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Home | Mohammed Cartoon Conflict
Pakistan Resumes Blocking Entire Blogspot Domain
A Don't Block the Blog PDF press release (via Newsvine) reports that the Government of Pakistan appears to have resumed blocking the entire Blogspot domain. Pakistan had lifted the block but apparently because of World Press Freedom Day, which was held on May 3rd..
Reports have come in from a number of cites around the country that the entire Blogspot domain is blocked in its entirety. Just recently only three days back, specifically on the 3rd of May, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority had lifted the entire ban, allowing all internet users unrestricted surfing to the 10 millions websites hosted on the blogspot.com domain. It appears as if the three day relief was just to appease the United Nations in its annual 3rd of May celebrations for the Freedom of Press.
The PTA (Pakistan Telecommunication Authority) had initially blocked access to the blogspot domain on the 3rd of March 2006, due to a Supreme Court decision dated 2nd March 2006 instructing the PTA to ban 12 offending websites which highlighted the blasphemous cartoons on the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). In adherence to the Supreme Court ruling, all 12 sites were blocked including one that was hosted on the blogspot domain. But rather than block the offending blogspot website, the PTA blocked the entire domain (www.blogspot.com) which happens to be one of the most popular blog hosting domains hosting approximately upwards of ten million blogs globally.
We strongly oppose this blanket ban on any website, and ask the world to join hands to peacefully protest the censorship of the internet.
Pakistan's started blocking Blogspot blogs on March 3rd because one or more Blogspot blogs contained the controversial Mohammed Cartoons. However, instead of just blocking the individual blogs Pakistan has blocked the entire Blogspot domain.
Posted on May 7, 2006
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Pakistan Blogspot Blogs Blocked in Mohammed Cartoon Row
The BBC reports that Pakistan has blocked several blogs in response to the growing conflict over the Mohammed Cartoons. The blog block also blocked all Pakistan Blogspot users as well. Apparently, there is a Blogspot blog showing the cartoons and a block of this blog ended up blocking all of Blogspot in Pakistan.
Bloggers in Pakistan became first became aware of the ban on 28 February when they were unable to access a popular blog hosting site, Blogspot.
One of the blocked sites is hosted on Blogspot, which led to the blocking of all web journals hosted on the site.
The Pakistan bloggers found their blogs blocked, even though their blogs are not connected with the cartoons.
They say they have still been able to edit and update their blogs, but not able to read them.
Some bloggers are temporarily using anonymizers to reach Blogger until the block on Blogspot is removed. The BBC says the blogs that Pakistan intended to block are blogs that are "inviting people to draw cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad."
Posted on March 3, 2006
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Blogs Continue Coverage of Mohammed Cartoon Crisis
Bloggers continue to cover the Muslim outrage and riots in the Middle
East over the twelve Mohammed cartoons printed in the Jyllands-Posten,
a Danish newspaper. Some conservative bloggers are calling the conflict the Cartoon War. The Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen recently referred to it is a "global conflict." The BBC reports that a joint UN, EU, OIC statement
is calling for calm. The statement says, "freedom of the press entails
responsibility and discretion." Everyone hopes for calm but riots
have continued with four
more deaths from cartoon riots in Afghanistan. And a
French newspaper has added a new
cartoon according to Reuters:
Charlie Hebdo carried the new cartoon on its front page, depicting the Prophet Mohammad burying his face in his hands and saying: "It's hard to be loved by fools".
Sales of the weekly were brisk in Paris. Inside pages showed the 12 cartoons that were first printed in Denmark and included an editorial explaining the decision to reprint them.
Here is some more coverage from the blogosphere:
More Newspapers Print the Cartoons: The Write News has a list of newspapers that have published the comics so far. Four journalists at the New York Press resigned when superiors decided not to publish the cartoons. An Egyptian newspaper published the cartoons a few months ago according to this blog. The Media Cynic writes: "What the protestors don't seem to realize is that the more out of control and violent the protests, the more difficult it's going to be for mainstream newspapers and TV shows to explain the story without showing the cartoons themselves."
