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Published on: 2/7/2006
Last Visited: 4/24/2007
One of them is English writer Lisa Appignanesi, who is deputy president of the English chapter of the PEN Club, which is leading a campaign called "Free Expression Is No Offense."
What is going on, Appignanesi says, is a struggle to maintain Europe's identity as a continent of liberal democracies where free expression is guaranteed.
"If you curtail speech to do with offending religions or to do with offending anyone, you eventually end up with not having the right to speak at all about political matters, about social matters and so on," she says."
Spreading Fundamentalism
Although Muslim fundamentalism tends to be highlighted in Europe as the main threat to secular Western societies, Appignanesi sees an ominous radicalization of religious forces across the board.
Where does a newspaper's responsibility lie? (epa)She cites a recent attack by Sikhs in Britain against a regional theater and periodic campaigns by fundamentalist Christians against material they deem offensive.
"Because of so-called terrorism and the war on terror, Islam seem to be further in the forefront and [some] people in the Muslim world -- as happened with the cartoons outside Europe -- are very keen to foment and to use these so-called offenses to Islam in the West as part of their political campaign against the West," Appignanesi says.
"But the radicalization through religion has happened in all the religions," she continues."It's true of parts of Hinduism, parts of Christianity, parts of Islam, it's true of parts of Judaism.They've all become radicalized and incredibly territorial about what insults them."
Faith Is A Choice
Appignanesi says an important distinction has to be drawn between religion and race.Insulting or discriminating against someone because of their race, she says, is taboo in European democracies -- and rightly so.
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When it comes to Islam, however, Appignanesi says there is an attempt by some to blur the line.
"Nobody has passed laws which say you cannot criticize the religion of Judaism.The laws that are there are simply ones that talk about race," she notes.
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In this respect, Appignanesi says it is especially important for leading European cultural institutions like the Deutsche Oper, or newspapers like "Le Figaro," to support their gadflies.
"As soon as the management are saying to artists, writers, musicians: 'You mustn't touch this area,' then you're closing down the possibilities of the very people who want to say something about those areas -- most of whom come from these faiths -- from speaking about them," she says.
"So actually, the community itself is shutting up -- the Muslim community, or the Hindu community or the Sikh community -- they're shutting up their own imaginative people," she continues.
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