What happens to satire when press freedom shrinks? Why has satire increasingly become something institutions fear rather than defend? Those are questions Daniel Warner at CounterPunch asks as he notes that the United States has fallen to its lowest score on Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index. Major U.S. media institutions are scaling back […]
How the West failed the test of the Danish cartoons controversy On 30 September 2005, 12 cartoons appeared in the Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, under the headline, ‘The face of Muhammad’. They were commissioned in response to reports that Danish children’s author Kare Bluitgen had been unable to find an illustrator for a book about Muhammad. […]
The cartoon shows a bearded man wearing a top hat resembling that of Haredi Jews saying “I’m Musa” as he shakes hands with another bearded man wearing a taqiyah—a Muslim headcover—who replies: “I’m Mohammed.” Both have wings and are depicted as hovering over burning buildings and rockets.From the Jewish News Service (which shows the cartoon): […]
To commemorate the 10th anniversary of the deadly Charlie Hebdo office attack, the French satirical magazine is inviting cartoonists from around the world to submit cartoons mocking God. The deadline for submission is December 18 at 6pm French time. The contest was announced in their November 14 edition calling for those who are “tired of […]
From BBC: Vilks was reported to be travelling in a civilian police vehicle which collided with a truck near the town of Markaryd in southern Sweden. Investigators said the collision, which also killed two police bodyguards, showed no signs of foul play. The 75-year-old artist had been living under police protection after receiving death threats […]
Danish artist Kurt Westergaard, famed for drawing a caricature the Prophet Mohammed which sparked outrage around the Muslim world, has died at the age 86, his family told Danish media on Sunday. Kurt WestergaardJuly 13, 1935 – July 14, 2021 From The Citizen: Westergaard passed away in his sleep after a long period of ill […]
Politico looks at who is winning the free speech debate 10 years after the Danish Newspaper Jyllands-Posten printed caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad and ignited a debate, violent and deadly protests and retaliation, and has sent cartoonists into hiding. Despite the 10-year anniversary of the event, which set off the biggest political crisis in Denmark […]
From the Washington Post:“We have drawn Muhammad to defend the principle that one can draw whatever one wants,” said Laurent Sourisseau, in an interview this week with Stern, a German magazine. But Sourisseau, who goes by the cartoonist nickname “Riss,” said that it was not Charlie Hebdo’s intent to be “possessed” by its critique of […]
Saturday Night Live pokes fun of Drawing the Prophet Muhammad.
Bosch Fawstin, the artist whose drawing of the Prophet Muhammad won the Draw Muhammad contest in Garland TX the night two gun-men attempted a shooting spree, says he’s not going into hiding and will continue to expose “the world’s most dangerous” movement.From World Net Daily:Fawstin, who spoke to WND Friday evening by telephone, said he […]
Charlie Hebdo editor-in-chief Gérard Briard was asked what was the difference between his magazine and Pamela Geller’s group in Texas that held the Draw Muhammad event. ?The thing is,? he answered, ?when we make a cartoon of the prophet Muhammad, or Jesus, or Moses, we don?t mock or attack people. We mock or attack institutions. […]
From NPR:The self-declared Islamic State is taking credit for a thwarted attack on a contest to draw the Prophet Muhammad in Garland, Texas. According to SITE, a company that monitors jihadi groups, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack in the latest edition of its al-Bayan news bulletin. The group identified the two suspects as “two […]
Here’s a run-down of what we are learning of yesterday’s failed shooting of the Draw the Prophet event in Garland, TX Probably not surprising, the event organizers ABCNews is reporting that the FBI is searching an apartment in Phoenix AZ for clues in last nights shootings. The FBI is calling the resident of the apartment […]
The Dallas Morning News reports that cartoonist Bosch Fawstin was named the winner of the Draw Muhammad contest for the best depiction of the Prophet Muhammad. The event was sponsored by the American Freedom Defense Initiative. I did a bit of sleuthing to learn who Bosch is. This article from FrontpageMag tells us that Bosch […]
The “Draw the Prophet” event scheduled today in Garland, TX ended with an attempted shooting by two men tonight. The alleged gunmen were shot by police who were at the event for extra security.Here’s the latest from CNN:Two men who opened fire outside a contest for Prophet Mohammad cartoons in a Dallas suburb were shot […]