The Answer
is Gandhi
By
M. J. Akbar
Editor-in-Chief of the Asian Age
and Deccan Chronicle newspapers.
mjakbar@asianage.com
February 13 2006
SEQUENCE and
consequence do not always follow the same logic: the publication
of the gratuitously offensive cartoons against the Prophet of
Islam (you can translate that, literally, to the Prophet of
Peace for Islam means peace) has already resonated through
contemporary events. It will also echo far into the future.
Any single
day's newspaper was sufficient to indicate that simmering
resentment against the presence of foreign troops in
Afghanistan, for instance, found a reason to escalate into
anger. There are too many questions around this conscious
provocation by an irresponsible Danish newspaper, fuelled by a
less than comprehensible Danish government, and not enough
answers.
The first
question must surely be the simplest one: why? More than one
answer has been offered. One editor of the paper appeared on
European television and said, so primly that he was on the verge
of sounding pompous, that the cartoons were not meant to hurt
Muslims but only to represent, through an image, that a number
of Muslims had become terrorists. This is the sort of argument
that sounds reasonable to a neutral mind until you pare open the
first layer of deception. If that was the purpose, why not use
an image of Osama bin Laden? Why use the image of the Prophet,
which by itself is offensive to a faith that rejects, very
strongly, any iconography or deification? We have published
cartoons on Osama fairly regularly in our papers without anyone
raising any objection.
This is
buttressed by the 'freedom of Press' argument, a view endorsed
so strongly by the media of continental Europe (but not, repeat
not, by British media) that sensible publications like Le Monde
have reprinted the cartoons twice. Far be it for me to decry
Press freedom. It is my bread and butter. But I have yet to come
across a nation or society that offers freedom of expression
without the qualification of libel or similar safeguards. One of
our editors asked the Danish embassy in Delhi to let us know if
they had any libel laws. They promised to get back to us. We are
still waiting. But text is not difficult to find in the age of
Internet.
I quote from
Section 266B of the Danish penal code: "Any person who publicly
or with the intention of dissemination to a wide circle of
people makes a statement or imparts other information
threatening, insulting or degrading a group of persons on
account of their race, colour, national or ethnic origin, belief
or sexual orientation, shall be liable to a fine, simple
detention or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years."
Section 140
adds, "Those who publicly mock or insult the doctrines or
worship of any religious community that is legal in this
country, will be punished by a fine or incarceration for up to
four months."
This is as
civilised as it gets. The reason for such legislation is not a
history of abuse against Islam, but a history of virulent
anti-Semitism, for which Europe holds some kind of pernicious
record. I warmly applaud such laws which protect Jews from
verbal and image-barbarism. There are laws in Europe by which
anyone denying the Holocaust can end up in jail, and a poor
British historian is in an Austrian jail at the moment for doing
so. Excellent. Then why is the Danish Prime Minister, Anders
Fogh Rasmussen, pleading helplessness? He did not have to
convict anyone himself, for the very good reason that he cannot.
But he could have easily referred the matter to his own
country's judiciary and awaited their decision.
During the
long months when nothing happened over the cartoons this would
have been sufficient to calm Muslim unease over the insults. The
cartoons appeared on 30 September. There was no public reaction
in October, November, December and most of January. But there
was official reaction. The Saudi and Libyan governments withdrew
their ambassadors. The Danish Prime Minister, who is desperate
for a peaceful dialogue now, held no Press conferences then.
Eleven ambassadors of Muslim countries wanted to talk to him.
They got a polite letter which they construed as a snub.
One reason
for the anger is the conviction of gratuitous bias against
Muslims. It has now emerged, thanks to a story in the Guardian,
that the same Danish newspaper rejected a series of cartoons
against Jesus some three years ago because they were deemed to
be offensive. It was the correct decision. Journalists like the
editor of the German publication Die Welt, who has gone on
record to say that the publication of the cartoons is "at the
core of our culture" would not find enough freedom in his Press
to publish a cartoon (produced in a British newspaper, the
Independent, in January 2003) showing Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon dining off Palestinian babies. I am a journalist
too, and would not publish it either. But the editors of
continental Europe have suddenly broken into paroxysms of moral
indignation at any attempt to question their right to publish
offensive cartoons against Islam. Freedom of Press was not
trotted out to defend nastiness against Jesus or indeed Israel's
Prime Minister. To do so now is mendacity.
The
International Herald Tribune of 9 February reported that Fleming
Rose, cultural editor of Jyllands-Posten (the Danish newspaper
that started the controversy) told CNN that his paper was ready
to publish cartoons of the Holocaust that were being encouraged
by an irresponsible Iranian newspaper, as if two wrongs added up
to a right. His newspaper, however, quickly denied any such
intentions. I was in Britain last weekend when this storm was
raging. I don't think that British newspapers have any less
desire for a free Press than their Continental counterparts. And
yet, none of them published the cartoons, although there was
doubtless pressure to do so. The BBC (more accurately known as
the British Boredcasting Corporation) did a typical weaselly
sort of fudge, showing a bit and then removing the image so that
it could claim to have it both ways, but no one was very
impressed. Instead, newspapers from across the ideological
spectrum, from the Observer on the left to the Sunday Telegraph
on the right, published powerful and moving accounts of what it
meant to respect the faith of the other. The British media,
which is not wimpish and which can be the most aggressive in the
world, can today claim the respect of Muslims because of its
restraint. British Muslims today feel closer to their country.
Hindus and
Muslims have lived with one another as long as Muslims and
Christians have. You can go through the literature, popular
songs or journalism of India and you will not come across a
Hindu writer insulting the Prophet of Islam or a Muslim writer
insulting a Hindu deity. This does not mean that either has
changed his faith. It merely means that in India we have a
culture that respects the right of another to believe in a
different creed, and values a neighbour's sentiment as much as
his own.
The Danish
Prime Minister began to perspire only when Muslims across the
world started to boycott Danish products. His God is commerce,
so the only retribution he understands is an insult to that
commerce. Muslims who think that violence is the answer, have
got it wrong. Violence is wrong in itself, and
counterproductive. A boycott of Danish products is far more
productive.
Who did we
Indians learn this from? Mahatma Gandhi, of course. His
challenge to the British empire began with a boycott of British
goods. It is only when he made a bonfire of the coloniser's
cloth did the world's mightiest empire begin to shiver. It is
not too difficult to live without Danish cheese, or even Bang
and Olufsen. One would, in fact, like to extend the logic. If
you have to buy a European product, buy British. That would be a
nice way of saying thank you. The Danish Prime Minister is
searching for answers. But in order to get the right answers you
have to ask the right questions. Here is a suggestion, Mr Prime
Minister. Do not worry about the enemies Denmark has made. Worry
instead about the friends Denmark has lost.
M. J. Akbar is Editor-in-Chief of the Asian Age
and Deccan Chronicle newspapers. He can be reached at mjakbar@asianage.com