Salil Tripathi writes in the WSJ of the continuing attacks on freedom of expression by both Muslim and Hindu fundamentalists in the “most populous democracy in the world”:
In a little-noticed case on Feb. 26, police in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh arrested Macha Laxmaiah, an author who writes using the pseudonym Krantikar (“revolutionary”), and his distributors, including Innaiah Narisetti, president of the Hyderabad-based nonprofit Center for Inquiry, for “hurting the sentiments of Muslims.” Their alleged crime? The distribution of “Crescent Over the World,” a book including contributions from Salman Rushdie, Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen, and a cartoon from the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. Mr. Narisetti is out on bail now; Mr. Laxmaiah remains in custody.
on a recent visit to the natural history museum, i was struck by the number of hijabs, kippot and crucifixes on display. unfazed by fossils, geological displays of the age of the earth, australopithecine skulls and the marble statue of darwin that gazes enigmatically over the entrance hall, they gamely queued for the dinosaur exhibit, children in tow, back and forth beneath the massive skeleton of diplodocus, eager to expand their knowledge of the universe. it was an inspiring sight and one that i found immensely encouraging given the current level and tone of debate between religion and science. nobody appeared to be there to tell their children “and these are the fake animals G!D Placed in the earth to Test our faith”. everywhere were children asking clear, in some cases unsettling questions about how things came to be.
now, i haven’t seen the “dispatches” programme yet, it’s on my sky+ box waiting to be viewed. however, i was quite amused to be warned by one naeem darr, who i understand is some sort of spokesman for our old friends the muslim safety forum, to have my complaint ready. helpfully, he then went on to provide me with a set of points to complain about to channel 4 and jim kirkpatrick mp. i reproduce his email in full – and include in bold the bits which he appears to know before broadcast:
Dispatches Islamophobic documentary
Channel 4’s Dispatches is due to broadcast a damaging and misleading programme on Monday 1st March at 8pm. For nearly a year the programme had undercover reporters attending events (including private meetings) of Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE) and passing themselves off as Muslims and friends, but acting as agents provocateurs to solicit replies to use against IFE.
This is a cross-post from Harry’s Place of an article by Imran
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Maqbool Fida (‘MF’) Husain is a 95-year old Indian artist, often referred to as the Picasso of India. Following a celebrated career spanning seven decades, Husain became embroiled in controversy in 1996, following the publication of an article about nude images of Hindu gods he had painted in the 1970s. He has reportedly been the subject of death threats ever since, and lives in exile between London and Dubai. Husain is still the subject of numerous pending lawsuits in India on the grounds of offending the sensibilities of religious Hindus with his risqué images.
The other day it emerged that the Gulf state of Qatar (home of Al-Jazeera) has offered Husain Qatari citizenship. If this is in fact true, this is a real turnaround. In 2006, at the height of the Danish cartoon fiasco, Qatar’s Al-Watan newspaper (which is owned by the country’s royal family) had this to say about the matter:
Good news (that’s sarcasm) for people who feel their right to be religiously offended trumps freedom of expression:
Renowned Indian artist MF Husain, under attack from hardline Hindus for his paintings of nude Hindu goddesses, has been offered Qatari nationality.
The artist made the announcement in The Hindu newspaper. It is not clear whether he will accept the honour.
Since 2006, 95-year-old Mr Husain has been living in Dubai and in London.
The Hindu said that his “impending change of nationality brings to a close one of the sorriest chapters in independent India’s secular history”.
Correspondents say that Mr Husain – who has been forced to flee the country – is one of India’s most pre-eminent artists.
In 2006 he apologised for a painting in which he represented the country as a nude goddess. In the mid-1990s there were huge protests in Mumbai (Bombay) after he painted a whole series of nude Hindu goddesses.
Hindu nationalist groups accused the artist of hurting their religious sentiments and defiling their religion.
as you may know by now, the israeli deputy foreign minister, danny ayalon, was heckled pretty comprehensively at his speech at the oxford union on monday night. the high (or low) point came when, rather like the accusations of murder levelled at the israeli ambassador to the us, michael oren, at the university of california, irvine (which actually resulted in a few arrests) a man rose to his feet and launched into a diatribe which included one key arabic phrase, which has been widely reported as “itbah al-yahud”, or “kill the jews” – this phrase is, of course, familiar to me as the rallying cry for many middle-eastern atrocities, not least the baghdad pogrom of 1941 (that’s pre-state of israel, folks) known as the farhud.
david t from harry’s place forwarded me this cartoon by eli valley, whose satirical strips appear monthly in the leading us jewish magazine “the forward”.
Azzam “Kaboom” Tamimi, one of the UK’s most radical Islamists, is scheduled to address a conference at the University of Birmingham on 20 January.
The conference is titled “In Pursuit of Justice: Remember Gaza” and is organised by the university’s student Islamic society (ISOC).
Tamimi’s fellow speakers will be Tony Benn and Mike Cushman of the British Committee for Universities for Palestine and Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods.
Tamimi is not the first radical guest of the ISOC. Just last month it hosted Abu Usamah At Thahabi, imam of the Green Lane Mosque in Birmingham, where Jew hating preachers are invited to speak and defended. Thahabi was barred from addressing an event at University College London (UCL) in November 2009, but was apparently still welcome in Birmingham the following month.
Whilst leading Muslim clerics complained of the Swiss decision to ban the building of further minarets, there was not a word from the same for the continued denial of the right to worship freely for religious minorities across the Muslim-majority world.
In Egypt, the Coptic Orthodox Christian minority make up some 10% of the population; yet they continue to face hostility and persecution, largely whipped up by the Islamists. Writing in the New York Times, Daniel Williams observes the double-standards of the leaders of the Islamic community in condemning the Swiss referendum on minarets, whilst remaining silent about the continued denial of Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority’s right to worship in peace:
On a side street in the far northeast Cairo suburb of Ain Shams, the door of a five-story former underwear factory is padlocked.
