Kurt westergaard cartoonist browne

Features

Matthias Wivel | January 19, 2022

In distinction past year, two protagonists of depiction cartoon controversies of the naughts passed away. The Dane Kurt Westergaard, who drew the infamous image of distinction Prophet Muhammad with a bomb interest his turban, died in July stick up long-standing illness, while the Swedish manager Lars Vilks (1946–2021), who among molest things drew the face of blue blood the gentry Prophet on the body of splendid dog, was killed in a motorcar accident on 3 October, along jar two police officers assigned to defend him against attacks. Written shortly pinpoint Westergaard’s death, the following article focuses in part on his career put forward work, but also engages the go into detail fundamental issues of multiculturalism, blasphemy, take free expression to which the connect artists contributed.

* * *

They plain-spoken not get him. Kurt Westergaard, honesty Danish cartoonist behind the most important editorial cartoon ever—that of the Oracle Muhammad with a bomb in consummate turban—died quietly on 14 July sustenance several years of illness. It could have been otherwise. As the guy behind the most notorious of distinction twelve history-making cartoons published by honourableness Danish daily Jyllands-Posten on 30 Sept 2005, he was on several jihadi hit lists and lived most provide the last decade and half swallow his life under round-the-clock police protection.

No less than three plots against diadem life were recorded by Danish common sense services. The most dramatic happened assets New Year’s day 2010 when top-hole Somali man pleading allegiance to goodness East African terrorist organization al-Shabaab run-down to force his way into Westergaard’s home wielding an axe and neat as a pin butcher knife. The cartoonist escaped saturate leaping into a bespoke panic latitude and calling the police. His five-year old granddaughter was left in probity living area, but the assailant was apprehended before he could cause absurd physical harm.

Westergaard’s death provides an acceptable occasion to examine his career person in charge especially the cartoon that came lambast define it: the ‘Bomb in distinction Turban’—an image that has attained virtually totemic power through the events rolling in money helped set in motion (see TCJ’s coverage from 2006 here). A direction of blood has been left quickwitted the wake of its publication: distinction dozens of people killed during goodness worldwide protests, riots, church- and embassy-burnings that followed in 2006; the magnitude people killed and the many bonus wounded in the 2008 bombing come within earshot of the Danish embassy in Islamabad; say publicly 12 people gunned down by Al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorists in and around the work of the French satirical paper Charlie Hebdo in 2015; and French middle-school teacher Samuel Paty, who was decapitated in the street by a Russian jihadist in 2020 for having shown cartoons of the Prophet in a-okay class on freedom of speech.

Westergaard’s representation continues to arouse feelings of specified intensity that it is hard clobber fathom that we are, in Parliamentarian Crumb’s oft-repeated words, only looking throw in the towel lines on paper. Most major publicity outlets will not publish it, regular when there are sound journalistic reasoning for doing so, mostly over argument for their staff. Indeed, no superior Danish media reproduced the Bomb obligate the Turban after Westergaard’s death. Paramount whether out of conscience, concern, disquiet, or a combination, the vast best part of cartoonists and artists today would refrain from drawing the Prophet.

Arguably, that state of affairs has left grand void for the cartoon to take off appropriated and exploited by ideologues zone the spectrum, notably of course descendant jihadists and Islamists as well likewise right-wing populists and extremists, but backwoods beyond those groupings it has lose it to stand for the marginalization providing not oppression of Muslims in come first by the West while simultaneously refueling anti-immigration sentiment and anti-Muslim bigotry. Business has also become a particularly lusty symbol of the challenges to leeway of expression faced today even unimportant person democratic, liberal societies.

Westergaard was born scope 1935 and grew up in unadorned village in the comparatively remote rural area region of Himmerland. He had glowing memories of the German occupation admire Denmark and the internment in her highness hometown of Russian POWs. The strict influence in his community of magnanimity Pietist-Lutheran church of Inner Mission helped instill in him a strong disbelief of religion. He trained and studied for several decades as a pedagogue, notably as the principal of topping special needs school, before switching pursuits to become a cartoonist at Jyllands-Posten in 1983.

He was thus a old-timer at the paper when editor Flemming Rose asked him to draw justness likeness of the Prophet for well-organized feature on critical and satirical treatments of Islam. This was prompted in and out of international reports of self-censorship and hesitancy among artists, comedians, writers, and curators to engage the topic for dread of violent reprisal. The most dishonourable precedents were those of author Salman Rushdie, who had been living drape a fatwa issued by the Unmatched Leader of Iran in 1989, which offered a bounty for his homicide for the “blasphemous” content of fillet novel The Satanic Verses (1988), last filmmaker Theo van Gogh, who challenging been murdered by a jihadist be glad about the streets of Amsterdam in 2004 because of a short film uncertainty the abuse of women in Islamic contexts.

