“Flemming Rose, el editor del diario danés Jyllands-Posten que se atrevió en el 2005 a publicar una serie de caricaturas satíricas del profeta Mahoma, publicó recientemente un libro titulado La tiranía del silencio: cómo una caricatura encendió un debate global acerca de la libertad de expresión (2014). Los argumentos presentados en este libro son de particular relevancia para defender la libertad de expresión en América Latina.”
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Tags: Flemming Rose, Free speech, caricaturas satíricas, la libertad de expresión, The Tyranny of Silence, La tiranía del silencio, Cartoons, Muhammed cartoons

“...Il faut se souvenir, comme le rappelle Flemming Rose dans son livre dont rend compte Michèle Tribalat dans la dernière revue de l’Institut d’histoire sociale, que les violences suscitées par les caricatures danoises (singulièrement celle de Kurt Westergaard représentant le prophète avec une bombe dans son turban) avaient été tout sauf spontanées. Le monde musulman et l’Organisation de la conférence islamique (OCI) en tête, y avaient vu l’opportunité de faire avancer leur campagne contre le blasphème. La Commission des droits de l’homme de l’Onu y prêta son appui en recommandant aux Etats de "combattre et punir toute tentative visant à assimiler l’islam à la violence et au terrorisme". L’Union européenne emboîta le pas, avec le commissaire aux affaires étrangères, Javier Solana, qui négocia avec l’OCI un accord appelant au bannissement de la diffamation des religions. Heureusement, des désaccords internes empêchèrent l’Europe d’être représentée au Qatar pour la signature (février 2006) de ce document avalisé par l’Espagne, la Turquie et Kofi Annan, secrétaire de l’ONU. Quand, mardi, le président d’honneur du Conseil français du culte musulman, Mohamed Moussaoui, reproche au président du Conseil représentatif des institutions juives de France, Roger Cukierman, d’avoir dit la veille que les islamistes qui prennent les juifs pour cibles sont des musulmans, c’est cette même dialectique du déni qui est appliquée. Elle vise à rendre l’islam intouchable et à réduire la liberté d’expression. Cette mise en scène d'une culpabilisation dans l'usage du mot juste est une autre forme d’intimidation, qui dépasse la seule caricature du prophète. Une démocratie digne de ce nom oblige chacun à résister à cet engrenage... “
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Tags: Flemming Rose, Free speech, Charlie Hebdo, Terror, The Tyranny of Silence

“...To a great extent, many of the stories touched upon by Flemming Rose in The Tyranny of Silence[1] as issues of free speech are uncomplicated, and it is easy to agree wholeheartedly with his concern. They go to the remote corners of the former Soviet Union in time and space, Hitler’s Nazism, 9/11 in New York and Washington and the Madrid bombings. Rose travels widely, conducts countless interviews and, by introducing his humble social background and family story, evokes sympathy for a man who wrestles with his own new importance and global reputation...”
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Tags: Flemming Rose, Freedom of expression, The Cato Institute, The Tyranny of Silence, Muhammed cartoons, Charlie Hebdo, Terror

“..La peur, compréhensible, est forcément omniprésente, même si elle n’est pas dite. Flemming Rose, qui fut à l’origine des premières caricatures danoises de Mahomet parues en 2006 dans le Jyllands-Posten, l’assume pour sa part, quand il reconnaît que son journal ne poursuivra plus dans cette voie (1) : "Nous devons dire que nous ne publions pas parce que nos avons peur". Disons-le : le terrorisme islamiste a emporté une première victoire en imposant l’autocensure sur Mahomet. Cependant, aller plus loin dans l’accommodement et l’apaisement avec l’islam radical serait, pour la France, rendre les armes face à un totalitarisme. Le régime nazi savait lui aussi imposer cette même terreur...”
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Tags: Cartoons, Charlie Hebdo, Terror, l’islam radical , The Tyranny of Silence, Flemming Rose, Freedom of expression, Debate

