Kurt Westergaard: ‘The most hated man in Mecca’

From The National Post.

The most hated man in Mecca

Meet the Danish cartoonist who set the world on fire

Adrian Humphreys, National Post Published: Saturday, October 03, 2009

In Pakistan, tens of thousands of protestors torched cinemas, music stores, fast food outlets and other perceived symbols of Western influence in response to the publication of cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad in Denmark. Arif Ali, AFP, Getty Images In Pakistan, tens of thousands of protestors torched cinemas, music stores, fast food outlets and other perceived symbols of Western influence in response to the publication of cartoons depicting the …

Despite a grey beard and heavy cane making him look every bit his 74 years, Kurt Westergaard dresses like a teenager: bright red cargo pants strapped up by a studded black belt and red suspenders over a black top, capped by a flowing red scarf and black Stetson.

His duo-chromatic clothing is perhaps the least shocking part of his appearance, however.

As the Danish man who drew the notorious cartoon of the Islamic prophet Muhammad with a lit bomb wrapped in his turban — considered the most inflammatory of 12 cartoons published four years ago this week that ignited a deadly furor — it is the absence of security and the carefree way he stands outside smoking that is most striking.

Beside him, a friend casually carries a large framed reproduction of the cartoon, as if to dispel any mystery about who the flamboyantly dressed man might be. “It is very relaxing,” Mr. Westergaard says about being in Canada for the first time as a spattering of raindrops, rather than concerns over security, drives him indoors. “At home I live under police surveillance, protected by the Danish secret service. We lived in 10 different safe houses and drove 10 different cars.

“I live in a house now which is really a fortress, with steel doors, a panic room, reinforced glass in the windows, surveillance cameras and so on.”

That is the life of a man under threat, with a lucrative bounty on his head. With his fear now transformed into anger, Mr. Westergaard has emerged from his protective cocoon.

Rather than work to mitigate the offence he and fellow Danish artists caused to some fundamentalist Muslims, however, he remains unrepentant and unabashed.

“I don’t regret anything,” he says. Continue Reading →

Jonathan Kay at the National Post recieves his ‘Moetoon’

Kurt Westergaard is interviewed by the National Post’s Jonathan Kay on Friday Oct 2. Here is Jonathan (center) photographed with Kurt Westergaard and Lars Hedigaard receiving his signed ‘Moetoon’.On the left, Is Lars, president of the International Free Press Society.

John Lars Kurt

September 30 is International Free Press Day

Four years ago on September 30, 2005,  Jyllands-Posten published twelve drawings of Islam’s prophet Muhammed. To demonstrate that prohibition of any depiction of the prophet, as stipulated by sharia law would not trump Denmark’s freedom of the press, twelve cartoonists had their entries published.

Here they are:

File:Jyllands-Posten-pg3-article-in-Sept-30-2005-edition-of-KulturWeekend-entitled-Muhammeds-ansigt.png
Size of this preview: 424 × 599 pixels

Muslims around the world rioted in response. At least one hundred deaths were reported. The Danish embassies in Syria, Lebanon and Iran were torched. European buildings were stormed and the Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, and German flags were desecrated in Gaza City. Mahmoud al-Zahar of Hamas issued death threats. Critics of the cartoons described them as Islamophobic and racist, arguing they were blasphemous to Muslims and a manifestation of western imperialism. In 2008, slightly after two years of the initial publication, the cartoons were re-published. More riots ensued, complete with shouts of ” death to the cartoonist!”.

Meanwhile, thousands of illustrations of Muhammed have appeared in books by and for Muslims.

mohammedteaches
Persian or central Asian illustration showing Muhammed teaching.

mohammedgabriel
mohammedatmedina
Fourteenth-century Persian miniature
showing the Angel Gabriel speaking
to Muhammed.

Muhammed at Medina, from an
Arab or central Asian medieval-era
manuscript.
mohammedinmosque babymohammed

The Prophet Muhammed in a Mosque. Turkish, 16th Century, painting on paper. The artist depicted Muhammed in very long sleeves so as to avoid showing his hands, though his neck and hints of his features are visible. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Newly born Muhammad in his mother’s arms being shown to his grandfather and citizens of Mecca. From Turkish book painting (date unknown). University of California, San Diego.

——–

James Cohen, vice president of the Canadian desk, IFPS writes thoughtfully and succinctly on the declaration of September 30 as International Free Press Day:

“To further advance the cause of freedom of the press, the International Free Press Society takes the occasion of this first International Free Press Day to salute Kurt Westergaard, and to call, once again, for the repeal all blasphemy and hate speech laws that currently inhibit and restrict vital exchange and debate”.




