Saturday, August 18, 2007

Swedish Muslims Will Exhibit the Modoggies

Our Swedish corrsespondent Carpenter sent us an email this morning with the latest on the Modoggie affair:

TT (Tidningarnas Telegrambyrå, the Swedish news agency) reported yesterday that the network of SEMUS (Sekulära Muslimer i Sverige = Secular Muslims in Sweden) is about to exhibit Vilks’ Mohammed-drawings in a gallery. A sign of moderation?

The dispatch was published in many newspapers, among them Helsingborgs Dagblad.

Here’s Carpenter’s translation of the article in question:

Muslims exhibit Vilks’ Mohammed drawings

Lars Vilks’ drawingMuslims now want to exhibit Lars Vilks’ drawings of the prophet Mohammed as a dog. A balanced debate on the artwork is needed, the initiators think

[...]

It’s the network Sekulära Muslimer i Sverige (Semus) and the magazine Minaret who together have initiated the exhibition of the much-discussed dog drawings

"This will happen on an established stage for music and culture in Stockholm. Negotiations are going on; I think it’ll be finished next week," says Hooman Anvari of Semus to TT.

More than that he doesn’t want to say as yet, but he considers the chance that the exhibition will take place to be good.
- - - - - - - - -
“In part because there’s a public interest for a balanced discussion on this matter, and in part because Lars Vilks has agreed to take part,” says Hooman Anvari.

This is the third try for the drawings during a short period. Exhibitiors in Värmland and Bohuslän earlier have said no to showing them.

Hooman Anvari himself thinks the drawings are disgusting, but he wants them exhibited anyway.

“The intention is to create a balanced debate on free spech, freedom of religion and democracy. These issues tend to get polarized if one doesn’t handle the debate in a good way.”



Previous posts on this topic:

The Swedes Narrowly Avert Their Own Motoon Crisis
Modoggie #2
The Prophet as an Obedient Retriever
That Doggone Mohammed

9 comments:

Steen said...

The Moderates are rasing the question of self censurship (concerning art) in parlaiment.

Funny. Why not raise the WHOLE question of self censurship?


Muhammedhundar blir riksdagsfråga

http://www.dn.se/DNet/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=2206&a=681789

carpenter said...

Baron
You forgot to include TT's original, in Swedish.

Helsingborgs Dagblad

Baron Bodissey said...

Carpenter --

Thanks for pointing it out; I forgot the link. :(

dick said...

Crikey!

This ought to create something of an uproar. Considering 1. reactions to the danish cartoons and 2. dogs are haram in islam.

Personally, I think the cartoons are unfunny and in bad taste. I wouldn't censor them, of course. But, if I were a moderate muslim: why on earth would I be exhibiting them?

Unknown said...

While I applaud this group of moslems for doing what Swedish establishment does not dare, I do notice that the Swedish articles referenced to still don't publish the actual images.

Dhimmitude runs rampant still.

carpenter said...

The editor of Minaret, Mohamed Omar, at the debate-page of Expressen on 29th of July wrote that he is "defending Vilks' rights to slander him"...

Dan Kauffman said...

Lord if they are inflamed with these and the Danish cartoons I wonder what they would think about
Jesus and Mo ? ;-)

Dan Kauffman said...

http://www.jesusandmo.net/

Unknown said...

So far what have this group of muslims done?