“...Back in 2005, I was trying to cover a story about self-censorship and fear among writers, artists, museums, publishers, comedians and other people in cultural life in Denmark and Western Europe. A children's writer had made headlines when he claimed that he had difficulties finding an illustrator for a book about the life of the Prophet Muhammad; the reason, he said, was fear. That was the starting point for a debate about self-censorship in dealing with Islam. Several other examples followed. In one example, a Danish comedian admitted he was afraid of mocking Islam the same way he did with Christianity. In another, two imams called on the Danish government to pass laws criminalizing criticism of Islam.
This last example added another dimension to the debate. What do you do when people adhering to a faith or ideology insist that others with different convictions submit themselves to taboos outside sacred places?”
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Tags: Flemming Rose, Free speech, Freedom of expression, Terror, Cartoons, Charlie Hebdo, Muhammed cartoons, The Cato Institute, The Tyranny of Silence, Jyllands-Posten, Kurt Westergaard

Brooke Baldwin speaks to journalist Flemming Rose, culture editor of Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, who published drawings of Prophet Mohammed in 2005.
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Tags: Flemming Rose, Free speech, Freedom of expression, Terror, The Cato Institute, The Tyranny of Silence, Cartoons, Charlie Hebdo, CNN

“...Though the Copenhagen attack was a shock, it didn’t come as a surprise. As French cartoonist Plantu told me recently when we were chatting in his office at Le Monde in Paris: “This is just the beginning. There will be more attacks.” Unfortunately, I think he is right. This will be a long battle, first and foremost a battle of ideas. The erosion of the crucial distinction between words and deeds – between an image that some may find offensive and actual violence – has created a climate in which “blasphemers” are required to bear responsibility for violent attacks subsequently directed against them. I experienced that myself in 2006 after commissioning drawings of Muhammad published in the Jyllands-Posten newspaper in Denmark, and I have tried to explain the mechanisms at work in my book The Tyranny of Silence: How One Cartoon Ignited a Global Debate on the Future of Free Speech. There are people who seriously believe that the organisers of the Copenhagen debate asked for trouble. This is partly due to a new grievance fundamentalism. It heightens the sense of insult and offence, according it enormous social power.”
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Tags: Flemming Rose, Free speech, Freedom of expression, The Cato Institute, The Tyranny of Silence, Terror, Cartoons, Jyllands-Posten, Tyranny of Silence

Danish editor: We must grow thicker skins
Jyllands-Posten is a Danish daily newspaper known for having published twelve cartoons of the Prophet. Editor Flemming Rose made the decision to publish the cartoons, and he joins Morning Joe to discuss.
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Tags: Flemming Rose, Free speech, Freedom of expression, The Cato Institute, Terror, The Tyranny of Silence, Muhammed cartoons, MSNBC

“...Since Flemming Rose made the decision to publish the cartoons, we discuss the decision to hold a public event “Art, Blasphemy, and Freedom of Expression” in a Copenhagen café with the controversial Swedish Cartoonist Lars Vilks who also caricatured Muhammad, that provoked a terrorist attack which left a film director at the cafe and a Jewish guard at a synagogue dead. In discussing freedom verses censorship, we look into whether restrictions should be put into place to prevent young European Muslims from being radicalized in prison as was the case with the terrorists responsible for the recent massacres in Paris and the young Danish-born terrorist who was just released from jail two weeks ago...”
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Tags: Flemming Rose, Free speech, Freedom of expression, The Cato Institute, The Tyranny of Silence, Terror, Cartoons, Charlie Hebdo, Jyllands-Posten

“Several weeks ago, New Yorker cartoon editor Bob Mankoff conducted the following interview with Flemming Rose, the foreign editor of Jyllands-Posten, the Danish daily newspaper known for having published twelve cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in 2005. Rose, who was then the culture editor, made the decision to publish the cartoons, which sparked attacks and violent protests across the Muslim world, and multiple terrorist plots against Jyllands-Posten, Rose, and other staff members.

