Danish PM meets ambassadors to address anti-Muslim hatred

Fogh abandons months of resistance to call for collaboration to defuse crisis

Speaking to a meeting of 76 ambassadors in Copenhagen on Friday 3 March, Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen deplored the publication of twelve cartoons of Muhammad in a Danish newspaper last September and asserted that Danish freedom of expression is tempered with tolerance and respect for different religions.

Up to very recently, referring to freedom of expression as “the very foundation of Danish society”, Danish prime minister and minister for the press Anders Fogh Rasmussen had refused to meet with a group of Muslim ambassadors to discuss what they perceive as an “ongoing smear campaign” against Islam.

The ambassadors quote four instances where Danish politicians and media have expressed hatred for Muslims:
Speaking two months before the publication of the controversial Muhammad cartoons, radio host Kaj Vilhelmsen suggested that Islamic terrorism could only be combated by expelling or killing Muslims.
Writing on her website two weeks before the cartoons were published, member of parliament for the Danish People’s Party Louise Frevert compared “the Muslim menace” with “a tumour which we know will kill us, if we don’t find and annihilate it ...”
In a speech at the Conservative Party’s national conference six days before the Muhammad cartoons were published, Minister for Culture Brian Mikkelsen accused Muslims of developing a “parallel society” within Denmark, “where minorities practise their medieval norms and undemocratic ways of thinking.”
And, of course, there are the infamous cartoons themselves, published in Jyllands-Posten on 30 September last. The text of the accompanying article states explicitly that the cartoons were commissioned specifically to offend against the Islamic taboo on depicting the Prophet – and not, for example, to tackle the issue of terrorism.

Please read the excerpts from the website of the Danish national broadcasting station, DR, and from the centre-left daily, Politiken, in translation:

DR: Fogh exhorts ambassadors to collaborate

03 February 2006 12.52 Politics

76 ambassadors had turned up in Eigtveds Pakhus in Copenhagen København on the invitation of the Danish government. Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Minister for Foreign Affairs Per Stig Møller introduced the meeting by personally shaking hands with everybody.

Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen explained the importance of freedom of expression. He deplored the Muhammed cartoons with apologising, and he exhorted to collaboration to solve the conflict.

Case may have unforeseeable consequences
In his speech to the ambassadors, Anders Fogh Rasmussen emphasised the point that Danish democracy is founded on freedom of expression, but with tolerance and respect for different religions. At the same time, he exhorted the ambassadors and their governments to collaborate to solve the crisis.

“We are facing a problem that may grow into a problem embracing major parts of the world. The cartoons have now been reprinted in a number of newspapers all over Europe. And if the protests in the streets escalate further, we may face unforeseeable consequences in all affected countries. As a result, I think we have a common interest in providing reassurances and solving this issue,” said Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

No apology from Jyllands Posten
The ambassadors from the 11 Muslim countries held a short meeting to discuss the situation afterwards.

“The meeting will contribute to calming tempers. We are satisfied with the Prime Minister’s speech, which was very positive. It’s a good step towards dialogue. But we are still missing a clear apology from Jyllands Posten, says Egypt’s ambassador, Mona Omar Attia.

The ambassador thinks the Prime Minister should try to speak with the management of Jyllands Posten.

“It is the Prime Minister’s duty to protect the interest of the people. I know he can’t force the newspaper to apologise, but he should try to convince the paper,” says Mona Omar Attia.

From the Danish original:
http://www.dr.dk/Nyheder/Politik/2006/02/03/121812.htm

**********

The Muhammad affair: Manipulation. Has Fogh met his Watergate?

Politiken 23 February 2006, 2nd section, page 7

[Danish] Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen (Liberal) has consistently refused to comment on the 11 ambassadors’ main criticism, namely the increasing tendency to “knocking of Islam as a religion” here in Denmark.

By Rune Engelbreth Larsen

Since 12 October 2005, when eleven Muslim ambassadors asked the Prime Minister for a meeting in the wake of issues including Jyllands-Posten's Muhammad cartoons, he has manipulated their intentions in the Danish press.
He has distorted and suppressed decisive passages and warnings in their letter, while at the same time ignoring the ambassadors’ own explanations of the content, even though, from immediately after his reply letter, they have repeatedly emphasised the fact that they have neither expressed a demand for control of the press nor interference in freedom of expression.
The ambassador letter consists of four main points: 1) a criticism of the “very discriminating tendency” and “knocking of Islam as a religion” in Denmark, 2) a warning about the possible escalation of the crisis, 3) an exhortation to the government to “remonstrate with those responsible” within the framework of the law and 4) a request for a meeting with the Prime Minister.
First and foremost, the ambassadors criticise what they perceive as an “ongoing smear campaign” against Islam, and in addition to the Muhammad cartoons they mention several “recent examples” of this: the racist articles from [member of the Danish parliament for the Danish People’s Party] Louise Frevert’s website, Minister for Culture Brian Mikkelsen’s speech to the Conservatives’ national conference, which among other things draws up the cultural struggle’s new front as a face-off with “medieval Muslim culture” in Danish parallel societies, as well as Kaj Vilhelmsen’s xenophobic local radio, which in the summer of 2005 exhorted to “kill a significant portion of the Muhammedan immigrants”.
In the letter, great emphasis is placed on the serious consequences that may be the result of this: “We must emphasise the fact that this may also create reactions in Islamic countries and among Muslim minorities in Europe.”
Anders Fogh nevertheless refuses to meet with the ambassadors and instead explains in a written reply on 22 October that freedom of expression is “the very foundation of Danish society.” Neither in his letter of reply or in public does he mention their other points of criticism and thus does not once comment on the concrete examples of the “very discriminatory tendency” the ambassadors refer to.
...

The ambassadors’ four points of criticism
In the letter from the 11 ambassadors that was sent on 12 October 2005, four current examples of an “ongoing smear campaign” against Islam are mentioned:

Kaj Vilhelmsen’s ’Radio Holger’: “There are only two possible ways to react if this bomb terror is to be prevented: Either to expel all foreign Muhammedans from western Europe, so they can’t manage to place bombs, or to eradicate the fanatical Muhammedans, that is to say, to kill a significant portion of the Muhammedan immigrants.” (21 July 2005)

[Member of parliament for the Danish People’s Party] Louise Frevert’s website: “... the Muslim menace – a menace that is much greater than we have previously experienced – and we have no means to combat it today! – can be compared with a tumour which we know will kill us, if we don’t find and annihilate it before it spreads.” (15 September 2005)

[Minister for Culture] Brian Mikkelsen’s speech at the [Conservative Party’s] national conference: “There are still many battles to be fought. One of the most important deals with the confrontation we experience when immigrants from Muslim countries refuse to acknowledge Danish culture and European norms. In the middle of our country – our own country – a parallel society is about to develop, where minorities practise their medieval norms and undemocratic ways of thinking. This we cannot accept. It is here we have the cultural struggle’s new front.” (24 September 2005)

Jyllands-Posten: “The modern, secular society is rejected by some Muslims. They demand a special status when they insist on special respect for their own religious sensibilities. This is not consistent with a secular democracy and freedom of expression, where one must be prepared to put up with scorn, derision and ridicule.” (30 September 2005)

From:
www.politiken.dk