I opened today’s Standard Times to see – not in the opinion section but in the news – a piece entitled “Attack on Free Speech.” The article refers to the killing of a filmmaker and the attempted murder of another at what the AP called a “free speech” event. The Associated Press boldly jumped from journalism to propaganda when it neglected to inform readers of details of this supposed “free speech” event.
The victim, 55 year-old filmmaker Finn Norgaard, like most attendees, was probably there just to see what it was all about. Norgaard was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was an inexcusable murder that could have happened to any curious person who went to see what all the fuss over insulting cartoons was about.
The “free speech” event was organized by Helle Merete Brix, the author of numerous books and articles critical of Islam and Muslims. Sort of a Danish Pamela Geller, Brix has made a career of being a professional Islamophobe. In one of her books, “I krigens hus” (“In the house of war”) she maintains that Islam has colonized the West – despite historical proof of the opposite. Norwegian social anthropologist Sindre Bangstad identifies Brix as one of Denmark’s most rabid Islamophobes and notes her influence on mass-murderer Anders Breivik.
Niels Ivar Larsen was a widely-quoted witness to the attack. Larsen is a well-known writer and translator who has called for forcing mixed sexes at mosques and mandating female imams. There is no evidence Larsen has similarly called for a female pope or demanded that Orthodox Jews tear down their mechitzas or ordain female rabbis. It’s fair to say, like Larsen, the audience was largely fixated on expelling Muslims from Europe – not a group of people like, say, James Risen. Risen’s predicament really is about free speech.
The intended victim, Lars Vilks, is a Swedish conceptual artist who, in a dispute with Sweden over two large sculptures, declared the area around them to be a micro-nation he named Ladonia. Between 2007 and 2010 “Sovereign Citizen” Vilks became notorious for creating films of Muhammad, first depicted as a dog, then visualized in a gay bar, employing other devices designed for one purpose only – to insult and marginalize Muslims.
It was at the appropriately-named Krudttønden (Danish for “powder keg”) cultural center in Copenhagen that Brix and Vilks staged their provocation. I use this word because, if words are to have any meaning at all, it is dishonest to claim it had anything to do with “free speech” or an exchange of ideas. They literally wanted to light a match in a powder keg. And they succeeded at the cost of a human life.
What happens if you insult Pope Francis’ mother? The pontiff has already told you. He’ll punch you out. While it is reasonable to lay blame for violence at the feet of a perpetrator, provocations designed to produce violence make provocateurs part of the crime. “Incitement to riot,” for example.
So were these racists, xenophobes, and sovereign citizens really pursuing “free speech” – or were they poking not only Muslims but the rest of civil society in the eye?
If exhibiting hate toward minorities is how a society exercises “free speech” (while actual free speech is limited for “security reasons”) Western democracy is built on an extremely shaky foundation.
This was published in the Standard Times on February 19, 2015
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/article/20150219/opinion/150219344
Comments are closed.