Some bloggers are encouraging blogs to publish the cartoons.
There are only a few newspapers and media outlets printing the cartoons but
more and more blogs are running them. There is the Muhammad Cartoons Blogburst which is a growing list of blogs running the cartoons. This blogger wants a fatwa but will probably just be ignored for having lame photoshopping skills.
Fake Cartoons: It appears that three fake cartoons were created by Danish imams and used to stir up anger against Denmark and newspapers publishing the original twelve cartoons. Images of the original twelve can be found here. Images of the three fakes can be found here. The fake cartoons are far more offensive then the twelve cartoons published in the Jyllands-Posten. NeanderNews reveals the source for one of the fake cartoons.
Other Items of Interest:
An Iranian newspaper, the Hamshahri, is planning a Holocaust cartoon contest.
Danish websites have been attacked by hackers.
The Saddam Shark will not be shown because of concern it could lead to
more protests and riots.
Juan Cole explains how it took four months for the cartoon controversry
to develop. Juan Cole also reports
that Al-Sadr is behind some of the protests in Iraq.
Michelle Malkin posts that
Mohammed is " inside the U.S. Supreme Court on a north wall marble frieze."
Many blogs are linking to the Mohammed Image Archive.
Global Voice Online has roundups from blogs in Iran,
Jordan and Morocco
Instapundit blogs about this Muslim website offering an apology to Denmark.
Thoughts From Bloggers
Civitas:
"Despite the ferocity of the current posturing of outraged Muslims throughout the world over the continued unrepentance of a Danish newspaper for having last September published irreverent cartoons of Mohammed, the true significance of the current rumpus seems to have eluded the world's media. This is that it presages a far worse coming conflagration.
At best, what it heralds is full-scale conventional war in the Middle East, with much spillover in Europe and America in terms of Islamist terror bombings there. At worst, we await a full-scale nuclear Armageddon. "
Jeff Jarvis: "But I think we need to see this episode as the frightening extreme of a culture of offense. When offensiveness becomes a sin and a crime and a cause for retribution and even violence, it's never clear where the line is. When speech is free, that line is quite clear."
Marc Lynch at Abu Aardvark has a
great post about what he calls the Cartoon StupidStorm: "The cartoons crisis
does not 'prove' that there is a 'clash of civilizations': it provides an opportunity for
those on both sides who want a 'clash of civilizations' to help make it come true. The
appropriate response to such cynical mobilization is not to embrace it but to deflate it."
Virtual Talmud: "The rioters' actions are nothing less than what the Bible describes as Avodah Zarah, a strange and bizarre worship of God. The Bible saves it strongest condemnation not for hedonism, heresy, or atheism, but rather for those who worship an absolute in a strange and bizarre way."
Daniel Pipes has some thoughts, a roundup of
coverage and a cartoon. He writes: "Muslims routinely publish cartoons far more offensive
than the Danish ones . Are they entitled to dish it out while being insulated from
similar indignities?"
Mere Islam
disagrees with Pipes and writes: "He's obviously trying to capitalize on
the current cartoon crisis in order to put forward his xenophobic agenda, which a close
analysis of his Cartoons and Islamic Imperialism article makes rather clear. Based on
the fact that he's the respected spokesman for so many Islamophobes around the world,
you'd think he'd be able to articulate a decent defense for his paranoid positions."
Avari blogs that
Europeans are afraid: "Europeans, on the other hand, are terrified,
because they cannot grow and they are unable to change; with fully one-third of the
world's population in booming India and zooming China, small wonder Europe is aghast
at her inability to produce demographic or economic miracles. So it is that they have
latched onto these cartoons in the spirit of pathetic resistance, in the silly fear
that Islam will overwhelm Europe if they do not caricature, but I tell you, only a
person and society already so intellectually defeated and spiritually crushed could
be so ridiculously and unnecessarily afraid."
