This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. VI, No. 3, February 19-25, 2006
Cartoons Meant to
Provoke - UP Prof
In Muslim faith, belief on sacred
tradition is very alive, and the prophet represents a central position in that
sacred tradition, explained Prof. Julkipli Wadi of the University of the
Philippines’ Institute of Islamic Studies.
“So if you touch
it, defame or vilify that tradition, then you can expect reaction. In this
sense, not only ordinary reaction but a rage, a collective psyche of the Muslim
world,” he said.
BY AUBREY SC MAKILAN During the
past week, the world witnessed violent protests from Muslims, incensed by the
cartoons, attacking Danish embassies, European and American companies. A Danish
paper first published the cartoons last September, which included Prophet
Mohammad with a turban resembling a bomb. “It may look
like ordinary cartoons, but there are captions accompanying the cartoons that
are intended to elicit anger and hate, worded in very strong statements,” said
Wadi. He also said
that the cartoons and the violent reactions it elicited also showed that there
are rifts not only between peoples, but also between ideas, representations and
orientations. He cited the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan and the Sept. 11
attack as manifestations of these rifts. Freedom of
expression or defamation? The Danish
paper, as well as some Western nations, justify the publication of the cartoons
as an expression of the freedom of the press. But for many Muslims, Wadi said it
can be conceived as an act of defamation, vilification, or in the more extreme
sense, blasphemy. Wadi argued
that “although the freedom of the press is inviolable, this is not absolute.” He
also stressed that “the freedom of expression is being nurtured and strengthened
by the presence of other freedoms.” In an
interview with Bulatlat, he said that there was a misstep on the part of
the newspaper and a misreading of the psyche of the Muslims. In Muslim
faith, belief on sacred tradition is very alive, and the prophet represents a
central position in that sacred tradition, explained Wadi. “So if you touch it,
particularly defame or vilify that tradition, then you can expect reaction. In
this sense, not only ordinary reaction but a rage, a collective psyche of the
Muslim world,” he said. Ren
Jalaluddin Ropeta, vice chairperson of the Moro-Christian Peoples’ Alliance (MCPA),
shared the same sentiment. “At all
angles or levels of analysis, the caricatures highlight the discrimination and
stereotype that characterizes not only the identity but the very lives of Muslim
people all over the world ---- that Muslims are bombers or terrorists,” he said.
“Indeed, wittingly or unwittingly, the caricature projects, and to some extent
endorses Islamophobia.” Ropeta also
said that the cartoons could not be considered “work of art or expression of
freedom” as these caused “insult, pain and provoke outrage” among Muslims. Meanwhile,
for Commissioner Taha Basman, if everyone only applies the simple golden rule
that “do not do things you do not want be done unto you,” there could no longer
be problems like this.
Basman is the president both of
the Mindanao Research Institute and the Center for Moderate Muslims (CMM), and
commissioner of the UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines.
International outrage Wadi said
that the international protests and violent reactions to the cartoons could have
been prevented if only the Danish government listened to the statements of
protest and concern expressed by the local Muslims in Denmark. Because the
Danish government chose to ignore them, the local Muslims in Denmark sought the
support of the international Muslim community. “What keeps
stoking the anger of the Muslim community is that the Denmark government and the
Danish newspaper, which published the cartoons, have yet to apologize,” said
Wadi. In the
Philippines, about 600 Filipino Muslims burned Danish
flags in a protest outside the Danish honorary consulate in
Makati City
on Feb. 15. The
Philippine government is silent over the issue. Basman said he has talked with
Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo who expressed the government’s sympathy
to Muslims. But Secretary Romulo, said Rasma, refused to issue a public
statement expressing sympathy for the Muslims in order not to alienate its
Western allies. Wadi said the
showing its sympathy to the Islamic sacred tradition is the least the Philippine
government could do which it did not. “This
government has an attitude that it only gets itself involved if there is a trade
off,” he said, citing the monetary aid it got being a U.S. ally during the “war
on terror.” “Maybe it
will intervene if there would already be violence,” he added. “But that’s
wrong.” Calls for
sobriety and struggle Although Wadi
understands the violent reactions of his fellow Muslims because of the harm done
by the cartoons, they still call on their fellow Muslims to resolve the issue
peacefully. The anger and
violent protests of Muslims provoked by the cartoons could be exploited to
further vilify and portray Muslim as terrorists and justify the U.S. “war on
terror” and its global dominance, warned Wadi Wadi added,
with the negative portrayal of the protests, there’s “no need to create Al-Quaeda”
anymore. Wadi said
there are other outlets to express their displeasure over the cartoons and
channel this through positive efforts such as lobbying with the United Nations,
through the League of Arab States, to include in its conventions and protocols
provisions prohibiting defamation of another’s beliefs. Meanwhile,
Rapote challenged his fellow Muslims to unite in overthrowing “the primary
agents of Islamophobia” and the “real common enemy of all faiths, nations, and
people, that enemy which wages war against our nations, undermines our
sovereignty, and kills our people.” Bulatlat © 2006 Bulatlat
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