Buy Danish!
Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2006 8:28 am
http://hnn.us/blogs/entries/21097.html
The Backstory:
Saudi ambassador to Denmark recalled in protest against Copenhagen’s position on offensive cartoons.
By Slim Allagui - COPENHAGEN
Denmark on Thursday faced rising political and economic pressure from Muslim countries angered by the publication last year of cartoons deemed offensive to Muslims.
The Saudi ambassador to Copenhagen was on Thursday recalled to Riyadh over the row, while Danish food giant Arla Foods said it was being targeted by a boycott in Saudi Arabia.
Denmark's ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Hans Klingenberg, told the online edition of the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten that "there is a risk that we in Denmark have underestimated the indignation and anger that these cartoons have caused in the Muslim world".
Twelve cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed, published in Jyllands-Posten last September and reprinted in a Norwegian magazine earlier this month, have sparked an uproar in the Muslim world since images of the prophet are considered blasphemous.
The cartoons showed Mohammed in different settings. In one of the drawings, he appeared with a turban shaped like a bomb strapped to his head.
Officials in Muslim countries and various religious bodies have voiced their indignation over the cartoons, while the editors of the newspapers have retorted they were simply exerting their freedom of expression.
Saudi ambassador to Denmark Mohammed al-Hujailan was recalled in protest against "the position of the Danish government regarding a matter that has offended Islam and Muslims," a Saudi foreign ministry official said.
Klingenberg said he feared further repercussions.
"We have to take this (boycott) threat seriously, and remain attentive so that this boycott does not spread to other Muslim countries," Klingenberg said.
Arla Foods is Europe's second-largest dairy company and the leading Danish exporter to Saudi Arabia, where it sells an estimated two billion kroner (268 million euros, 328 million dollars) worth of products every year.
"More and more supermarkets are taking our products off their shelves and don't want fresh supplies because consumers no longer want to buy our brand," Arla Foods spokesman Louis Honore said.
"The situation is very serious."
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen in October refused to agree to a meeting requested by 11 ambassadors of Muslim nations to discuss the controversy.
Rasmussen upheld freedom of expression as a fundamental human right but condemned any action "which tries to demonise certain groups due to their religious or ethnic background".
Arab foreign ministers in December lashed out at Copenhagen, expressing "surprise and indignation" at its reaction.
Meanwhile in Norway, where the cartoons were recently re-printed, the government appeared to take a more conciliatory approach.
The foreign ministry on Thursday asked its diplomats posted in Muslim countries to express their "regrets" to their host governments about the re-printing of the cartoons.
"The publication of the cartoons has provoked strong reactions in countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran," ministry spokeswoman Anne Lene Dale Sandsten said. "We understand that feelings may have been hurt."
The ministry sent a text to its embassies to help diplomats formulate the Norwegian position. "The cartoons published in Christian magazine Magazinet are not helpful for the necessary bridge-building between people with different religious and ethnic backgrounds. Instead, they contribute to suspicion and a superfluous conflict," said the text, published in the Norwegian press.
However, Norway attached great importance to the freedom of expression, it said.
The Backstory:
Saudi ambassador to Denmark recalled in protest against Copenhagen’s position on offensive cartoons.
By Slim Allagui - COPENHAGEN
Denmark on Thursday faced rising political and economic pressure from Muslim countries angered by the publication last year of cartoons deemed offensive to Muslims.
The Saudi ambassador to Copenhagen was on Thursday recalled to Riyadh over the row, while Danish food giant Arla Foods said it was being targeted by a boycott in Saudi Arabia.
Denmark's ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Hans Klingenberg, told the online edition of the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten that "there is a risk that we in Denmark have underestimated the indignation and anger that these cartoons have caused in the Muslim world".
Twelve cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed, published in Jyllands-Posten last September and reprinted in a Norwegian magazine earlier this month, have sparked an uproar in the Muslim world since images of the prophet are considered blasphemous.
The cartoons showed Mohammed in different settings. In one of the drawings, he appeared with a turban shaped like a bomb strapped to his head.
Officials in Muslim countries and various religious bodies have voiced their indignation over the cartoons, while the editors of the newspapers have retorted they were simply exerting their freedom of expression.
Saudi ambassador to Denmark Mohammed al-Hujailan was recalled in protest against "the position of the Danish government regarding a matter that has offended Islam and Muslims," a Saudi foreign ministry official said.
Klingenberg said he feared further repercussions.
"We have to take this (boycott) threat seriously, and remain attentive so that this boycott does not spread to other Muslim countries," Klingenberg said.
Arla Foods is Europe's second-largest dairy company and the leading Danish exporter to Saudi Arabia, where it sells an estimated two billion kroner (268 million euros, 328 million dollars) worth of products every year.
"More and more supermarkets are taking our products off their shelves and don't want fresh supplies because consumers no longer want to buy our brand," Arla Foods spokesman Louis Honore said.
"The situation is very serious."
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen in October refused to agree to a meeting requested by 11 ambassadors of Muslim nations to discuss the controversy.
Rasmussen upheld freedom of expression as a fundamental human right but condemned any action "which tries to demonise certain groups due to their religious or ethnic background".
Arab foreign ministers in December lashed out at Copenhagen, expressing "surprise and indignation" at its reaction.
Meanwhile in Norway, where the cartoons were recently re-printed, the government appeared to take a more conciliatory approach.
The foreign ministry on Thursday asked its diplomats posted in Muslim countries to express their "regrets" to their host governments about the re-printing of the cartoons.
"The publication of the cartoons has provoked strong reactions in countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran," ministry spokeswoman Anne Lene Dale Sandsten said. "We understand that feelings may have been hurt."
The ministry sent a text to its embassies to help diplomats formulate the Norwegian position. "The cartoons published in Christian magazine Magazinet are not helpful for the necessary bridge-building between people with different religious and ethnic backgrounds. Instead, they contribute to suspicion and a superfluous conflict," said the text, published in the Norwegian press.
However, Norway attached great importance to the freedom of expression, it said.