Author Topic: Fanatics try to murder cartoonist. He remains defiant. Free speech loses again.  (Read 861 times)

Fury

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Vilks: "I'm ready to go up again. This must be carried through. You cannot allow it to be stopped."

As a matter of principle, Uppsala University should give him the opportunity to finish his lecture, unedited. Otherwise, it is precisely the case that "what you get is a mob deciding what can be discussed at the university."

An update on this story. "Muhammad cartoonist defiant after attack," by Karl Ritter for the Associated Press, May 12:

STOCKHOLM -- A Swedish artist whose drawing of the Prophet Muhammad offended Muslims said Wednesday he hopes to get another chance to deliver a lecture on free-speech that was interrupted by violent protests.

But officials at Uppsala University said they doubted they would invite Lars Vilks again after police used pepper spray and batons to help him escape a furious crowd Tuesday.

"It's nothing that we're discussing right now, but it's not very likely given how it turned out here," university spokeswoman Anneli Vaara said.

While Vilks escaped the incident with broken glasses and a degree of shock, he said it raised concerns about the freedom of expression at Sweden's oldest and most prestigious institute of higher learning.

"What you get is a mob deciding what can be discussed at the university," Vilks told The Associated Press, adding he was ready to repeat the lecture if re-invited.

"I'm ready to go up again," he said. "This must be carried through. You cannot allow it to be stopped."

The 53-year-old artist has faced numerous threats over his 2007 sketch of Muhammad with a dog's body. Earlier this year U.S. investigators said he was the target of an alleged murder plot involving Colleen LaRose, an American woman who dubbed herself "Jihad Jane," and who now faces life in prison. She has pleaded not guilty.
Witnesses said the violence broke out a few minutes into Vilks' lecture about the limits of artistic freedom, when he showed a film by an Iranian artist about Islam and homosexuality. A young man leaped from his front-row seat and tried to attack Vilks, police and the artist said.

Vilks initially believed he was head-butted by the man, but said he later understood he had collided with plainclothes police officers who intercepted the attacker and then briskly evacuated Vilks from the room.

"This was the first time I've experienced a physical assault," Vilks said. "It was a bit of a shock."

A video of the incident showed agitated police officers clashing with protesters at the front of the lecture hall. A female police officer used pepper spray to subdue a young man, and another youngster was wrestled
to the ground. Some protesters were shouting "God is great" in Arabic.

Uppsala police spokesman Jonas Eronen said two officers sustained minor injuries.

The attacker was detained on suspicion of attempted assault but was later released, he said. Two others -- a man and a woman -- were also released after questioning and could face charges of using violence against police. All suspects were in their late teens, Eronen said.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gfyTngzJoXI5VLnRYFKryLwRumugD9FLAVIO2

So now the university is bowing down to pressure from fanatical Muslims and again censoring free speech. The West continues to empower these fanatics by showing them that violence and oppression can solve your problems.

kcballer

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The university should hand the image out and plaster it over ever wall they can find.
Abandon every hope...

Fury

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How about that: Vilks showed "offensive pictures of Christian symbols" before Muhammad video, but who attacked him?


Funny, that. No Christians charged at Vilks, or recited the Gloria Patri or anything similar as as all hell broke loose in the lecture hall. "Cartoonist Lars Vilks attacked for showing Prophet Mohammed in gay film," by Patrik Jonsson for the May 13 (thanks to Awake):

Swedish cartoon artist Lars Vilks, who became the target of an alleged international murder plot for his 2007 cartoons of Mohammed as a dog, again angered Muslims Tuesday by showing an Iranian film that depicts the Prophet entering a gay bar.

When Mr. Vilks showed a scene from the film at Uppsala University in Sweden, a protester charged the dais and hit him, breaking his glasses. Police were forced to detain or pepper-spray some unruly members of the crowd as other protesters yelled "Allahu Akbar" - "God is great."

For Mr. Vilks, who has booby-trapped his own house and says he sleeps with an ax beside his bed, the right to unfettered speech - regardless of whether it offends Muslims - is a point of principle. "This must be carried through. You cannot allow it to be stopped," he told the Associated Press, saying he wouldn't hesitate to give the address again.

But the university apparently disagrees. Officials said they would "not likely" invite Vilks again because of the incident. In some quarters, the university's reponse is adding to concerns that violence and threats from some members of the Muslim community are effectively muzzling free speech.

