> PRESS RELEASE | FEBRUARY 2006
Facts About the Cartoon Crisis - and How to End It
Rune Engelbreth Larsen, Carsten & Malene Fenger-Grøndahl 
Three Danish writers with a firsthand knowledge of and good relations to Muslims in Denmark states some forgotten facts about the crisis initiated by the Muhammed-cartoons in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten - and suggest how to end the crisis:
The cartoons depicting Muhammed used by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten was the culmination of years of scorn against Muslims, something which has unfortunately been widespread during the last ten years of political debate in Denmark.
For the same reason the international reputation of Denmark has been rapidly declining for a number of years, not just with the Islamic countries, but with a lot of other countries in the rest of the world too. Therefore Jyllands-Posten's cartoons are merely fanning a fire whose embers have been smoldering for years.
Freedom of speech is not strengthened by being abused for the cause of political propaganda against a religious minority, as has happened with this provocation, and as happens time and again through the generalizations and demeaning language which especially the Danish Peoples' Party [Dansk Folkeparti] and a number of their followers have used against Muslims.
For these reasons we understand the anger and frustration of Muslims, and we therefore also believe it is the culmination of several years of marginalization in this country.
The drawings are now spreading through the internet and through European media, sometimes in defense of freedom of speech, sometimes with propagandistic motivations, but what is done is done, and now the task is that of bridging the gap rather than expanding it. We have to untie this Gordian knot in the country where it originated: in Denmark.
We will therefore encourage two specific initiatives which would send the message to the Danish society as well as the rest of the world that we wish to relax the tension of this situation:
1) The Danish Islamic organisation, WAKF [Islamisk Trossamfund] are to hold an international press-conference, officially apologizing for having propagated false information and saying one thing to the Danish media and another thing to the Arabic media.
2) Jyllands-Posten shows some largesse, sincerely apologizing for having used the aforementioned cartoons of Muhammed.
The current statement by Jyllands-Posten apologizing for "indisputably" having offended many Muslims shows a very belated acknowledgment but at the same time is not a sincere apology. You cannot step on someone's foot, then afterwards just say you're sorry for him "indisputably" getting a sore foot, while at the same time denying to apologize for having stepped on his foot in the first place. This is not an apology in any sense of the word.
This kind of easily unravelled hoodwinking is just further fanning the fire which has raged for days, only benefitting those seeking the confrontation in this case: The Danish Peoples' Party and the anti-islamic extremists of the far-right, as well as the radical islamists and the dictatorial and hypocritical regimes of the Middle-East, now escalating the problems further.
The newspaper therefore must sincerly apologize. Freedom of speech can be used for this too. As you can both be in favor of the right to vote, and subsequently regret the specific vote you cast, you can be in favor of freedom of speech and later regret what you have said, written or drawn as well - and sincerely apologize.
These initiatives should be the first steps signalling a change of direction and helping to alleviate the reputation of Denmark. We hope Denmark by undertaking this humanistic step moves in the direction of dialogue, in due time perhaps entering the role of international troubleshooter instead of contributing to yet more conflicts.
Rune Engelbreth Larsen, Carsten Fenger-Grøn & Malene Grøndahl
February 2, 2006
