This has been a season of
outraged faith. And it seems that both the actions that are creating new environments of tension and the reactions are here to stay. This article seeks to shed some reflections on four issues related to religion and freedom of expression in contemporary times that, in one way or the other, enraged the faithful.
The 14-minute YouTube trailer of the film Innocence of Muslims that sparked much controversy and outrage, including the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in which the American ambassador Chris Stevens was killed, was produced, as is now clear, by a serial fraudster. What else could be expected from a criminal? But what is also increasingly becoming clear is that the poorly made, third-rate offering was, most likely, not a ‘five million dollar project funded by a hundred Jewish donors’.
Recent news suggests that the filmmaker, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, the blasphemous mastermind behind the film, has been jailed for violating his terms of parole on eight charges. The judge cited a “lengthy pattern of deception” in his case, further adding that he “posed some danger to the community”. Nakoula was convicted in 2010 for bank fraud and identity theft and sentenced to 21 months in prison. He also faces a host of other legal issues including a lawsuit for fraud, unfair business practices and libel by the actress Cindy Lee Garcia who was misled into the film’s cast, being told that it was a film about a desert adventure. Garcia, after her first lawsuit was rejected, has filed a second, bigger lawsuit against YouTube too.
The second issue that erupted this season was closely identified as linked to the first one even though, perhaps, it needs to be analysed separately. Following the film controversy, the French magazine Charlie Hebdo published blasphemous caricatures of the Prophet (PBUH) and lately, the political satire magazine El Jueves in Spain has published an inciting, blasphemous cartoon too. The French government had urged the weekly not to print the cartoons and was forced to shut down its embassies and schools in 20 countries fearing violent reactions. These sad events clearly show that the issues over freedom of expression and speech are here to stay and the rift over these between the contemporary west and Muslim thought may continue to widen.
However, amongst the outrage, what went unnoticed was that, as an interesting BBC report “Charlie Hebdo row: Cartoons divide French press” tells us, this was the first time in France that a debate among the newspapers and intellectuals got spurred about whether it was the right decision by Charlie Hebdo to publish the caricatures or not. Even though it is too soon to say what will emerge out of the debate, yet it is important news nevertheless. It, perhaps, shows that some attitudes may be changing vis-à-vis the freedom of expression issue or its potential ‘limits’ in France. Somehow, very ironically, Gerard Biard, Editor-In-Chief of Charlie Hebdo called the film Innocence of Muslims a “silly movie.”
Talking about controversies related to films on religion, the case of Paradise: Faith, by the Austrian director Ulrich Seidl, also needs to be reflected upon. The movie caused a backlash against the director in the Italian media after several viewers found it to be a ‘blasphemous film’. Paradise: Faith is a very disturbing offering too. Being part of a trilogy, part one of which, named Paradise: Love, was exhibited at the Cannes Film Festival in May this year. Part two revolves around the themes of Catholic Christianity and, what the director calls, the “repression of sexuality”, featuring the life of a devout Catholic woman unhappily married to a handicapped Muslim and including intensely controversial scenes related to the Christian Cross and the body. Ironically, the film won a Special Jury Prize at the 69th Venice film held recently. The director states that after exhibiting the film and facing the controversy, he is “still waiting for a statement from the Vatican.”
Meanwhile in Russia, religion, in fact, all matters ranging from the reality of sin to the concept of prayer came under intense debate when political tensions and religious fervour combined in the trial of the music band Pussy Riot. The band, a feminist punk rock group, created uproar back in February when it held a “Punk prayer” as a protest against the re-election of President Vladimir Putin in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, singing and appealing to the Virgin Mary “Mother of God drive Putin away!” Coming into direct confrontation with both the Putin administration and the Russian Orthodox Church, which they consider to be Putin’s ally, three members of the band were sentenced to two years in a penal colony in August, on charges of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred, causing much anger in their ‘faithful’ fans.
All the above episodes, despite whatever moral and intellectual stance we may have, clearly show that we are increasingly living in a world where the definitions and meanings surrounding religion and, by extension, its place, sanctity, role and importance are in much flux. Not only are these issues religious, in the sense of the term, but also have deep political, legal, historical, socio-cultural, artistic and economic dimensions. In the debate over what constitutes ‘insensitivity’, there are multiple, often contradictory, standards and intricate interpretations of ‘sensibilities’.
Amidst the fury related to the blasphemous film, some important news stories were overlooked. The German government has barred Terry Jones from entering the country where he was invited by a far-right group that seeks to air the Innocence of Muslims film in the name of “freedom of art and opinion.”
For Muslims and multiculturalism in Europe there was another news story too that could not get much limelight; the placement of a Pakistani-Norwegian Muslim, Hadia Tajik, just 29 years of age, as the minister for culture in Norway. Following the shocking events when Anders Breivik bombed Oslo and shot 69 young Norwegians in July 2011, perpetrating violence in the name of Christianity to resist what he called the “ongoing Islamic colonisation of Europe”, the appointment of Ms Tajik is at least a sign that Muslims should not feel like potential ‘outsiders’ in Norway. While conservative, far-right quarters in Norway consider this to be a political move by the ruling Labour Party to gather non-western immigrant votes, it would be deeply interesting to see how and whether the Muslim community views this as an opportunity for them for better political, and cultural, representation or not.
The writer teaches Sociology at the University College Lahore (UCL). He can be reached at [email protected]