“Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistan is blocking access to Facebook in response to an online group calling on people to draw the Prophet Mohammed, officials said Wednesday.”
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Everybody-Draw-Mohammed-Day/121369914543425?ref=search&sid=1390270447.2743249721..1
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“Everybody Draw Mohammed Day! We have reached 50.000 members. As the news of the rebellion against the attacks to our liberties are heard, brave people join the campaign to stave of those who would annihilate that which we believe in, freedom.
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of
good conscience to remain silent."
“Everybody Draw Mohammed Day! From Australia and moving westwards, over india, a new day dawns. The day of the annual "Everybody Draw Muhammed Day!" Use your creative skills; show your talent, for today. As the British set-point for time, and we enter this day, we make our stand. Our resolve stands, his image will be portrayed in ink and pixel and crayon alike, for none stands above the freedoms for which our future is depends upon…”
Some 50,000 people have signed on to draw, paint, or in some manner depict Mohammed tomorrow. This is calculated to offend fundamentalist Moslems and will probably offend many who are not fundamentalists.
I applaud the concept of the mass action. The violence that followed the Danish cartoons was planned as a demonstration of how Moslems could disrupt cities in Europe and North America. The bulk of demonstrations took place in officially Moslem nations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Jyllands-Posten_Muhammad_cartoons_controversy
“From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Main article: Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy
The Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons were first published by Jyllands-Posten in late September 2005; approximately two weeks later, nearly 3,500 people demonstrated peacefully in Copenhagen. In November, several European newspapers re-published the images, triggering more protests.
Labour strikes began in Pakistan the following month, and several organizations criticized the Danish government. More protests occurred in January 2006, and later that month a boycott of Danish goods began. Several countries withdrew their ambassadors to Denmark, and widespread protests, some of them violent, began. The protests continued in February. In Damascus, Syria, both the Norwegian embassy and a building containing the Danish, Swedish, and Chilean embassies were stormed and set on fire by protesters. In Beirut, thousands of people protested on the streets, and the Danish General Consulate was stormed and set on fire. As of 2 March 2006, at least 139 people have died primarily during riots stemming from protests. On 1 January 2010, a man was shot whilst attempting to kill Kurt Westergaard, one of the original cartoonists.”
The choice to avoid major conflicts that would result in need for police and other means of legal involvement by European nations was a wise choice. While Moslem populations are growing in size in nearly every part of Europe, there is no great love for Moslem immigrants in Europe. The current radicalization of 2nd and 3rd generations of Europeans who derive citizenship from immigrants from Moslem states is becoming problematic for governments in Europe and in North America.
The London subway bombings and the recent underwear bomb attempt and Times Square car bomb attempt were carried out by such younger Moslems who are essentially sleepers, lone wolves waiting to be incited by Moslem clerics from outside the borders of the target nations. It is entirely possible that “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day” will sufficiently inflame one of these clerics who will incite another attack.
This volatility centered around an image of Mohammed is one of the facets of Islam that creates such distance between Moslem and non-Moslem citizens. While Judaism has a prohibition against graven images depicting the deity’ and while Christianity adopted the same ban initially, Islam stands alone in having a ban upon a prophet. There are literally thousands of well-known works of art depicting Christian saints, prophets, and a deity in liturgy and ritual. There are also many well-respected works of art depicting Mohammed made by Moslems.
It is ridiculous for a population of fundamentalists of any faith to interfere in the civic functions of a city, a nation, or the world at large because they believe someone insulted their deity or some character in their mythos. That includes Jews, Christians, Hindus protesting mistreatment of cows, Moslems upset about cartoons of Mohammed, or any other religious group. Such civic disruptions should be halted immediately by civil authorities and religious leaders should realize that such actions demonstrate failure to adapt religion to the modern world and alienate non-believers from the believers in every case.
The Danish cartoons were conceived of as a demonstration of freedom of speech and press in modern nations. The response in officially Moslem nations demonstrates that freedom of speech and press do not generally fair well in the less evolved Moslem nations. Pakistan certainly displays the effects of Moslem dominance over civil law.
The consequences of restricting access to a web site for citizens of a modern, industrialized nation with limited religious interference in civil law would be likely to cause demonstrations. But the demonstrations would be calling for a change in government, not calling for religious control of the media.
I have to measure any government action against religious practices against the Holocaust. If the uniforms were changed and similar actions taken against the populace because of religion, would I object? Intentionally defacing religious relics such as a Torah scroll, hand copied onto parchment would qualify as objectionable. But defacing a commonly available ink-on-paper Tanach, which contains the Torah’s entire contents in print, would not qualify as equally objectionable. And while extremely vile cartoons of Jews have been printed for centuries, they are offensive in nature but not illegal because of religion. The people who draw them are legally free, including the same Moslems who rioted at cartoons of Mohammed.
I have no drawing skills. I see no reason to intentionally offend all Moslems. But I see no value in allowing fundamentalists of any faith to limit my freedom of speech or press. I’m hoping to see some really good cartoons tomorrow.
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