Thursday, February 9, 2006
'Don't Publish' - SA leaders back Muslims on cartoons
An interdict obtained in the Johannesburg High Court on Friday night prevented Inde-pendent Newspapers, John-com Media (publishers of the Sunday Times) and the Newspaper Printing Company from publishing the controversial cartoons.
Zubair Bayat, secretary general of the Jamiat-ul Ulama (Council of Muslim Theologians) in KwaZulu-Natal, said that the interdict had been obtained by the Jamiat-ul Ulama of Transvaal after newspapers had refused to give an undertaking that they would not publish the cartoons.
"It's blasphemy whether it is Mohammed, Jesus or a figure of any other religion depicted that way," said Rev Cyril Pillay, spokesman for the Global Network of Christian Leaders.
Pillay said that while he appreciated that the press should have freedom, it should not be allowed to desecrate other religions.
"Religious tolerance is of paramount importance, especially in a democracy. Muslims were offended by this cartoon so I can understand and appreciate their stance," he said.
Rabbi Hillel Avidan, of the Temple David synagogue in Overport, said he had not seen the cartoons but, from what he had heard of them, they were "a terrible insult to Muslims"...
...Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon, speaking in Tongaat this weekend, said: "The concept of prior censorship is very dangerous.
"It is wrong to blaspheme a figure like Mohammed, but it is not the right thing to ban a publication. Free speech is very important," he said.
It's also a lot more fragile in some places than in others.
Update: Michelle Malkin has a depressing round-up on the world-wide censorship that's been occurring: THE WAR ON THE FREE PRESS
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Censored in South Africa - Updated.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.solomonia.com/cgi-bin/mt4/mt-renamedtb.cgi/5647
.
Leave a comment to: Censored in South Africa - Updated
Subscribe to This Thread Without Leaving a Comment
Comment Info and Policy:
1) You must have Javascript enabled in your browser in order to comment (blame the spammers). If you don't know what that is, you're probably fine.
2) HTML is on, so basic html should work. Raw links will be made auto-clickable, too, so even if you don't know html you can just paste in the link and it should work fine. Keep the "http://" in it.
3) Comments are generally unmoderated, which means I don't necessarily agree with the tone and tenor of everything posted. In fact, sometimes people post things they don't really mean just to make other people look bad. The internet is an anonymous place for the most part. That said...
4) I welcome you to post here. I'd love to have your input, agree, disagree or just offer a different data point, really. If I didn't want any participation, I'd turn off comments. Be aware, however, that this blog and the comments section exist for my entertainment. Therefore, I reserve ALL RIGHTS here, including the right to remove any or all comments on nothing more than a whim. Please don't even bother complaining. I'm the one providing the space and the free news and thought buffet. I don't owe anyone anything.
Anyone who posts here will be treated as my guest. That means I'm happy to be polite as a default, but if anyone is rude to the host they'll be unceremoniously shown the door.
It may pay to recall a famous line from the Tom Selleck magnum opus, Mr. Baseball: "Jack-san, you want Yoji's advice about the babes, you come to Yoji with respect."
5) Enjoy your stay!