Agora

I have decided to do an all-time greatest of this blog, so in this post you’ll find the most interesting articles I have translated from Danish:

The Quran reported to the Police
A broad alliance of grass-roots movements have gone to the prosecutors of several states to hinder the dissemination of the Quran. According to the indictment, the Quran is not just a religious and historic book, but also a political book, which is incompatible with the constiution.
For some reason the mainstream media apart from Jyllands-Posten has yet to report on this story.

Now is when History is Written
History vil show not a sliver of sympathy to the half-hearted, who with reservations, buts, and woolly mouths have been evading the issue. It will ask the same questions of today’s players as it did of the British political establishment when it was faced with the challenge of Nazism in the 1930s: Who failed when it mattered? Who stood up for democracy and Freedom and who called for appeasement, dialogue and sweet understanding for the dictators?
A strong analysis by Lars Hedegaard of the domestic ramifications of the Battle of Khartoon.

The Satanic Precedent of the Muhammed Cartoons
How is it that 12 cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammed published in a Danish newspaper can lead to a fatwa, threats from Al-Qaeda, diplomatic crisis, massive boycott of Danish goods and flag burnings in the West Bank? How can 12 cartoons get the Moslem World to jump on Jyllands-Posten and the Danish Prime Minister? To understand the dramatic developments of the Muhammed cartoons issue, it may be enlightening to recollect the case of Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses.
This article show the similarities between the Battle of Khartoon and the Rushdie-affair.

Salman Rushdie, Ayaan Hirsi Ali et al Slam Islamic Totalitarianism
MANIFESTO: Together facing the new totalitarianism
After having overcome fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism, the world now faces a new totalitarian global threat: Islamism.
We, writers, journalists, intellectuals, call for resistance to religious totalitarianism and for the promotion of freedom, equal opportunity and secular values for all.
This was rather the hit. I stayed up all night compiling the massic response this received from the blogosphere the first day.

The World According to Fogh
“Coexistence must be based on mutual understanding. But I have seen a tendency for it to be based on the premises of whoever can scream the loudest and is most inclined to violence. It can’t be allowed that because some organise burnings of the flag and arson against embassies and threats against people and boycots of goods then it must be their premises that are the terms of coexistence. It must not be like that. Of course, we need to consider the religious feelings of the religious communities - but religious communities must also understand the basic principles our society is built on. And among those principles is a far-reaching Freedom of both Speech and Press. That must - after all - be the premise.”
This is an interview with my Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, where he spells out the lessons of the Battle of Khartoon and reiterates his deeply held belief in Free Society.

We wouldn’t take your money if you paid us to do so!
FOOD FAIR in Dubai: A man with a tight smile announces that Arla in no way “supports” any cartoons in Jyllands-Posten.
What cartoons in Jyllands-Posten have to do with a food fair in Dubai can only be explained by the gallopping lunacy of the times, but for now that is not our focus.
A different kind of weird is: what does the man mean by “support”? The statement, coming as it does from Arla, can only be about money. The matter at hand, we must deduce, is that Arla was thinking of sending us a check made out to some amount, but has now decided not to.
Thank you. To be blunt, it would be deeply insulting for us to receive any such “support” from Arla. We still have to consider our dignity.
Editorial by Jyllands-Posten. Hooha!

Fogh: Freedom of speech is above religion
“No, there are many reasons for people to hold those views. But I must stress that the objective of the terrorists is to make us cower and abandon our principles. No matter their motive, if someone proposes limiting our freedom of speech, I shall be their opponent.”
A very strong portrait from last year, before the Battle of Khartoon got into overdrive, of the Danish Prime Minister

A Prize Immigrant
“I think I am fighting my mother’s fight. She’s a Moslem, religious, who prays five times a day and wears a scarf. But she believes in Danish democracy. In that way she is a lot like many of my friends - Moslems with their hearts, but not Islamists or Extremists. I feel I am fighting a fight for the majority of Moslems. Islam was once a religion which was about the personal relationship of man to Allah. But some Imams have intervened, like the publicans of the Bible and have taken for themselves the power of Allah.”
A fascinating interview with Naser Khader of Denmark, a Syrian immigrant who has the mojo to stand up to the Islamo-Fascists of this world. He recently founded the “Democratic Moslems” organisation in Denmark. Pics of his Democracy Tattoo included at no extra cost.

Moslem group ready to take some blame
The spokesman for the Danish Moslem group, 28-year-old Ahmed Akkari who claims to represent 27 Moslem organizations tells Jyllands-Posten that he is ready to accept “a third of the blame” for the escalating conflict if Jyllands-Posten and the Danish Government accepts that the rest is theirs. Ahmed Akkari explains that this is an attempt to get into a dialogue.
This was just about the last thing we heard from the Danish Imams - since then they’ve been declared persona non grata in most of the media

My Day in Florence
If you want respect, mr. President, tell your countrymen that these cartoons are protected by Danish law and that there is no case. Tell publicly what you very well know privately, that in a proper democracy one may insult Islam, Christianity, Judaism and every other religion. There is no shall, but you may. Freedom isn’t free, mr. President, just ask the Danes this very moment.
Per Nyholm ranting at Indonesion President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono - really worth a read.

We are being pissed upon
We, for our part, have no wish to be a burden on the Arab governments. We will happily withdraw our soldiers, policemen and diplomats. If they think our money smells, we will stop our aid. Our trade must make do as well as it can. We promise to not bear a grudge and, in time, we will be glad to return, but we are through with the hypocrisy. We have better things to do than being pissed upon at our own expense.
Another interesting column from the ever-fascinating Per Nyholm which I translated and which was then republished by a number of blogs.