Muhammad cartoons in Scandinavia
Is it déjà vu all over again?
FOR the past few weeks Sweden has been poised for a replay of the Muhammad cartoon row in Denmark in 2006. Nerikes Allehanda, a provincial newspaper, published a crude sketch of the head of the prophet on the body of a dog. But despite a few flag-burning incidents in Muslim countries, some noisy protests in Sweden and a clutch of reprimands by Muslim governments, the response has so far been muted.
The affairs had similar incendiary ingredients: rude newspaper cartoons, outraged Muslims and secular Scandinavians insisting on freedom of speech. Yet there were also differences. Sweden had the benefit of hindsight. Denmark’s sluggish response was a textbook case of muddled policy. The Danish case meant that the Swedes were acutely aware of the cartoons’ inflammatory potential from the moment they appeared.
Fredrik Reinfeldt, the Swedish prime minister, waited weeks, not months, to publish an official statement that both defended free speech and expressed regret that people had been offended. And unlike Denmark’s prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who haughtily declined to meet a delegation of Muslim ambassadors, Mr Reinfeldt took the initiative to invite them in for a chat.
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