Defending Free Speech by Steve Simpson

Author:Steve Simpson [Simpson, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-05-25T16:00:00+00:00

Aftershocks of the Cartoons Crisis

April 2006: Comedy Central refuses to broadcast an image of Muhammad in a South Park episode, citing “concerns for public safety.”

September 2006: A leading German opera house cancels performances of a Mozart opera, fearing reprisals; the opera includes a scene that depicts the severed head of the prophet Muhammad.

August 2007: For a Swedish exhibition on the theme of the dog in art, the artist Lars Vilks depicts Muhammad as a dog. Because of security fears, organizers of the exhibition rescind Vilks’s invitation. An Islamist group in Iraq offers $150,000 bounty for the assassination of Vilks, who is forced to live under police protection.

February 12, 2008: Three Islamists attempt to murder the cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, whose cartoon was one of the twelve originally published by Jyllands-Posten. Westergaard was living in hiding under police protection.

March 2008: Osama bin Laden threatens Europeans for repeatedly publishing the Danish cartoons.

June 2008: Exacting revenge for the Danish cartoons, Al Qaeda bombs Denmark’s embassy in Pakistan, killing six people.

August 2008: Random House cancels plans to release a novel about the prophet Muhammad’s child bride, worried it might “incite acts of violence.”

April 2010: Comedy Central receives threats regarding an episode of South Park featuring a character claimed to be Muhammad. The network edits the character out of the episode.

April–September 2010: Molly Norris, a cartoonist for Seattle Weekly, promotes an “Everybody Draw Muhammad Day” on April 20, 2010. After receiving death threats, she is forced into hiding.

January 1, 2010: Kurt Westergaard escapes another attempt on his life.

May 11, 2011: In Uppsala, Sweden, while giving a talk on freedom of speech, Lars Vilks is attacked.

November 2, 2011: In Paris, France, the offices of the magazine Charlie Hebdo are firebombed, following the publication of an edition “guest edited” by Muhammad.

March 1, 2013: In its jihadist recruitment magazine, Inspire, Al Qaeda publishes a hit list that includes: Carsten Juste, Flemming Rose, Lars Vilks, Kurt Westergaard, Molly Norris, Stéphane Charbonnier (editor of Charlie Hebdo), and Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

November–December 2014: Email servers at Sony Pictures Entertainment are hacked in connection with the release of the comedic film The Interview, which is about a plot to assassinate the leader of North Korea.

•Movie theaters are threatened with deadly attacks (the threat warned: “Remember the 11th of September 2001”)

•Four national theater chains, which together operate more than 19,000 screens, drop plans to show The Interview.

•Citing safety concerns, Sony decides to cancel the theatrical release of The Interview.

•Evading the government’s fundamental responsibility to protect freedom of speech, President Obama reproaches Sony for failing to stand up for itself.

•Sony reverses its decision, but few theaters agree to screen the movie amid fears of reprisals. The film is released online.

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