Police in Halifax are investigating a complaint about a political cartoon that some members of a local Islamic group claim is a hate crime.What would Muslims have thought of Thomas Nast?
The cartoon, published April 18 in the Chronicle Herald newspaper, depicts a woman in a burka holding a sign that reads, "I want millions," and she says, "I can put it towards my husband's next training camp."
The cartoon by Bruce MacKinnon is a reference to Cheryfa MacAulay Jamal, a woman from Nova Scotia whose husband was arrested in 2006 in an anti-terrorism raid. Qayyum Abdul Jamal was released from jail after charges against him were stayed on April 15.
Zia Khan, director of the Centre for Islamic Development in Halifax, said the cartoon goes beyond what can be considered free speech.
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Dan Leger, the Herald's director of news content, said the cartoon does not take aim at all Muslims.
"The whole purpose of that cartoon was to comment on the outrageous demands of this individual for compensation long before any hearing into her case had ever been held," he said.
In an interview with the Herald before the cartoon ran, Jamal said she wanted to sue the federal government for what her family has gone through and told the reporter, "I want millions," Leger noted.
"[MacKinnon] depicted her exactly the way she looks and used her own words, and that's the genius of cartooning that you're able to do that," he said.
Leger said he first heard of the Islamic group's concerns when the newspaper was contacted by police.
His engravings chronicled the American scene from the Civil War period to the turn of the century. They highlighted every major national event and issue, the political process, elections, and scandal in the government. The American scene was ripe in subject matter for Nast. The country was fast becoming an industrial nation; railroads were spreading, factories were being built, and cities were fast becoming crowded with immigrants that supplied cheap labor. Scandal was everywhere. Elections were being rigged. One of his most famous political cartoon attacks was aimed at Boss Tweed.If Nast had turned his attention to caricaturizing and satirizing Muslims, they'd have started another cartoonifada.
(Crossposted yesterday to THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS)
1 comment:
I think behind a lot of this vicious hatred for cartoons by Muslims is that cartoons are one of the best ways of popping pretensions, of illustrating, literally, the absurdity of Islam. I also think that part of the traditional Muslim violence is there to kill the fact of Islam's absurdity. 'Islam is being made fun of!' is the bottom line and must be put down fast, before we all start laughing like those who mocked Mo before he killed the laughter with his sword.
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