Agora

Jyllands-Posten, February 3, 2006

Remember This

By Per Nyholm

It may get very interesting indeed in case the boycot orchestrated by various Moslem countries takes hold. We will then know who are the guardians of Democracy and who are the guardians of profits.

We’ve been here before. During both world wars, Danish businesses made a killing supplying the Germans with goods. Then as now the argument was that they were acting in accordance with the nations’ best interests. We were only half joking in 1945 when we said that even if the Germans had won we would be counted among the victors.

Thus we enter the new century which has already made long long tracks in the sand.

On the face of it, the Arab threats against Denmark resemble a repeat of the oil embargo of 1973-1974, a spurious phenomenon doing more harm to those who initiated it than to those in the West, for whom a result was increased spending on alternative energy research.

Now one feels that behind the headlines, Big Business is marching in tight ranks under the pretense that Denmark is poised to lose millions. The Prime Minister is being pressured and so is Jyllands-Posten. I have no doubt that the editor-in-chief in Viby will stand firm. It is to be regretted that fundamentalist Moslems regard the publication of the Muhammed Cartoons as insulting, but I dare guarentee that no apology will be forthcoming from this newspaper for the act of publication, since there is nothing to be sorry about. It is in Denmark perfectly lawful to to depict anyone - even the prophet of Islam. If certain - but definitely not all - Moslems find this offending, that is their problem.

Readers of this Column will know that I frequently protest racist and more or less fascist statements offered by Moslem as well as Danish participants in the public debate. This newspaper recently gave voice to a number number of ordinary Moslems who - oh, the surprise -turned out to be excellently integrated and who possessed a highly evolved understanding of the Democratic values of this country.

I would be delightful if this initiative gave food for thought and preferably a bit of humility to said participants in the public debate who for years have been displaying their hate and lack of reason. Perhaps it is time to let them chill for a bit, these shrill Imams and equally shrill wingbat priests, including their followers, the mentally crippled intellectuals and self-promoting politicians. They are few, I count at most a dosen of the first order. They should not be allowed to monopolise the formation of opinion in this basically tolerant Kingdom.

It may be that the hysteric circles of the Arab world can pressure the administration in Copenhagen into releasing some form of statement which can be considered a victory in the Arab Street.

It may be - but I don’t think so! Not with the current Prime Minister who has shown himself to be very staunch and not with a domestic public who to a larger degree than the special interest group Danish Industry seem to understand the principles implicated in this issue.

Denmark does not wish for a confrontation with the Arab countries but Denmark has even less of a desire to write off its democracy. This, then, is settled: The issue of the Muhammed cartoons will, because it is a domestic Danish quarrel, be settled on Danish terms. Discussions can (and will) go on forever, drifting or determined, deluded or with clarity, but the cartoons are in the past. They cannot be undone, they will not be apologised, they are settled.

Interestingly enough, the Moslem nations of South East Asia seem to show complete disregard for the furore in the Arab world. So the problem is not with the Moslems as some Danish fanatics preach. It’s an Arab thing, undoubtably a minority which has suffered continued defeats for 200 years and feel humiliated by the West to such a degree that they no longer know how to get a handle on things and therefore choose to attack the legal business of a Danish newspaper.

As if more important matters were not available for them to get to work on.

The great projects of the opening phase of the 21st century are to unite Europe, including letting Turkey into the EU and to construct a Arabian-European-Jewish commonwealth with a view to reconstructing civilization in the Arab countries and to securing the state of Israel. The vision of the United States; that intervention by force is necessary to Mideastern peace and democracy is getting to look more and more like a tale of sisyphean misjudgement. The immediate aftermath is the chaos of blood in Iraq, the rise of Hezbollah in Lebanon, the triumph of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, the coming into power of the fascist Ahamdinejad in Iran and the Hamas victory in the palestinian territories. All this calls for consideration, especially that Hamas won a democratic election and therefore cannot be ignored. This is a time for action, including the action of setting up an independent palestinian state, which may improve the self esteem of the Arabs.

The fundamentalists, Moslems and Christians alike, will howl and sneer if one claims that their use of the cartoons has shown to the world their true face: The face of the political arsonist. But they are. When business interests with poorly hidden criticisms advance on the same tangent, it is less theatrical and more depressing.

Does that make them fools? Hardly. It is not a requirement that one must stand behind the Prime Minister or Jyllands-Posten with one’s heart and soul. It is, though, a requirement to stand behind democracy with one’s heart and soul. Right? Heart and soul. Remember this.