|
In some of the media in the
Moslem world they jeer at, or ridicule Jesus, Moses, Buddha or some
other prophet almost every day. I have never heard that anyone
spit on, trampled or burned the flags of Arab nations because of this.
The religion that western society is based on urges us to turn the other
cheek even when we are attacked without provocation. Islam, on the
other hand, incites one to act and, by extension,
threaten
and kill. When they burn the Danish flag they also scream out
anti-Christian propaganda. It is not only
Denmark but the entire
“Christian” west they are attacking.
It is not okay to blaspheme a
prophet – because it hurts the feelings of those who believe in him.
But I am grateful for
Jyllands-Posten’s
provocation. I have nothing against Islam or the Muslims but I
believe that the western world has no idea how many Muslims think or
feel.
The Mohammad caricatures are an
alarm clock. Perhaps now journalists and others in the west begin
to understand why so many Christians are fleeing from an
Iraq that is becoming more
and more Islamified. In Sweden, for
example, one has the right to asylum only if the state is the oppressor.
If someone from Egypt, for example, is threatened and forced to flee
because of the harassment of his neighbors
due to his Christian faith, the Swedish Migration Department refuses to
acknowledge this as a legitimate reason. They will be rejected
since the Egyptian state is officially not
the oppressor.
Why has none of the western
media (except for a brief bulletin on Swedish TV) reported about the six
churches that have been bombed in
Iraq – where one person
was killed – because of the Mohammad caricatures. Christians in
the Arab world live under constant threat. It has gone so far that
they have become accustomed to it and adjusted their lifestyle to this
danger. They have to exist knowing that they do not have the same
rights unless they convert to Islam. The western media should
become aware of these conditions.
In
Iraq a person lost his
life because someone in a tiny land in the north published caricatures
of Mohammad. If anyone, certainly the
Jylland-Posten, should
report on these conditions. Perhaps this newspaper lacks the
information about this, but certainly not
Politiken, another
large Danish morning newspaper (that, incidentally, belongs to the same
concern). Several days ago a reporter from
Politiken phoned me and
asked if he could come in contact with Christians in Iraq. Now I
wonder why they haven’t written about this?
Is it because it wasn’t a Dane that lost his life?
The secular west does not want
to understand religion’s mechanisms and, therefore, cannot understand
the repression of Christians in the Arab world. Another reason is
that they think everyone is the same. This lack of understanding
develops into pure prejudice. It then becomes difficult to
comprehend that someone who belongs to another ethnicity or another
religion has lost his life because of some drawings.
This entire story is
bewildering. On the 31st of January the Swedish
afternoon paper
Expressen
published a column that I had written where, among others, I wrote about
the students in
Mosul
who had been assaulted. “You’re out of your mind. Don’t you
understand that more students will be battered now! You’re
endangering others by reporting this. Their student union will be
forced to openly disclaim your article”, shouted an irate Iraqi Arab man
to me on the phone. I became uncertain. Have I done the
right thing? Think if this man was right.
In an interview with
SVT on the first of February, Swedish Prime
Minister Göran Persson
said that he felt that
Denmark’s prime minister was too defensive. “I
should have gone on a diplomatic offensive and forcefully spelled out
what is the Danish position”. What remains is the question why no
Swedish newspaper has, what several others have done, published the
drawings in their entirety. Perhaps Swedish newspaper editors have
become accustomed to “turn the other cheek”? Perhaps they
think of themselves as better than other Europeans? Perhaps they
think of themselves as better than the Muslims? Perhaps they are
frightened. Or, perhaps, they refuse to see reality and the world
for what it is.
Nuri
Kino
Filmer/journalist |
