It is really numbing to the mind to try and follow all the reporting on the worldwide reactions on the now infamous publication of the Mohammed cartoons in Jyllandsposten. To some extent the media attention surely feeds the crisis.

Most of it has probably been said in one form or another, but here are my reflexions anyway:

    It is curious how the publication several months ago in a paper with a marginal worldwide distribution, in a marginal country (Sorry Denmark! I think also Sweden would be marginal in this context! No need to riot at the Swedish embassy!) in a remote north corner of the world, suddenly gets global attention!
    It is obvious that the protests cannot be only about the cartoons. Several possible reasons have been mentioned;

  • Religious extremists that want to sow hatred in general between the West and the Muslim world - some really defamatory pictures that were never published by Jyllandsposten (link from Johan Norberg) were added - the original ones were not insulting enough, I guess.
  • Dictatorships that want to let people demonstrate against the west to ‘let off steam’. How frequent are violent and spontaneous popular demonstrations in Syria?
  • One explanation I have not seen anywhere else yet, but think must be very close at hand, is that the Middle Eastern regimes see a golden opportunity to point and say ‘-Look what western democracy really means!’, thereby discrediting those who seek freedom and democracy within the Middle Eastern countries.
  • A frustration within extreme groups with the EU for demands on Hamas and on Iran - the cartoons can be used to make it seem like ‘The West hates Islam’ and thus drum up more crowds than if focus was only on Hamas and Iran. Also, demonstrating against a small country with scarce resources is less costly than to challenge, for instance, the USA or Britain.
    The grotesquely disproportionate uproar has itself contributed most to the spreading of the cartoons! Millions more, also muslims, have seen them because of the protests against them. I had myself no intention of seeking them out at first - I suspected they probably were residing mainly on websites fomenting xenophobia and hatred. Now they are almost impossible to avoid! (And actually, some of them are not the least satirical against Mohammed.)
    If part of the reason for the reactions is a sense among muslims, of a western world association of Islam with terror, violence, and an extremely offensive supremacist ideology, then the reactions are counterproductive. Had anyone told me, when I made my previous posting on the subject (in Swedish), that worldwide demonstrations would erupt, calling for murder and terrorist attacks, and that there would be burning of embassies and security risks for Danish citizens in general, I would surely have called that person a racist.
    The defence of Free Speech was sadly weaker than I feared. The pressure from the security police and the foreign ministry, that led an operator to close down an internet publication of the cartoons in Sweden, is only the most recent and close example.
    However, elswhere on the net, defense of free speech has taken place. Michelle Malkin and Cox & Forkum are two international examples of so many more. They also provide links to several sites featuring the cartoons and other material on the subject. Among swedish blogs, Dick Erixon is perhaps the most vivid, but I also read Johan Norberg and RolandPM. The latter speaks wisely on supporting the good forces, as well as firmly resiting terrorism.
    Here is also the most saddening part. Where are the good forces within Islam? Very few can be seen in the press. Is that because the media do not report on their activites, or because they are silent? The demonstrations now unfortunately set the picture of Islam.

Maybe we will be able to put this in perspective in a couple of months, and hopefully the demonstrations will abate sooner than that. Until then, the West must tread a fine line of defending Free Speech in a pragmatic way, without surrendering essential values. The beginning has not looked good. It is clear that this is not about the cartoons anymore. It is about the capability of the West to stand up for the values that define it. It is about showing that there are values that define it.