Rose’s book, “The Tyranny of Silence,” was published late last year in the U.S. Rose and Mankoff spoke about the book and Rose’s views on free speech in person, and continued their conversation via e-mail. This interview is an edited version of their exchanges. Mankoff spoke to Rose today, shortly after a shooting attack on a Copenhagen café. The café was hosting a public event, “Art, Blasphemy, and Freedom of Expression,” featuring the artist Lars Vilks, who has also caricatured Muhammad. One person was killed and three were reported injured. Rose, who said he was not at the event, declined to comment at this time.
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Tags: The New Yorker, Flemming Rose, Free speech, Terror, The Cato Institute, The Tyranny of Silence, Freedom of expression, Cartoons, Charlie Hebdo, Muhammed cartoons, Bob Mankoff

“Recientemente, por motivo de la triste masacre en París de gran parte de quienes hacían la revista satírica Charlie Hebdo, el debate acerca de la libertad de expresión ha recobrado actualidad alrededor del mundo. De manera más específica, se discute hasta qué punto debe la ley limitar la expresión para proteger a todos aquellos grupos y/o individuos que se sienten ofendidos. Flemming Rose, editor del diario danés Jyllands-Posten y quien autorizó en septiembre de 2005 la publicación de la notoria caricatura en la que sale el Profeta Mahoma con una bomba en su turbante, considera que el momento que debatimos esos límites hemos abierto la puerta a un sinnúmero de excusas para que los estados autoritarios e incluso totalitarios restrinjan el derecho de hablar libremente y persigan a minorías. Rose agrega que:
“Uno casi se siente tentado a pedirle a los Estados de Bienestar de Europa que gasten algo de dinero no en la ‘capacitación de sensibilidad’ —aprender qué es lo que no se debe decir— sino en la capacitación para ser menos sensible: aprender a tolerar. Es que si la libertad y la tolerancia han de tener una oportunidad de sobrevivir en el mundo nuevo, todos necesitamos desarrollar una piel más gruesa”.
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Tags: Jyllands-Posten, Flemming Rose, Free speech, The Cato Institute, The Tyranny of Silence, Debate

“Cela fait longtemps que je n’ai pas vu Flemming Rose, le journaliste du Jyllands-Posten qui, à l’époque, décida d’imprimer les caricatures de Mahomet. Nous nous croisions de temps en temps sur les pistes cyclables de Copenhague et nous bavardions un moment avant de repartir chacun chez soi. C’est l’un des avantages de vivre dans une petite capitale, en plus de pouvoir se rendre à vélo partout. Chez nous, la société ouverte est aussi facile d’accès.
Personnellement, je n’ai jamais eu une position politique marquée, mais de l’avis de mes amis situés à gauche, Flemming Rose est une voix de droite. On se montrait solidaire de sa liberté d’expression fondamentale, mais on trouvait que c’était une mauvaise idée de publier ces caricatures. On oubliait la cause première de celles-ci : la peur qui avait empêché un auteur de jeunesse connu de trouver un illustrateur pour son projet de livre sur la vie du Prophète. On prenait ses distances avec les caricatures perçues comme une insulte délibérée à l’encontre d’une minorité faible et vulnérable, et on relativisait la menace de violence - il n’y avait qu’une poignée de fanatiques -, pour souligner sa sollicitude multiculturelle à l’égard des sentiments des croyants...”
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Tags: Jyllands-Posten, Flemming Rose, Freedom of expression, Charlie Hebdo, Cartoons, Muhammed cartoons, The Tyranny of Silence, The Cato Institute

By Brooke Goldstein - - Sunday, February 8, 2015
“Islamists are winning their war to silence critical commentary in the West about Islam. So says Flemming Rose, culture editor of the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, which originally published the now-infamous images of Muhammad, in his recent book, “The Tyranny of Silence.”
Whether motivated by a cowardly nature or by an obsequious desire to be nice, much of the media and the Obama administration now adhere to a common vocabulary when discussing violence motivated by Islamist theology. There is simply no reference to the theological motivations so relevant to the perpetrators of religiously inspired terror...”
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Tags: Flemming Rose, Free speech, Freedom of expression, The Tyranny of Silence

“CAN HATE be eradicated from the public arena?
That utopian dream is what’s driving the European Union’s efforts to ban “hate speech,” a difficult-to-define concept that European governments keep trying to apply in more and more contexts. It’s based on an interpretation of the Holocaust that has become the founding narrative for European integration:that evil words beget evil deeds...”
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Tags: Flemming Rose, Free speech, Freedom of expression, The Cato Institute, The Tyranny of Silence, Charlie Hebdo, Cartoons

