From Russia to Bascom Hall

Tonight, at 7:00 PM, the Dean of Students Office at the University of Wisconsin will be sponsoring a forum in 272 Bascom Hall on The Badger Herald's recent decision to publish one of the 12 controversial Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad as a terrorist. I will be one of the panelists and sincerely hope that anyone in the Madison area who is interested in this topic will come.

With this discussion forthcoming, this seems an appropriate time to visit some of the stories to have emerged around the cartoon controversy, not just on the UW campus but throughout the world.

Most recently, two Russian newspapers have been closed for publishing images of the Prophet Mohammad. As the New York Times reports of the first paper:

[A]uthorities in a central Russian city on Friday ordered the closing of a newspaper that published a cartoon showing Muhammad, along with Jesus, Moses and Buddha.

The cartoon, published Feb. 9 in the official city newspaper in Volgograd, prompted some criticism and a federal criminal investigation, but no public outrage. That may be, in large part, because it depicted the figures respectfully, renouncing violence, despite the fact that Islamic teachings forbid any depiction of Muhammad.

The second closure came on the heels of the first, but for different reasons. The New York Times has that story as well:

The owner of a small Russian weekly that printed a composite of the Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad said Monday that he would close the newspaper.

...

The owner, Mikhail M. Smirnov, said he decided on his own to close the newspaper on Friday, even as the prosecutor general's office announced it would bring criminal charges against the paper's editor, Anna V. Smirnova.

Ms. Smirnova, who is also the owner's wife, faces charges of inciting religious animosity, a crime punishable by a maximum sentence of two to four years in prison.

Back in Wisconsin, Ann Althouse has an excellent post up on a column written by Donald Downs and Ken Mayer for Monday's Badger Herald about the campus controversy. She notes:

The belief in religion may be deep and sensitive, and it may be arrived at through a path that is not reason and is therefore not amenable to ordinary argument and debate, but it is nevertheless a matter of ideas. You cannot immunize ideas from criticism and still have free speech. In fact, it is most important to be able to criticize the ideas people take most seriously and cling to most intransigently.

Meanwhile, the man who got this all started wrote a brilliant op-ed for The Washington Post over the weekend. Flemming Rose, the culture editor Jyllands-Posten, scribed a stellar piece simply titled “Why I Published Those Cartoons.” In part, he notes:

I commissioned the cartoons in response to several incidents of self-censorship in Europe caused by widening fears and feelings of intimidation in dealing with issues related to Islam. And I still believe that this is a topic that we Europeans must confront, challenging moderate Muslims to speak out. The idea wasn't to provoke gratuitously -- and we certainly didn't intend to trigger violent demonstrations throughout the Muslim world. Our goal was simply to push back self-imposed limits on expression that seemed to be closing in tighter.

Elsewhere, a Saudi newspaper has now been shut down for printing the cartoons Mr. Rose is now defending. Reuters reports:

Shams (Sun) has been suspended as part of an investigation into its decision to publish the cartoons that have caused anger across the Muslim world.

It printed them next to articles urging Saudis to take action against Denmark where the cartoons first appeared.

In analyzing this entire debacle, The Washington Post has another deft article entitled “Anatomy of a Cartoon Protest Movement.” In it, the paper reports:

The debate over the cartoons is replete with unintended consequences, some still taking shape this week. On one side is a defense of freedom of expression, on the other an unforgivable insult to a sacred figure. In between are potentially longer-lasting repercussions: a rethinking of relations between Europe and the Muslim world, and a rare moment of empowerment among Muslims who have felt besieged. Given the moral certainty pronounced by each party, some in the middle feel forced to take sides, blurring the diversity of religious thought that might offer grounds for compromise.

Also, a fascinating piece out of Canada's Globe and Mail:

Most Canadian journalists believe the media in this country should have carried controversial Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed, a new poll suggested Monday.

The Compass survey asked Canadian journalists for their views on the caricatures, which have triggered deadly riots around the world.

The findings indicated that roughly seven in 10 felt at least some Canadian media outlets should have published the material in the wake of global violence.

Only a handful of media outlets in this country have carried the cartoons, which were first published in Demark last fall.

Finally, the worldwide death toll is now nearing 50, and given the oppressive nature of many of these countries and the lack of a free press, those numbers could easily be low. And with that in mind, I look forward to tonight's forum. When people are dying, the readership deserves the whole story. I remain proud to have helped provide just that.