The Muhammad Caricatures. The individual caricatures are here.
Published in today’s Indland Jyllands-Posten (Denmark):
MANIFESTO: Together facing the new totalitarianism
After having overcome fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism, the world now faces a new totalitarian global threat: Islamism.
We, writers, journalists, intellectuals, call for resistance to religious totalitarianism and for the promotion of freedom, equal opportunity and secular values for all.
The recent events, which occurred after the publication of drawings of Muhammed in European newspapers, have revealed the necessity of the struggle for these universal values. This struggle will not be won by arms, but in the ideological field. It is not a clash of civilisations nor an antagonism of West and East that we are witnessing, but a global struggle that confronts democrats and theocrats.
Like all totalitarianisms, Islamism is nurtured by fears and frustrations. The hate preachers bet on these feelings in order to form battalions destined to impose a liberticidal and unegalitarian world. But we clearly and firmly state: nothing, not even despair, justifies the choice of obscurantism, totalitarianism and hatred. Islamism is a reactionary ideology which kills equality, freedom and secularism wherever it is present. Its success can only lead to a world of domination: man’s domination of woman, the Islamists’ domination of all the others. To counter this, we must assure universal rights to oppressed or discriminated people.
We reject « cultural relativism », which consists in accepting that men and women of Muslim culture should be deprived of the right to equality, freedom and secular values in the name of respect for cultures and traditions. We refuse to renounce our critical spirit out of fear of being accused of “Islamophobia”, an unfortunate concept which confuses criticism of Islam as a religion with stigmatisation of its believers.
We plead for the universality of freedom of expression, so that a critical spirit may be exercised on all continents, against all abuses and all dogmas.
We appeal to democrats and free spirits of all countries that our century should be one of Enlightenment, not of obscurantism.
12 signatures
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Chahla Chafiq
Caroline Fourest
Bernard-Henri Lévy
Irshad Manji
Mehdi Mozaffari
Maryam Namazie
Taslima Nasreen
Salman Rushdie
Antoine Sfeir
Philippe Val
Ibn Warraq
UPDATE:
The German blog Politically Incorrect has translated and published the manifesto in German, along with a graphic of the signatories:
Thanks to Michelle Malkin who has A MANIFESTO AGAINST ISLAMISM
Danish blogger Agora reports: The manifesto “will be brought in the French weekly Charlie Hebdo tomorrow, Wednesday. Charlie Hebdo has urged other papers to print it, as a show of solidarity.”
Show Sammenhold! Spread the word far and wide.
Early blog reax:
Rusty Shackleford: “Add my name.”
Atlas Shrugged: “Heads are gonna roll…no pun intended.”
No Pasaran!: File under freedom
Stockholm Spectator: Riots to follow, no doubt
Vince Aut Morire: I’ll Take Your Fatwa And Raise You A Manifesto
Johan Norberg: Against the New Totalitarians
Ok, Michelle, Flap is in!
SOLIDARITY
The twelve brave individuals who signed the MANIFESTO:
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, from somilian origin, is member of Dutch parliement, member of the liberal party VVD. Writter of the film Submission which caused the assasination of Theo Van Gogh by an islamist in november 2004, she lives under police protection.
Chahla Chafiq
Chahla Chafiq, writer from iranian origin, exiled in France is a novelist and an essayist. She’s the author of “Le nouvel homme islamiste , la prison politique en Iran ” (2002). She also wrote novels such as “Chemins et brouillard” (2005).
Caroline Fourest
Essayist, editor in chief of Prochoix (a review who defend liberties against dogmatic and integrist ideologies), author of several reference books on « laicité » and fanatism : Tirs Croisés : la laïcité à l’épreuve des intégrismes juif, chrétien et musulman (with Fiammetta Venner), Frère Tariq : discours, stratégie et méthode de Tariq Ramadan, et la Tentation obscurantiste (Grasset, 2005). She receieved the National prize of laicité in 2005.
