The Middlebury Campus

Issue date: 3/2/06 Section: News

Media Credit: Ilhan Kim Assistant Professor of Political Science Quinn Mecham takes part in the Islamic Society's discussion.

Panel members and students alike hotly debated the aftermath of the caricatures of Muhammad during the Islamic Society-sponsored Round Table Discussion held on Tuesday evening in the Robert A. Jones '59 Conference Room. Four speakers shared their perspectives on the publishing of the controversial caricatures as well as on the nature of the Muslim community's response. Following the presentations, the audience had the chance to pose questions to the panelists.

Presiding over the discussion was Assistant Professor of History Febe Armanios, who first provided audience members with a factual narrative of the main events surrounding the Sept. 30, 2005 printing of 12 cartoons depicting Muhammad in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. The caricature was considered immeasurably demeaning and was seen by the Muslim world as a direct and vicious attack on their holy religious figure and in violation of its tradition of forbidding depictions of the prophet. One particular cartoon which portrayed Muhammad with a bomb as his turban was reprinted in Norwegian and other European newspapers throughout the month of January. In early February, Muslim groups began holding protests that turned violent. Protestors first burnt Norwegian and Danish embassies in Damascus and Lebanese demonstrators set fire to the Danish embassy in Beirut. As of Feb. 27, 139 people were killed in protest skirmishes and 823 people were injured.

The first panelist, Visiting Instructor in Religion Justin Stearns, addressed the nature of these protests. He explained that it is difficult to react to th cartoon incident, but that the real question it begs is why the reaction took the form it did and why the Muslim community's response was as violent and intense as it was. He does not believe that the root of the violent response is a religious one, and he maintained that the argument that there exists cultural incompatibility between Muslims and Europeans and Americans is a disingenuous one. Rather, he said that we must "turn from religion to the recent history of power relations between Europe and America on the one hand, and the Muslim world."

Stearns explained that the differences between these groups have more to do with power relations and access to economic influence than with different cultural values. He said that the "cartoons came at exactly the wrong moment," for the current occupation of Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq make the printing of this cartoon a particularly sensitive issue. In order to prevent reactions like this in the future, he explained that the European world must proceed with caution and make it their duty to improve the social conditions of Muslim immigrants.

Continued...

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