Feeling Helpless

The recent publication of demeaning portrayals of Muhammad in Danish papers has caused noticeable riots across the world in many Muslim neighborhoods. While at first this may seem like an unnecessary reaction to such a trivial publication, it is a retaliation that symbolizes the feeling of helplessness within many Muslim communities built over time.

First, let’s understand that the violent protests since the publication of this caricature were not the initial response by any community. In addition to the beginning of boycotting Danish products in the Middle East, a small minority of Danish Muslims initially and peacefully protested the paper.

As Juan Cole (http://www.juancole.com/2006/02/fact-file-on-reaction-to-danish.html), a professor at the University of Michigan notes, “the controversy began in Denmark itself among the 180,000 Danish Muslims. It was taken up by the ambassadors of Muslim states in Copenhagen. Then the Egyptian foreign minister began making a big deal of it, as did Islamist parties in Turkey and Pakistan. The crisis has unfolded along precisely the sort of networks one would have expected, and become intertwined with all the post-colonial crises of the region, from the foreign military occupation of Iraq to the new instability in Syria and Lebanon.”

As Cole notes, the crisis was seemingly a result of a plethora of activity against the Muslim community and region. The Danish government in Copenhagen ignored the words of the Muslim ambassadors in Denmark and released no official comment or apology to the public afterwards. And even though freedom of speech is seemingly tolerated in most parts of the civilized world, the Muslim community rightfully felt that the belittling caricature crossed the line.

I am not a big promoter of violence as vengeance in any way. But, I am cognizant of the origins of such a harsh retaliation, for the Muslim community has received no support at all, especially from the Western world. The community feels ostracized and helpless, while being taken advantage of in the Middle East. The protests and riots by the Muslim community are nothing new, and should not be discussed. What should be discussed more often is the modern world’s indifference to the thoughts posed by the Muslim community.

Would negative portrayals of the Jewish community in fundamentalist Islamic papers yield the same reaction as the Danish newspaper did? Probably not. The Jewish community fortunately has support with the presence of the Western world behind them.