Before expressing my view on the controversial caricatures, I’d like to draw your attention to the pretext of this dilemma. In my opinion, if these caricatures were published in some obscure European paper, 5, 10 or 15 years ago, no one in the Islamic world would have paid much attention and we would not have witnessed such huge outcry across the Muslim nations.
Unfortunately, over the past few years, the relations between the Islamic world and the West have rapidly worsened. Many blame the attacks on the World Trade Centre for this deterioration, but I think the misunderstanding between the civilizations began much earlier, maybe triggered by the end of the Cold War.
During the cold war, United States and Western Europe generally viewed the Islamic world as a natural ally in their struggle against the soviets. This view was reflected in western press, literature and even Hollywood movies. But with collapse of the soviet block, quite suddenly, the Muslim world was systematically demoted in western public opinion and turned into the new public enemy. Numerous movies were made depicting Muslims as terrorists, cheats, Nazi-lovers, racists, wife-beaters, and as such. This was while the world sat and watched while consecutive US administrations made concessions to Israel on Palestinian territory, disregarding all previous Security Council resolutions. Soon, Israel annexed East Jerusalem and much of the occupied territories, The United States even went as far as moving its consulate to Jerusalem. Meanwhile, western media generally conveyed the Israeli side of the story, overlooking systematic killing of the Palestinians and focusing on any Israeli civilian sadly killed in the conflict. At the same time, the West maintained its support for despotic, deeply unpopular regimes in the Middle East.
After 9/11, things went from bad to worst. On the one hand, the Muslim world remained deeply suspicious towards the official version of the story as proclaimed by the Americans. This was basically due to the fact that the very radicals who had perpetrated this hideous attach on civilians were considered loyal agents of the Americans in the region. The Taliban were openly supported by powerful lobbies in Pakistan who were close to America. Al Qaida was financed by the Saudis and the Persian Gulf Arab states, who were also close allies of the West. On the other hand, anti-Muslim lobbies in the West found a free ride in the September 11 attacks to turn the public opinion against the Islamic World. Soon the Neo-Conservative became the decisive force in American foreign policy.
The rest is recent history so I won’t bore you with it. The illegal war in Iraq, etc.
Hence when the caricatures appeared in the Danish paper, it was just like throwing fuel on fire.
Hence when the caricatures appeared in the Danish paper, it was just like throwing fuel on fire.
Personally, I don’t think any caricature warrants violence or the loss of human life. However, everything should be looked at in perspective.
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