In other words one's freedom of expression is conflicting with one's right to tell others what not to say.

I think putting these "rights" on the same standing is a direct challenge to the very concept of human rights. That the UN should even think about studying such a case tells a lot about how much violations of freedom of speech have increasingly been accepted recently.

It is also quite shocking to see an international body try to criminalise a conduct that wouldn't be in positive law.

I was shocked when I read the short article. I am not so certain that countries where human rights are taken rather rather lightly as is certainly the case in Pakistan, have the right to use or exploit the fact that some countries take human rights very seriously and are therefore a great deal more likely to bend over backwards to accommodate another country's worldview.

The Pakistani political party who made the death threats against the Danish illustrators have not, I believe, objected to the millions of kroner the Danish government is spending in order to send Danish relief organizations to Pakistan to help the earthquake victims. Probably no political brownie points to be had in mentioning such direct aid.

Nanna

Escalating the conflict:

From http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=E1_VPVJRTJ

 The cartoonists can draw what they want, even they can show any arab or muslim leader as a terrorist if they want. But I'm still thinking what incited them to use the prophet Mohammed  to make their cartoon.

As far as I know, in the mexican daily I use to read (www.jornada.unam.mx) they constantly make cartoons against the obscene richness of catholic priests in Mexico and in Rome.  Sometimes, priests are getting into a BMW, sometimes they are with sexual toys ready to abuse a kid. But they haven't drawn Jesus in such a similar cartoon.

Of course, jews are a different ethnic topic. No one should draw their god. Indeed, criticising A POLITICAL movement such as zionism and their related genocide is considered..(YEAH YOU GUESSED ).... ANTISEMITISM, ANTISEMITISM!!!!! and then one could be forced to pay an indemnization. 

It seems many people want muslims as the XXI century pariahs and they HAVE to deal with it.

I'm not agree with the fatwa because it's to give importance and fame to those "artists" who blackmail with the so famous "freedom of speech".

I imagine that Jews might get pissed off when some critics, instead of specifically focussing on things like genocide of Palestinians, proceed to deny the Jews' very right to have a homeland and thus negate the entire concept of Zionism which, according to dictionaries, is a movement supporting the existence of the state of Israel. Personally, I believe in every nation's right to self-determination, and that includes not only Palestinians bust also Jews. During the 20th c. mass killings of Poles, with all the hatred towards the occupying nations, I don't remember anyone in Poland coming up with the idea of exterminating Germans or Soviets in retaliation. You fight your aggressor, that's Newton's Third Law, but you normally do not think of liquidating its entire nation and denying its right to exist. Or do you?

On a lingustic note, other than the chosen nation, all the others normally settle for the collective "racism" or "xenophobia." Come to think about it, there is also "antipolonism" though (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antipolonism) and antiamericanism. Do we have similar terms with respect to other nations, perhaps in their respective languages? Or, to come back to English, is the word "phobia" the only solution, like in Russophobia, Francophobia, Germanophobia, Hispanophobia?

Jacek

Exatly, I don't. Zionists and many jews do.

If the creation and expansion of that state grab others' land becomes a crime. The Industry of Holocaust focuses on that: they are not happy just with the ban of openly racist and anti-jew (Sorry, but I dislike to use the word ANTISEMITISM in my thoughts as it has become politically blackmailed refered only to jews without ncluding Palestinians which are mainly semitic people too) opinions but against any single comment which criticises this fascist-like expansion.

Muslims are beaten, tortured and jailed because they "use towels in their heads" and it's "very probable" they are full-time terrorists and now the Prophet Mohammed too. Guantanamo tortures are the same images of the Nazi camps and nothing happens. We have to respect those Danish illustrators freedom of speech misuse. Muslims have no right to indemnizations as their increasing birth rate becomes a danger for "our" Christian societies.

Of course, if one dares to make a nazi-like cartoon of jews (or worst yet, of their god) as some German illustrators did in the 30's we'd get the label of (YEAH, YOU GUESSED ) ANTISEMITE!!!   ANTISEMITE!!! . I think it was very irresponsible not just the actions of the Danish iilustrators but the tendency to divert attention and focus on the murder fatwa. I don't support that fatwa but it's so curious that the inital irresponsible action of two Danes suddenly became another example on how muslims are terrorists, according to those Danes.

Jews around the world unite when they think someone is attacking them (it includes their appartheid operations in Palestine). But if muslims unite, then some people think they are exaggerating.

A very sutile example on how the media runs: double moral.

Yaotl,

We have talked about host countries' rights (such as freedom of speech they cherish) before, so let me just add that while the first of your comments above did strike me as making sense, I still don't agree with the fatwa in question for reasons that are different from yours and that have to do with the same freedom I defended in Post #56045 and Post #57784. There (but also in this thread in Post #72004), it was Jesus's figure that was at stake and even though He was not ridiculed, there was the same uproar about blasphemy as among the Danish Muslims in the case at hand. I found that uproar totally reactionary. (I thought you would like this Marxist term )

Jacek