Islamicate: "What would the Prophet have done given the presence of those cartoons? Most probably smiled and turned away. Why are Muslims getting so worked-up about the works of ignorant cartoonists from the boondocks of Denmark?"
The Nigerian Times has a thoughtful
post that cites this Thomas Jefferson quote: "Enlighten the people, generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like spirits at the dawn of day." (Via Global Voices Online)
Earlier coverage of the cartoon controversy with lots more links to blogs discussing the cartoons can be found here.
Posted on February 9, 2006
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The Blogosphere and the Mohammed Cartoons
Bloggers are discussing the widespread outrage in the Islamic world about cartoons that were recently republished in several European newspapers.
The comics were originally published in the Jyllands-Posten, a Danish
newspaper. "Jyllands-Posten" is currently #1 on Technorati which shows the
growing interest in this story. There have been threats of violence against those publishing the cartoons and boycotts of Danish products by Muslims who consider the cartoons and production of images of the Prophet Mohammed to be blasphemous.
A Media Cynic article includes a link to this webpage which shows depictions of the Prophet Mohammed that have been created throughout history including the recent cartoons. The mainstream media hasn't been publishing the controversial cartoons but the cartoons originally published in the Jyllands-Posten are now posted all over the Web on numerous blogs. They can also be found on photo sharing tools like Flickr.
(via The Bellman)
Here is some more coverage of the cartoons and the anger and protests occuring in parts of the Islamic world.
The Media Cynic explains the situation so far and suggests buying some Danish products to support them during the boycott.
If anyone is offended by the Danish cartoons and wants to show his displeasure by refusing to buy Danish Butter Cookies or some of the other myriad Danish products that are being removed from Middle Eastern store shelves, fine. That's a non-violent way to protest (although it's quite unfair to Danish companies who had nothing to do with the cartoons in question). But if anyone carries out a threat of violence to innocent bystanders -- Danish or otherwise -- because of a cartoon, they they should be dealt with in a very harsh manner.
Why not show your support for free speech by either 1) eating a delicious Danish Butter Cookie, 2) buying a Bang & Olufson stereo system or 3) buying a new set of Legos for a favorite child.
Other bloggers saying Buy Danish include GOP Bloggers,
HNN and WilcoxZone). The Media Cynic post also notes a Deutsche Welle report that the Al-Shihan, an independent Jordanian newspaper, has published a few of the comics.
Michelle Malkin calls the
American media cowards for not showing the cartoons and has a roundup of
blog posts.
USA Today's On Deadline blog says there have been protesters in Pakistan yelling "Death to France!" and "Death to Denmark!" Newspapers in Denmark and France have published the controversial cartoons.
The CJR Daily blog explains how many bloggers have pounced on the story.
Hyscience has a petition to support the Jyllands-Posten.
Christine Smallwood at The Notion (one of The Nation's blogs) writes: "It's complicated, but I'm strongly in favor of supporting those who publish even right-wing, offensive cartoons, poor judgment or no. Editorial freedom, including satire, is a deeply prized and hard-won right that we shouldn't be intimidated into giving up. It's a slippery slope. Just as we can't allow
Christian fundamentalists to prevent satirizing the church in American papers, or the Bush Administration from prohibiting protest, nor should we allow fundamentalists of any kind to rewrite the world in their image. Secular papers have the right, and the duty, to live by secular rules."
An article from Frontpage magazine has the cartoons and a timeline of events. (via Protein Wisdom)
The Counterterrorism Blog explains how some fabricated cartoons that were never published in the Danish newspaper (including one where the Prophet has a pig face) have made the situation much worse.
New Civilization News in post titled "Denmark vs Mohammed" writes: "OK, maybe it wasn't the greatest idea in the world to ask some cartoonists for pictures of the Prophet Mohammed. But, hey, Denmark is a free country where nobody will get away with taking themselves too seriously. So, if you want to make a funny, irreverant or insulting picture of the Pope, Queen Elizabeth, Jesus, Elvis, George Bush ... or Mohammed, then... so what. Might be funny, might not be."
