Mohammed, the far-right poster boy
The far-right Danish People’s Party unveiled their controversial election poster today. As you can see, it features a drawing of the putative prophet Mohammed, inventor of Islam.
The slogan reads “Freedom of speech is Danish, censorship is not”.
DPP leader Pia Kjaersgaard explains that the ad
…is a part of an election campaign centring on Danish values, which we want to push forward. Among them are gender equality and solidarity. The ad clearly falls under the issue of freedom of expression.
Kassem Ahmed, a spokesperson for the Danish Islamic Society, said that the Society will
ignore the provocation, and prefer dialogue with those who subscribe to freedom of speech in a more decent and respectful manner.
Perhaps it is necessary for portraits of Mohammed to be published in order to give Muslims the opportunity to demonstrate that they are able to rise above it. And if a few of them still aren’t, well we need to know that too.
UPDATE: (Oct 30) The Organisation of the Islamic Conference has decided that the Danish election is its business, and issued a press release commenting on the DPP poster:
The Muslim world, while taking note of this unprovoked propensity of some Danish circles to demonize Islam, its figures and symbols remains vigilant and watchful to this trend which might, again, lead to increased tension.
Where would we be without the OIC’s vigilance and watchfulness?
I notice that the link leads to a Guardian report about the poster, but there’s actually no picture of the poster which the test is discussing.