Bernard-Henri Lévy
French philosoph, born in Algeria, engaged against all the XXth century « ism » (Fascism, antisemitism, totalitarism, terrorism), he is the author of La Barbarie à visage humain, L’Idéologie française, La Pureté dangereuse, and more recently American Vertigo.
Irshad Manji
Irshad Manji is a Fellow at Yale University and the internationally best-selling author of “The Trouble with Islam Today: A Muslim’s Call for Reform in Her Faith” (en francais: “Musulmane Mais Libre”). She speaks out for free expression based on the Koran itself. Née en Ouganda, elle a fui ce pays avec sa famille musulmane d’origine indienne à l’âge de quatre ans et vit maintenant au Canada, où ses émissions et ses livres connaissent un énorme succès.
Mehdi Mozaffari
Mehdi Mozaffari, professor from iranian origin and exiled in Denmark, is the author of several articles and books on islam and islamism such as : Authority in Islam: From Muhammad to Khomeini, Fatwa: Violence and Discourtesy and Glaobalization and Civilizations.
Maryam Namazie
Writer, TV International English producer; Director of the Worker-communist Party of Iran’s International Relations; and 2005 winner of the National Secular Society’s Secularist of the Year award.
Taslima Nasreen
Taslima Nasreen is born in Bangladesh. Doctor, her positions defending women and minorities brought her in trouble with a comittee of integrist called « Destroy Taslima » and to be persecuted as « apostate »
Salman Rushdie
Salman Rushdie is the author of nine novels, including Midnight’s Children, The Satanic Verses and, most recently, Shalimar the Clown. He has received many literary awards, including the Booker Prize, the Whitbread Prize for Best Novel, Germany’s Author of the Year Award, the European Union’s Aristeion Prize, the Budapest Grand Prize for Literature, the Premio Mantova, and the Austrian State Prize for European Literature. He is a Commandeur of the Ordre des Arts et Lettres, an Honorary Professor in the Humanities at M.I.T., and the president of PEN American Center. His books have been translated into over 40 languages.
Philippe Val
Director of publication of Charlie Hebdo (Leftwing french newspaper who have republished the cartoons on the prophet Muhammad by solidarity with the danish citizens targeted by islamists).
Ibn Warraq
Ibn Warraq , author notably of Why I am Not a Muslim ; Leaving Islam : Apostates Speak Out ; and The Origins of the Koran , is at present Research Fellow at a New York Institute conducting philological and historical research into the Origins of Islam and its Holy Book.
Antoine Sfeir :
Born in Lebanon, christian, Antoine Sfeir choosed french nationality to live in an universalist and « laïc » (real secular) country. He is the director of Les cahiers de l’Orient and has published several reference books on islamism such as Les réseaux d’Allah (2001) et Liberté, égalité, Islam : la République face au communautarisme (2005).
Spread the Word……
Write and ask these newspapers to print and sign the Manifesto:
New York Times
Washington Post
Los Angeles Times
Oh, and don’t bet the farm on a favorable reply………
Previous:
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Pakistani Children – “Hang Those Who Insulted the Prophetâ€
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Protests Continue in Pakistan
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Muhammad Caricature Watch: German Court Convicts Man for Insulting Islam
Muhammad Caricature Watch: The Vatican URGES Islamic Countries to Reciprocate by Showing More Tolerance toward Their Christian Minorities
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Malaysia Reprimands Newspaper for Lampoon Muhammad Caricature Cartoon
Cox & Forkum: Toonophobia
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Protesters Rally in Pakistan and Iraq
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Muhammad Caricature Watch: Islamic Radicals Call for More Protests
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Map of Cartoon Riots After the Publication of Caricatures of Muhammad
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Muhammad Caricature Watch: Muslims Protesting Muhammad Caricatures Storm United States Embassy in Indonesia
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Muhammad Caricature Watch: A Demonstration in Libya Has Left Nine Dead and the Italian Consulate Ablaze
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Pakistani Cleric Offers Money and Car for Anyone who kills the Danish Cartoonist Who Drew Prophet Muhammad – Now $ 1 Million
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Pakistani Cleric Offers Money and Car for Anyone who kills the Danish Cartoonist Who Drew Prophet Muhammad
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Muhammad Caricature Watch: The FLAP Over Publication of Muhammad Caricatures on the Internet
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Editor of University of Illinois Student Newspaper Suspended for Printing Cartoons Depicting the Prophet Muhammad
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Thousands of Protesters Rampage in 2 Pakistani Cities
Cox & Forkum on the Muhammad Caricatures: Overboard
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Pakistan Police Gas Students Protesting Caricatures
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Muhammad Caricature Watch: Thousands Protest Against Prophet Drawings
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Muhammad Caricature Watch: Muslim Leaders Urge Calm
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Are Extemists Fanning Caricature Outrage?