Excellent video on selective enforcement on ‘hate speech laws’

This really is a must see video. Please spread it around

Danish party creates stir by asking for referendum on giant Iranian Mosque

H/T Steen: From Berlingske.dk

The following is a machine translation of a Danish article, to which I will attempt to smooth out the English. If any of our Danish readers wish to go to the original linked above and correct any errors on my part in the comments, I would be grateful.

Eeyore.

DF requires a referendum on mosques in Copenhagen. It is an inappropriate attempt to undermine religious freedom, says conservative mayor.

Wednesday 9th September 2009, 06:39

The Mayor of Copenhagen is shocked that the Danish People’s Party today have published advertisements in several dailies in which the party calls for a referendum on mosques in Copenhagen.

It happened after a majority of city hall, on August 27, agreed to have a draft prepared for a local plan for a mosque in Copenhagen’s northwest neighborhood.

Danish Mosque image sword roof ‘I do not care about the campaign. We have freedom of religion in Denmark, and if you try to put obstacles in the way of Muslims gathering in mosques, I think it undermines religious freedom, “he told Metro.

Also, the radical technology and environment mayor Klaus Bondam turn toward the ad. “The Danish People’s Party think they can get votes by runing smear campaign against Muslims in this town. I am sure that most in Copenhagen, as I will, shake their heads and flip past the ads knowing that the DPP based their policies on xenophobia and fear of the constitutional freedom of religion.”

Several legal experts told Metro that there are no legal problems to implement a referendum on mosques in Copenhagen.

Mayor Mogens Lønborg believe that the ad showing the blue mosque in Istanbul with a manipulated image of a sword at the dome, is inappropriate.

Bloody Cartoons. Excellent couragious documentary about the Danish Cartoons and the riots that followed.

Please pay close attention as you watch this. There is one scene that is horribly under emphasized. The scene where the ‘Grand Imam of Copenhagen’ actually commissioned his own cartoons to show the Arab League to increase any outrage and response.

Link: Bloody Cartoons.avi

Police evict illegal Iraqis from church basement in Denmark. Video:

Below the video and fold I will post a fair amount of information and links to this event. But you may also learn in the video itself why the Islamic world never really developed any serious piano virtuosos.

First, the video:

Continue Reading →

More ‘no go zones’ in Europe and reckless use of force.

First, from The Gates of Vienna, a story of reckless violence followed by pathetic dhimmitude in Holland. I have been procrastinating on posting this literally all day as I saw it early, but it is so depressing.

Friday, August 28, 2009

Trouble at the Beach

by Baron Bodissey

Our expatriate Dutch correspondent H. Numan files a brief report on la crise du jour in the Netherlands:

We have a major political crisis in development:

Shooting at Hoek van HollandLast weekend a big free dance festival was organized in Hook of Holland (a beach area that is part of Rotterdam). Suddenly a few men drew guns and opened fire. One person got hit and died. Others were injured.

The stinker? It was the police who opened fire!

Plainclothes officers felt threatened by hooligans who recognized them. That was the kick-off.

The mayor of Rotterdam, Mr. Ahmed Aboutaleb (the nice guy with two passports) immediately forbade this kind of public event in his town. Forever.

As panem et circenses are rather important for a socialist party, that doesn’t fly very well, to say the least. Continue Reading →

One Muslim family in Denmark wins ‘ethnic cleansing’ award

Here is some truly disgusting dhimmitude from Denmark.

From The Copenhagen Post with h/t to GAR

One family’s aggressive behaviour is forcing 23 other families out of an apartment block in Helsingør

A tiff between neighbours has turned into a horror movie for 23 families who face being moved out of an apartment building in Helsingør due to the aggressive behaviour of one other family.

Life has reportedly been hell for the 23 families since the family in question moved into Lejerbo housing association’s Unit 32 rental flats on Belvederevej last October.

The residents have allegedly faced harassment, violence and threats from the family on a daily basis.

The conflict peaked on Monday while the family accused of the rotten behaviour was entertaining relatives. Their children reportedly began throwing rocks and spitting at other families in the building’s playground area. When they were told to stop, their parents came down to the playground armed with knives and clubs.

A melee ensued and two residents were injured and taken to hospital, while one man was arrested.

Threats have since followed the incident, including the Lebanese family spray painting, ‘We’ve killed a man. Watch your step. Ha ha!’ on the sidewalk outside the building.

But instead of the aggressive family being forced to move out, Lejerbo housing association has instead volunteered to relocate the other families at no charge. The reason is that the one family cannot be evicted until the matter is settled through a court order.

Birgitte Wittendorff, head of Helsingør’s social services department, said the city did not have the power to negotiate solutions in household or neighbour disputes. But the city would step in and evict the family as soon as it had the legal means to do so.

