Message from a former student

Re Muslim anti-Cartoon Riots

From a former grad student. One very bright guy. And a Muslim.

Hi Dr. Eve,

Some scattered thoughts on the issue:

i) There are obvious grievances among the Muslim people around the world. Flushing Quran in toilet (Gitmo), Abu Ghuraib humiliations, attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan under wrong pretexts, American foreign policy of supporting dictatorial regimes (including the ones in the Middle East and Pakistan) - Muslim people, or for that matter, any person who is not under the influence of corporate media, can see the link of animosity toward Islam by the West. Here, I am taking about the the image or perception of America in the mind of people over there. This would be Grievances, Cultural Framing, and New Social Movements related argument. Especially related to the last one, the new social movements, which tend to be more about Identity. These series of actions including the mockery of Prophet are threatening the very ideals and identity of Muslims all over the world, compelling the even the moderate leaning Muslims to support the extremists (involved in violence, which I don't think is the only way to protest).

ii) Part of this global drive has to do with the advancement in technology, media, communication that has more than ever before facilitated the possibility of a global 'Ummah' (which means, a Muslim "community" in abstract sense; not a polity or state). This would be Resource Mobilization Argument (from "Imagined Communities").

iii) Understanding the issue itself can be helpful in understanding the reaction. So some people in the Western media seem to claim that the issue is about depicting Prophet in pictures. I do not think that is the main issue. Depiction of Prophet has been done in the Turkish and Iranian arts for centuries. a) The issue is about the intent behind the design and publication of those malicious cartoons, not the pictures themselves. b) Next, Muslims see it as ethnocentricism of the West to publish these cartoons but deny the publication of Jesus cartoon (presented to the same newspaper three years ago) or Holocaust related stuff. In other words, West is not free of sacred cows either. Now in the Islamic world, Muslims would be similarly outraged by any mockery of Prophet Jesus. So, the point is that many Muslims think that it is an abuse of the "freedom of speech" ideal to target particular communities or groups. This becomes especially important given the history of racism and exploitation of colonial people in the West. This critique could be seen in Said's "Orientalism". Now, supposedly the more civilized people in the West should be more aware of the misrepresentation of the Prophet in Orientalist literature and in the Western Imagery (like Dante's placement of Prophet Mohammad in the lowest level of Hell).