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Egypt and the Muhammad Caricatures
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Condoleezza Rice – Iran and Syria Stoking Anger – The Response
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Condoleezza Rice – Iran and Syria Stoking Anger
Muhammad Caricature Watch: President Bush and King Abdullah of Jordan Urge an End to Violence over Muhammad Caricatures
Cox & Forkum: Western Dhimmitude
Muhammad Caricature Watch: French Weekly Charlie Hebdo Reprints Muhammad Caricatures
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Muslim Threatened Norwegian Pressman Continues to Defend the Right to Publish Offensive Material
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Demonstrators Attack Norwegian Embassy in Tehran, Iran
Muhammad Caricature Watch: 4 Killed In Afghanistan in Caricature Bloodshed
Muhammad Caricature Watch: A Right to Blasphemy
Muhammad Caricature Watch: New Protests Erupt Around the World
Muhammad Caricature Watch: The False Cartoons and Danish Imams
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Angry Demonstrators Set Danish Consulate in Beirut Ablaze
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Syrian Protesters Set Danish Embassy Ablaze Over Cartoon
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Protests Over Muhammad Drawings Intensify
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Day by Day by Chris Muir on CNN
Day by Day by Chris Muir on Muhammad Caricatures
Cox & Forkum: Publication of Caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad by a Danish Newspaper
Technorati Tags: Jyllands-Posten, ProphetMuhammad, Islam, Muhammadcaricatures
Al-Qaida’s deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, is seen in this Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2005 file image made from videotape posted on Internet. In a video broadcast Saturday, March 4, 2006 on Al-Jazeera, al-Zawahri accused the West of insulting Islam’s prophet, charging that the Prophet Muhammad and Jesus ‘are not sacred anymore.’
Mohammed Reva Taheriazar
Pakistani protestors burn the U.S. flag during an anti U.S. rally in Karachi, Pakistan on Friday, March 3, 2006. Anti-U.S. protests erupted across Pakistan with crowds burning American flags, chanting ‘Death to Bush’ and scuffling with police just hours before the U.S. leader was to arrive for visit.
Pakistani protestors burn the U.S. flag during an anti U.S. rally in Karachi, Pakistan on Friday, March 3, 2006.
Pakistani protestors run for shelter as police use tear gas to disperse them during an anti U.S. rally in Karachi, Pakistan on Friday, March 3, 2006.
Pakistani protestors carry placards reading, ‘Ready to sacrifice on your Dignity,’ during a rally to condemn the publication of cartoons depicting the Islamic Prophet Muhammad printed by some Western newspapers, Friday, March 3, 2006 in Lahore, Pakistan. Security was tightened across Pakistan on during a strike called by radical Islamic groups to protest Prophet Muhammad drawings, with most shops and businesses closed in several cities, officials said.
Pakistani boy, covering his face with headband thatsays ”There is no God but God.,Muhammad is the Prophet of God’,’ takes part in a rally against the publication of cartoons depicting Islamic Prophet Muhammad printed by some Western newspapers, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2006 in Karachi, Pakistan.
Pakistani children chant slogans during a rally in Karachi February 28, 2006. Opposition Jamat-e-Islami party organised the rally to protest against the publication of cartoons and caricatures depicting the Prophet Mohammad in European newspapers.