The Skeptic الشكاك

53 The Cartoons Controversy in Cairo

Family and friends abroad have been asking me how the cartoons are playing in Egypt. And more people died yesterday and today in cartoon-related clashes in Pakistan.

So, briefly (since it annoys me that this is still an issue), people are angry about the cartoons here. People are talking about them. But until last week, everyone was far more interested in the Egyptian national team’s victory in the African Cup. People were more angry about the Safaga ferry disaster than about the cartoons, and the first news of that disaster, which came just before Egypt started play in the quarter-finals in the African Cup, didn’t stop people from pouring out into the streets to celebrate the victory all night long.

But now that the tournament is over, will people turn their attention to what they missed when they were glued to the game? The clownish popstar Shaaban Abd al-Rahim has released a song about the cartoons, which in some way elevates this current controversy to the level of the Palestinian Intifada, September 11th, and the war in Iraq—subjects of his previous hits. In the new video, we see a more somber Shaaban. He’s lost the outrageous yellow jumpsuit. He’s now wearing all black and sporting some prayer beads wrapped around his wrist (who knew Shaaban was a religious man?). I caught a bit of the video in a cafe late one night, so I couldn’t get all the words. But the snatches I got went something like this: “You’ve been doing this for a long time, and we’re tired of it: desecrating the Quran, insulting Islam, are you crazy? […] If you had read anything about the Prophet [PBH] you would know that even before he was chosen for the revelation, he was known as an honest, modest, and upright man.” And so on. With the exception of Shaaban’s pro-Mubarak dud Kilmat Haq, written as a response to the protests this past spring and summer, Shaaban has a knack for capturing, exploiting (and shaping), popular sentiment.

I’ve met people who have seemed really upset about the cartoons. Everyone agrees that violent protests objecting to the depiction of Islam as a violent religion only undermine The Cause. I’ve pointed out that the Danish government has nothing to do with the newspaper, that this isn’t Al-Ahram.

“So what can the Danish government do?” I asked one cuddly Islamist, probably a Brother.

“Close the newspaper.”

“But they can’t. That would be illegal. In the West, there are laws that prevent governments from closing newspapers.”

Moment of silence while the Brother digests this. It apparently had never occured to him. Finally, “Then they should at least apologize. They’ve never apologized.”

I agree that they should have released a stronger statement earlier, but then again, how can they apologize for something they didn’t do? At this point, the conversation dies. I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve won the argument or because my cuddly Islamist friend is too polite to press the point.

There have been other, similar conversations. Each time, I’m struck by two things: One, that many seem completely unable to imagine an independent press; two, that when it comes down to it, many support some form of censorship.

[tags]Cartoons, Islam, Egypt[/tags]

2 Comments »

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1. yep egyptian people in general do support some form of censorship, and the only way to sell no censorship is not even to argue for equal rights and who shall have the authority to decide what is good speech and what is bad speech, the only argument that has a remote possibility of being accepted is that the power to censor is easily abused.

   Comment by Alaa — February 15, 2006 #

2. Hmm, maybe you’re right, Alaa. It’s a depressing thought. Do you think people would be convinced by the argument that censorship insults the intelligence of the people? That people should be armed by a proper moral and intellectual education to make their own decisions about what’s right and wrong? That speech should be left to sink or swim in the free market of ideas? Is it too optimistic to think that there might even be some benefit to the publication of these cartoons if it allows Muslims to see, as an unfortunate matter of fact, how some in the West see Islam?

   Comment by Administrator — February 16, 2006 #

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