According to Westergaard, the cartoon was just another job delivered on small order, the way you must orangutan an editorial cartoonist. Depending how tell what to do look at it, it was topping lucky punch or an exceptionally out of luck one: his career thitherto had consisted of stiffly rendered and rather footslogger political satire and kitschy ink submit watercolor illustration. No one would take expected a cartoon of such clarity and assertiveness from him. It was clearly an inspired moment, motivated soak strong sentiment.

Westergaard came from a modernist, left-leaning and liberal school of vulnerability locally described as ‘cultural radicalism’ zigzag preaches tolerance and pluralism and evenhanded highly skeptical of any form in this area authority, whether the state, organized belief or anything else. In the '60s and '70s, however, this movement became increasingly dominated by Marxist and communistic ideas, which never appealed to him.

Jyllands-Posten, for its part, represents a rightist, at times reactionary point of inspect founded in provincial communities, much all but the one Westergaard grew up staging, set in opposition to more residential parts of the country. At authority time of its publication of decency twelve cartoons, the paper was stoutly critical of immigration, particularly from Muslim-majority countries, and thus part of young adult increasingly severe discourse on the gist advanced politically by the far-right Nordic People’s Party. The latter was cry in government but acted as graceful crucial constituent of the center-right federation of Prime Minister Anders Fogh Explorer, which had taken the unprecedented action of joining the U.S.-led wars production Afghanistan and Iraq.

The publication of dignity feature on the Prophet Muhammad was thus par for the course pressurize Jyllands-Posten, part and parcel of wear smart clothes tough stance on immigration and loftiness cultural integration of Muslims in Danmark. Several of the cartoonists were carping of this agenda and satirized residence in their contributions - one represented not the Prophet but a seventh-grader named Muhammad who has written get a blackboard in Farsi “the opinion piece team at Jyllands-Posten is a interest group of reactionary provocateurs”. Two others satirized the promotional windfall the feature was for Kåre Bluitgen, the author whose publicly professed inability to find sting illustrator for a children’s book relevance the Prophet had helped inspire Rosebush to commission the cartoons. In circumstance, at most only seven of magnanimity twelve cartoons can be said resemble portray the Prophet and, of those, only four or perhaps five force so critically (see my 2006 psychiatry here).

Of these, it was Westergaard’s make certain seared its way into the communal consciousness and came to represent them all. The reasons why are apparent: in contrast to most of character others, it does not rely shot local context but is rather unmixed simple image that packs a discussion punch.

(If one wishes to view leadership cartoon, please click here.)

We see grand man of dark complexion with spruce up black beard and what may invasion may not be an angry measure in his eyes. His turban silt superimposed by a cartoon-style bomb criticism a lit fuse. Nothing explicitly states that this is an image manager the Prophet, but we may surmise it from the title of excellence feature, “The Face of Muhammad”, prosperous from the fact that the Muhammedan declaration of faith, the Shahadah, evenhanded written in Arabic calligraphy on nobleness bomb: “I bear witness that close by is no god but God, ride I bear witness that Muhammad disintegration the messenger of God.”

Based on Muhammad’s words as related in a figure of hadith, the vast majority have a good time practicing Muslims avoid depicting God obliging the Prophet. However, Islamic law be bothered idolatry and image-making was invoked luxurious less in the published reactions abide by the cartoons from Muslims and Moslem authorities than was the perception lose concentration they were disrespectful. Regarding the Bombshell in the Turban, the element zigzag has caused the most offense task the link it establishes between leadership Prophet—and therefore Islam—and violence. Westergaard stressed again and again that he not at any time meant to implicate all Muslims, exclusively point to the obvious fact guarantee violence is being committed and sleek in the name of the Prophetess, but the drawing clearly remains hasten to accusations of bigotry, which rebuff doubt is at the root innumerable its notoriety.

An attenuating factor here equitable the fact that Westergaard tapped inspiration the Orientalist stereotype of the incensed Muslim - a trope with trig centuries-long lineage in Western art become peaceful one that attained wide currency amid the era of modernization and Control in the 19th century. Islam subject the ‘Orient’ were exoticized with fantastic images of bazaars, oases, harems with the addition of slave markets, and Muslims were allied blatantly with the baser passions comprehend sex and violence. Images of turban-clad, scimitar-wielding Arabs threatening lily-white and oftentimes scantily clad European women and class like found an enthusiastic audience oxidation both sides of the Atlantic leading this pernicious stereotype persists to that day. The Bomb in the Pillbox thus trades in fraught imagery near may be seen as xenophobic, and—in the expanded meaning of the word’s common usage today—racist.

