. Hardline Islamists want us to lose the right to criticise 
all that is contemptible about their beliefs, without understanding how 
hard we are all working to allow them that exact same freedom.
This paper’s belief in freedom of speech is paramount. The decision not 
to reprint the cartoons, not to declare ourselves another Spartacus in 
support of our European colleagues, was taken, at least partly, out of 
consideration for the safety of the staff, and the safety of Scottish 
people here and abroad, and I fully support it. But the extremists, who 
created the fear that made that decision a foregone conclusion, must 
understand that if they think the UK press have done this out of 
respect, they are so very wrong. They have undoubtedly won this battle 
hands down. Well done. We are afraid. But do they think people neutered 
and silenced by fear are going to work at embracing their culture, their 
religion or their values? Clearly, they don’t care. The danger of this 
backlashing on to our innocent Muslim fellow citizens is a distinct 
possibility and the thought makes me sick to the stomach. It looks as 
though those of us aching for the misery of all this hatred to end are 
in for a long wait.

 
http://www.sundayherald.com/53959
Come ho già detto, il vento sta cambiando e un ghiacciaio sta per 
scongelarsi di botto.
Mirco

sinistra
La cosa non è così immediata in GB...
Zarabeth
-- 
Blog: 
http://zarabeth.iobloggo.com/
Remove YOURPANTS to contact me.