Panel discussion on the Danish cartoon controversy

This is a website of readings for the SAIC community, intended to promote discussion about the Danish cartoon controversy and related issues. Anyone can suggest we post a link or an article on this site by emailing Paul Elitzik at pelitz@artic.edu

The panel discussion, sponsored by the Muslim Students Association and the Office of Multicultural Affairs, will be in MC 1307 on Thursday 3/16 at 4:15.

Panel participants
Raja Halwani, Prof. of philosophy at SAIC
Christopher Cutrone, Prof. of critical theory and philosophy at SAIC and U of C
Paul Elitzik Adviser, F Newsmagazine; instructor, Liberal Arts Dept.
Khalid Keshk, Prof. of Islamic thought and theology at DePaul University.

Moderator TBA

Format (tentative)
1. Individual panelists present views on the situation- 8 minutes each
2. Panel discussion of questions to be presented by the moderator- 20 minutes
3. Audience Question and Answer- 15 minutes.

Recommended reading
Tariq Ali • Sarah Cameron • Juan Cole • Jytte Klausen • Tabish Khair • Olivier Truc • Washington Post poll • Europe's Muslims

This is the real outrage: Amid the cartoon furore, Danish imams ignore the tragedies suffered by Muslims across the world
by Tariq Ali The Guardian, February 13, 2006 (suggested by Christopher Cutrone)
Tariq Ali, a prominent figure on the British left since the 60s, is an editor of New Left Review and author of The Clash of Fundamentalisms: Crusades, Jihads and Modernity, Bush in Babylon: The Recolonisation of Iraq, and novels including The Book of Saladin.

News Analysis: DENMARK vs. ISLAM vs. DENMARK Drawing the line between free speech and bigotry by Sarah Cameron. F Newsmagazine, March 2006. An excellent introduction to the controversy.

All cartoon politics are local: Muslim outrage reflects specific national conflicts -- most of them exacerbated by Bush's policies.
By Juan Cole. Salon.com, 2/9/2006
Juan Cole is Prof. of Middle Eastern History at University of Michigan. An expert on the Shi'a, his blog, Informed Comment (at www.juancole.com), is one of the best sources for news about Iraq and Middle Eastern politics. From See Juan Cole's blog, Informed Comment: Muslim Protests Against Anti-Mohammed Caricatures, 2/5/06.

Rotten judgment in the state of Denmark
The Danish paper that printed the cartoons wanted to stir up trouble -- and the government wanted a culture war. They got more than they bargained for.
By Jytte Klausen, Slate, Feb. 08, 2006. Jytte Klausen is a professor of politics at Brandeis University and author of The Islamic Challenge : Politics and Religion in Western Europe.

We have lost our voice: Moderate Muslims, from Denmark to the Middle East, are caught in the vice of a manufactured conflict
by Tabish Khair in Aarhus, Denmark
The Guardian, February 7, 2006
Tabish Khair is a "moderate Muslim," a novelist and critic based in Demark.

Background

Extreme designs
by Olivier Truc Guardian Weekly, 3/7/2006
In mid-September 2005, two weeks before the daily Jyllands-Posten published its Muhammad cartoons, the far-right Danish People's party (DF) celebrated its tenth anniversary. With a photo of its founder, Pia Kjaersgaard, on the front page of a Danish weekly under the title: "I'm the one who decides", it had good reason to be jubilant.

"The majority in parliament is 90 . . . that's the magic figure," says Seren Espersen, a DF MP elected in February 2005, when his party polled 13.2% of the vote. After their victory over the Social Democrats in 2001, the Liberal and Conservative parties formed a minority coalition. But they needed the support of far-right MPs to govern. In exchange for its backing the DF demanded that about 100 government agencies, neighbourhood groups and NGOs working mainly for and with immigrants should be disbanded or deprived of public funding. The ruling coalition agreed.

(Go to Guardian for more).

Negative Perception Of Islam Increasing: Poll Numbers in U.S. Higher Than in 2001
By Claudia Deane and Darryl Fears
Washington Post, March 9, 2006
As the war in Iraq grinds into its fourth year, a growing proportion of Americans are expressing unfavorable views of Islam, and a majority now say that Muslims are disproportionately prone to violence, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Muslims in Europe

EUROPE'S MUSLIMS | BRITAIN
Moderates Raise Voices to Influence the Young
They hope a close-knit Muslim community can provide an anchor for youths in a pluralistic society.
By John Daniszewski, LA Times, September 18, 2005