The 23 families previously filed their case with the Tenant Complaints Board and the family was ‘evicted’ by the board – a decision that must be upheld in the court before it can be actualised.

In the meantime, many of the building’s residents were reportedly living in fear, especially those who testifying in the eviction case.

Lejerbo’s attorney said he was trying to get the case heard in the courts as soon as possible, but that could take weeks or even months.

The association’s Steffen Boel Jørgensen said it was ‘ridiculous that the 23 families had to move, but tenants were calling up and they had been forced out of their apartment to seek refuge with family and friends.

Muslim Europe: the transformation of a continent

This should come as little surprise to many, but is nevertheless an important read.

The Telegraph U.K.

Muslim Europe: the demographic time bomb transforming our continent

The EU is facing an era of vast social change, reports Adrian Michaels, and few politicians are taking notice

Adrian Michaels
Published: 11:11AM BST 08 Aug 2009

Muslims in Europe

Europe’s low white birth rate, coupled with faster multiplying migrants, will change fundamentally what we take to mean by European culture and society. Photo: AFP/GETTY
———————

Britain and the rest of the European Union are ignoring a demographic time bomb: a recent rush into the EU by migrants, including millions of Muslims, will change the continent beyond recognition over the next two decades, and almost no policy-makers are talking about it.

The numbers are startling. Only 3.2 per cent of Spain’s population was foreign-born in 1998. In 2007 it was 13.4 per cent. Europe’s Muslim population has more than doubled in the past 30 years and will have doubled again by 2015. In Brussels, the top seven baby boys’ names recently were Mohamed, Adam, Rayan, Ayoub, Mehdi, Amine and Hamza.

Europe’s low white birth rate, coupled with faster multiplying migrants, will change fundamentally what we take to mean by European culture and society. The altered population mix has far-reaching implications for education, housing, welfare, labour, the arts and everything in between. It could have a critical impact on foreign policy: a study was submitted to the US Air Force on how America’s relationship with Europe might evolve. Yet EU officials admit that these issues are not receiving the attention they deserve.

Jerome Vignon, the director for employment and social affairs at the European Commission, said that the focus of those running the EU had been on asylum seekers and the control of migration rather than the integration of those already in the bloc. “It has certainly been underestimated – there is a general rhetoric that social integration of migrants should be given as much importance as monitoring the inflow of migrants.” But, he said, the rhetoric had rarely led to policy.

The countries of the EU have long histories of welcoming migrants, but in recent years two significant trends have emerged. Migrants have come increasingly from outside developed economies, and they have come in accelerating numbers.

The growing Muslim population is of particular interest. This is not because Muslims are the only immigrants coming into the EU in large numbers; there are plenty of entrants from all points of the compass. But Muslims represent a particular set of issues beyond the fact that atrocities have been committed in the West in the name of Islam. Continue Reading →

Muslim Europe: the demographic time bomb transforming our continent

Telegraph News 

Muslim InvasionThe EU is facing an era of vast social change, reports Adrian Michaels, and few politicians are taking notice

Britain and the rest of the European Union are ignoring a demographic time bomb: a recent rush into the EU by migrants, including millions of Muslims, will change the continent beyond recognition over the next two decades, and almost no policy-makers are talking about it.

The numbers are startling. Only 3.2 per cent of Spain’s population was foreign-born in 1998. In 2007 it was 13.4 per cent. Europe’s Muslim population has more than doubled in the past 30 years and will have doubled again by 2015. In Brussels, the top seven baby boys’ names recently were Mohamed, Adam, Rayan, Ayoub, Mehdi, Amine and Hamza.

Europe’s low white birth rate, coupled with faster multiplying migrants, will change fundamentally what we take to mean by European culture and society. The altered population mix has far-reaching implications for education, housing, welfare, labour, the arts and everything in between. It could have a critical impact on foreign policy: a study was submitted to the US Air Force on how America’s relationship with Europe might evolve. Yet EU officials admit that these issues are not receiving the attention they deserve.

Jerome Vignon, the director for employment and social affairs at the European Commission, said that the focus of those running the EU had been on asylum seekers and the control of migration rather than the integration of those already in the bloc. “It has certainly been underestimated – there is a general rhetoric that social integration of migrants should be given as much importance as monitoring the inflow of migrants.” But, he said, the rhetoric had rarely led to policy.

The countries of the EU have long histories of welcoming migrants, but in recent years two significant trends have emerged. Migrants have come increasingly from outside developed economies, and they have come in accelerating numbers.

The growing Muslim population is of particular interest. This is not because Muslims are the only immigrants coming into the EU in large numbers; there are plenty of entrants from all points of the compass. But Muslims represent a particular set of issues beyond the fact that atrocities have been committed in the West in the name of Islam. Continue Reading →