* Last month, Comedy Central edited a "South Park" episode showing Mohammed in a bear suit in response to veiled threats by a New York-based Muslim group.
* Earlier this year, the Metropolitan Museum of Art pulled a collection of art of Mohammed to avoid offending Muslims, who believe that the depiction of any of the prophets is a form of idolatry.
* And Brandeis University professor Jytte Klausen says that Yale University Press prohibited her from using several 2005 Danish newspaper caricatures depicting Mohammed with a bomb on his head in her book "The Cartoons That Shook the World."


"When it comes to depicting the Prophet, this has nothing to do with social issues or integration," says Professor Klausen. "This is about a political movement by sectarian groups where [depicting Mohammed] has now become a primary trigger for political contention. The university pretty much told [Vilks] to shut up and go talk somewhere else, and I find that reaction very dangerous and problematic. It means that the extremists have achieved what they wanted."

The Muslim viewpoint
Many Muslims would contest Klausen's assertions. Fundamental to Islam was the Prophet's turning of his followers away from the idol worship that characterized Arabia in the Seventh Century. For this reason, any depiction of any of the prophets - in either a positive or negative light - is strictly forbidden. [...]

That's still no reason to respond in a frenzy of rage at the drop of a hat.

Still, Vilks ventured out Tuesday for a lecture that was late getting started because of security procedures and searches. Before the attack, Vilks also showed what some might deem offensive pictures of Christian symbols. [...]

Such outbursts - or the threat of worse violence - have outraged some Western commentators. In response to the Comedy Central decision, Jon Stewart, host of the "Daily Show" on Comedy Central, showed clips of his show making fun of every religion.

Mr. Stewart asked why a group called Revolution Muslim was allowed to express radical views and pose veiled threats - insinuating that the creators of South Park could share the same fate as a Dutch filmmaker who was killed for what some Muslims thought was an unfair portrayal of Islam.

They were able to make such threats "because of how much we in this country value and protect freedom of expression," Stewart said.
"The implication was obvious," writes Mediaite's Steve Krakauer. "While this group gets to voice their extremist opinions, this cartoon comedy show gets censored."




They're winning their war on free speech. Got to love the fucktards in the West enabling their assault. How many more incidents like this will it take for people to wake up?

tonymctones

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the dude with the vest obviously had something in his pocket but didnt get a chance to use it I wonder what it was...

these ppl should be dealt with using extreme prejudice

Skip8282

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Go Vilks, keep on fighting and more power to you.  Muslims hate free speech - hell look at jtsunami on this board.

Soul Crusher

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BF - you will like this. 


Fury

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BF - you will like this.  



Hahahaha. I'm not a Savage fan but everything he said there was 100% spot on. Everything about that speech was well said.

In the year since Obama's pledge for a "new beginning" with the Islamic world, Muslims in America have, 1) Plotted to set off a car bomb in  Illinois, 2) Plotted to blow up a skyscraper in Dallas, 3) Attempted to detonate an airplane over Detroit, 4) Murdered an army recruiter in Arkansas,  5) Planted a car bomb in Times Square, and 6) Massacred thirteen people in Texas.



And with regards to the topic of this thread, surprise, someone tried to burn this guy's house down the other day. Wonder who?  ::)

Arsonists hit home of Swedish cartoonist
16:31 AEST Sun May 16 2010
By Thomas Borchert

Arsonists on Saturday attacked the home of Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, whose depiction of the Prophet Mohammed in 2007 sparked numerous threats against him.

The facade of the building was lightly damaged, a police spokeswoman told SR radio. Neither Vilks, nor anyone else was in at the time of the incident at the house in a secluded part of southern Sweden.

The artist became the subject of repeated threats in 2007, when he depicted the Muslim prophet as a dog.

Earlier this week, Vilks was attacked during a public lecture at Uppsala University. Vilks said a man leapt up from the front row of the lecture hall and head-butted him on Tuesday.

An Iraqi-based group said to be linked to al-Qaeda placed a bounty of $100,000 on his head in August 2007, after his caricature was published in a local newspaper.

Earlier this year, seven people were arrested in Ireland on suspicion of plotting against Vilks, while a woman was charged in the United States with conspiring to commit acts of terrorism in connection with an alleged plot to murder him.

In neighbouring Denmark in January, cartoonist Kurt Westergaard has also been targeted over his depiction of Mohammed wearing a bomb in his turban.

The 74-year-old alerted police when a Somali man, armed with an axe and knife, stormed into his house, shouting that he was seeking "revenge" and "blood".

Westergaard's cartoon was one of 12 images published in September 2005 by Danish daily Jyllands-Posten. The cartoons outraged many Muslims and sparked violent protests worldwide in early 2006.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/1052976/arsonists-hit-home-of-swedish-cartoonist

They're just misunderstood.  ???