Das Magazin euroblick hat sich zum Ziel gesetzt, europäische Zusammenhänge am anschaulichen Beispiel zu erklären und dabei die farbigen Unterschiede europäischer Regionen lebendig darzustellen. Der Blick auf Land und Leute innerhalb Europas hat dabei einen besonderen Stellenwert. Ziel ist es, Verständnis für ein zusammenwachsendes Europa zu schaffen.
Moderation: Natalie Amiri Autor: Gerhard Losher Redaktion: Gerhard Losher
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Tags: Dänemark, Flemming Rose, Kurt Westergaard, Charlie Hebdo, Cartoons, Muhammed cartoons, Debate, Terror, The Tyranny of Silence, Free speech, Freedom of expression

“The Danish newspaper editor who published cartoons of the prophet Mohammed nearly a decade ago has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo massacre in France.
The move was a response to the attack by Islamist gunmen on cartoonists at the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine in Paris last month.
"Giving the prize to a consistent defender of freedom of expression, even at a personal cost, would give a sign that those who try to muzzle that freedom through cowardly attacks against civilians, thus undermining peace between peoples, cannot ever succeed," Mr Tetzschner wrote in his letter to the Nobel committee, according to Norway's NTB news agency...#
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“...Before Charlie Hebdo, Flemming Rose authored The Tyranny of Silence: How One Cartoon Ignited a Global Debate on the Future of Free Speech. Flemming is fighting against the growing psychosis of victimhood where, “it can be difficult to figure out the difference between an offensive cartoon or movie and committing mass murder. . . . It amounts to giving people who feel like reacting with violence a free hand to decide whether speech incites terror.”
Rose coins the phrase “grievance fundamentalism” to describe the syndrome where victims of assault are “deemed to have been asking for it.” Claiming we need more “insensitivity training,” he writes, “The only right we do not and should not have in a liberal democracy is a right not to be offended.”
Walter Olson, known best for his advocacy of tort reform, argued, “One way we can honor Charb, Cabu, Wolinski, Tignous, and the others who were killed Wednesday is by lifting legal constraints on what their successors tomorrow can draw and write.”
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Tags: Cartoons, Charlie Hebdo, Terror, The Cato Institute, The Tyranny of Silence, Flemming Rose, Muhammed cartoons, Free speech, Freedom of expression

“...Erst Jahre später, und nachdem ich anfing, mich kritisch mit dem Islam auseinanderzusetzen, erkannte ich, wie wichtig Satire sein konnte. Die dänischen Mohammed-Karikaturen im Jahre 2005 spielten bei meinem Sinneswandel eine wichtige Rolle. Massen von Muslimen gingen auf die Straße und wollten ihre Liebe zum Propheten dadurch zum Ausdruck bringen, indem sie westliche Botschaften anzündeten. Über 150 Menschen starben bei Unruhen. Kaum jemand wagte es zu sagen, dass der Tod von so vielen Menschen viel schlimmer ist als eine satirische Zeichnung des Propheten.”
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Tags: Muhammed cartoons, Cartoons, Charlie Hebdo, Terror, The Tyranny of Silence, Flemming Rose, Freedom of expression

“...Rose laments that the violence has succeeded in shutting down free speech and scaring journalists. After last month’s Paris attacks, dozens of newspapers, magazines and websites around the world reproduced the very cartoon that had so angered the terrorists who ultimately took the lives of 17 people. Notably, Jyllands-Posten, the Copenhagen paper where Rose works, wasn’t among them.
“We caved in and we’ve been very honest about it,” Rose told BBC-TV on Jan. 14, a week after the carnage in Paris. “Sometimes, the sword is mightier than the pen. We have been living with death threats and several foiled terrorist attacks in my own office for the past nine years. Perhaps if the reaction worldwide had been a little bit different in 2006 — if we had received stronger support from media organizations insisting that this is something we have the right to do, even though you may disagree with what we did — we would not have been in the situation we are now.”
Rose said it’s obvious there’s still a lack of understanding of the reasoning that goes into editorial decisions...”
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Tags: Flemming Rose, Terror, The Cato Institute, The Tyranny of Silence, Muhammed cartoons, Cartoons, Debate