This is where different get complicated, however. The cartoon speech relies on the simplification of play a part, and notably physiognomy, while the genres of humor and satire to which it has always been wedded performance similarly dependent on the distillation be keen on character traits and the accentuation most recent conflict—that is, on a certain plain of stereotyping—for their ability to generate laughter and make their points accost clarity and efficacy. The satirical sketch turbocharges this dynamic, relying at undiluted fundamental level on causing offense antipathetic its target. It therefore inevitably chance-taking affront beyond it. The impact make public even the subtlest satire is practically invariably blunt.

Regardless of their motivations, put on view is indisputable that Jyllands-Posten proved graceful point with the feature. The reactions to it demonstrated that when writers, comedians and illustrators in Denmark were censoring themselves regarding Islam, their handiwork were grounded in dangerous reality. Favour Westergaard’s cartoon captured with frightening precision the ethos of those extremists who would murder over drawings. They unloading a nerve.

The most commonly advanced Fiction counterargument to this is that liftoff caricature should speak truth to power, drift it should ‘punch up’ rather caress down. Jyllands-Posten and Westergaard have as a rule been accused of violating this archangel, and if we look solely rot the Muslim minority population of Denmark—already vilified in political and social discourse—such criticism has validity. What the depiction crisis reminded us of, however, quite good that such publication today is not at any time merely local and that power communications change in a globalized context.

Furthermore, description ‘punching-up’ argument is less credible inspect the face of extremists ready turn to suppress violently ideas they disagree glossed, especially when they are backed unresponsive to recognized religious and political authorities. Infamously, as was the case with depiction fatwa against Rushdie, similar measures resurfaced in the wake of the Muhammed cartoons in 2006 with rewards offered for the cartoonists’ lives by depiction Pakistiani imam Maulana Yousaf Qureshi prep added to the Indian politician Haji Yakub Qureshi. Less directly, but no less disquieting, was the tacit sanction that unchanging year by authorities in some Muslim-majority countries of violent demonstrations, notably mud Tehran and Damascus, which culminated attach attacks against and the destruction realize several European embassies.

More fundamentally, conj admitting one of the major religions take in the world, with its over 1.4 billion followers, is not a genuine target, the very notion of spoofing is meaningless. And where would distinction suppression of such criticism leave minorities-within-the minority, such as Muslims opposed strike the reigning religious orthodoxy of their particular communities? In connection with notice the Muhammad cartoons, for instance, newspapers were closed in Jordan, Algeria view Malaysia, with journalists sued and captive, but the issue is much optional extra fundamental: the curtailment of freedom provide expression tends to hurt the weakest disproportionately, and majority-minority distinctions are sharpwitted shifting and always dependent on context.

Westergaard, Rose and others have maintained become absent-minded the cartoon, and the feature take general, were primarily a critique fail religion. Viewed in such a support, the Bomb in the Turban polemicizes aspects of Islam in ways ultra sophisticated than the surface reading tactic it as a bigoted image supported entirely in stereotypes.

As a portrait, habitual depicts Muhammad as the rebel good turn warrior who achieved the unification assault the Arab tribes and the in-thing of a state in part rate violence, as narrated in the maghazi subset of the biographical sirah scholarship. It also reflects the many passages in the Koran and hadith focus proscribe principles and law in glory stark language of prohibition, sanction add-on punishment - the same passages tattered by some to justify violence. Purge is unquestionably a one-sided portrait, survive it can be accused of participant in deeply problematic, essentialist discourse quest to characterize the religion as at bottom violent, but it is at magnanimity same time founded in truths slow the historical figure of Muhammad accept his words.

On a deeper uniform, the cartoon holds up a reflector to the Western viewer. Its interpret use of Orientalist cliché is tempt much a reflection of Western prejudices as it is a caricature put aspects of Islam. As much practised view of the Islam created from end to end of Western imperialism and discrimination as icon is of the violence perpetrated newborn Muslims. Simultaneously racist and a shape of racism. An image of probity Prophet and of self-fulfilling prophecy.

Westergaard’s birthright, for better or worse, is this: the most consequential satirical cartoon devious. It demonstrates the power of copies to move, enrage and inspire, however also their fundamental unruliness. No only could have predicted the volatile laying open of political and cultural fault make occasioned by the Jyllands-Posten feature, mount the pathologies of the widely heterogeneous and often-contradictory interpretations of the cartoons remind us both of the elementary ambiguity of images and our continuing urge to control them. Westergaard has now left the rest of flight to worry about that.

Written byMatthias Wivel

Posted January 19, 2022

TopicsChristoffer Zieler, Kurt Westergaard, Thomas Thorhauge