Sep 2010

CNN: New book reprints controversial Muhammad cartoons

”Controversial political cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad are reprinted in a new book due to be released Thursday.
The editor of the Danish newspaper that first published the cartoons five years ago has written the book, "The Tyranny of Silence,” to tell the story of the pictures and to put them in context.
"And I will also say to Muslims out there that by reproducing this page I did not intend to offend or insult anybody," author Flemming Rose, culture editor of the Jyllands-Posten newspaper, told reporters Wednesday. "Those cartoons are part of history." Read more

Der Spiegel: Why I Published the Muhammad Cartoons

”05/31/2006
By Flemming Rose
European political correctness allows Muslims to resist integration, argues the culture editor of Jyllands-Posten. Instead, Muslims should be treated just like all Europeans -- including being subject to satire. He argues that publishing the caricatures was an act of "inclusion, not exclusion." Read more

Intelligence Squared: IQ2 Debate: "Europe is failing its Muslims"

”Arguing against the motion 'Europe is failing its Muslims', Flemming Rose says that Muslims in Europe are not a coherent group, and that he doesn't want to essentialise them. Just like anyone else, Muslims are individuals with rights and obligations. Regretably though, many European Muslims are unable to exercise their rights - one recent survey showed that every third Muslim in Germany believed that their fellow Muslims didn't have the right to leave Islam. This has led to many living in fear because of apostasy, and risking social exclusion, stigmatisation or even worse. That there are councils for ex-Muslims, but not for ex-Christians or ex-Buddhists, is revealing. Rose believes that Islamophobia is a constructed model designed to protect Islam from criticism, rather than to protect individuals from discrimination. Human beings, rather than cultures or versions of history, have human rights.” Watch video

The Washington Post: Why I Published Those Cartoons

”By Flemming Rose
Sunday, February 19, 2006

Childish. Irresponsible. Hate speech. A provocation just for the sake of provocation. A PR stunt. Critics of 12 cartoons of the prophet Muhammad published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten have not minced their words. They say that freedom of expression does not imply an endorsement of insulting people's religious feelings, and besides, they add, the media censor themselves every day. So, please do not teach us a lesson about limitless freedom of speech.” Read more