Thomas de Zengotita at Huffington Post asks where do American progressives stand on this: "So, without going on and on analyzing the dilemma, let me
sum it up with this way; will progressive American publications republish those cartoons? If they do, how will they explain it? If they don't, how will they explain it?"
Update 2-4-03 -- A few more posts from the blogosphere on this issue:
Michelle Malkin has a Muhammed Cartoons Blogburst which contains a growing list of blogs that are reprinting the controversial cartoons. She also links to New Zealand's Stuff.co.nz which has reprinted the cartoons.
Writer's Blog: The situation has become scary for the twelve cartoonists that created the Mohammed cartoons. The cartoonists are afraid for their lives and in hiding. A spokesperson said the cartoonists didn't want the cartoons reprinted all over the world.
The Moderate Voice has a roundup of news and blog coverage.
Sploid reports that the Bush Administration has sided with the outraged Muslims instead of backing the free press and free speech for the cartoonists.
Two editors have been fired over the cartoon row.
The BBC has a roundup of comments from world newspapers.
Second Update 2-4-03
Erik's Field Diary has
a good post on the cartoon controversy that includes links to news articles and some Turkish blogs.
The SF Gate has an article with reactions from Bay Area Muslims. Many are upset by the cartoons but they advocate only peaceful protests such as not buying Danish products. So far no blogs
are linking to this article.
American Turk: "I support the Danish newspaper's right to publish anything they
want. They can show Mohamed with horns and forked tongue and split hooves for all I care. They will answer for their blasphemy eventually, G-d doesn't need our help. And yes it goes without saying that this is a huge insult, but nothing we do will reverse time, and nobody deserves any punishment for this, at least in this life."
Global Voices has a post
with a roundup of coverage from around the world.
Many blogs are linking to the BBC article about the news that Syrians have set fire to the Norwegian and Danish embassies in Damascus to protest the cartoons.
Boycotts could backfire and cause Mulims to lose jobs according to this
CNS News article: "Denmark-based Arla Foods said a consumer
boycott has affected sales throughout the Middle East and North Africa. More
than 800 employees, mostly locals, work at the Saudi operation, although Arla
said no jobs were yet at risk."
Pickled Politics has an
excellent roundup of coverage.
An End the Boycott site has a
list of Danish products.
Pundit Roundups: Instapundit has a roundup of
coverage. Gateway
Pundit also has a roundup. Marathon
Pundit is also covering the story.
I hate peas is officially speechless.
Inspirations and Creative Thoughts draws a comparison to the 2nd Commandment in a post about losing the sense for the
sacred: "Islamic law, based on clerics' interpretation of the Quran and the sayings of the prophet, forbids depictions of the Prophet Muhammad and other major religious figures even positive ones to prevent idolatry. This matter is taken very seriously in Islam. In this matter, you can say, Muslims respect the 2nd Commandments of the 10 Commandments given to Mankind by God."
Towards God is our Journey has a roundup
that contains viewpoints from many Muslim bloggers.
Talking Points Memo: "So liberal mores versus theocratic mores. Where's the possible
compromise? There isn't any. On the face of it this gets portrayed as an issue of press
freedom. But this is much more fundamental. 'Press freedom' is just one cog in the
machinery of a society that doesn't believe in or accept the idea of 'blasphemy'. Now,
an important cog? Yes. But I think we're fooling ourselves to reduce this to something
so juridical and rights based."
Turkish
Torque: "There are serious and irreconcilable contradictions between the
Judeo-Christian and Islamic civilizations and it's not easy to eliminate them. During
this latest controversy we were reminded of that fact once again. However, this lack of
reconciliation should not give anybody the right to insult Islam and those who believe
in it."
Muslim Wakeup has a post about
making a mountain out of a molehill: "Can we finally admit that Muslims have blown
out of all proportion their outrage over 12 cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad
published in a Danish newspaper last September?"
Posted on February 3, 2006
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