Reuters are reporting that police in Ireland arrested seven people on Tuesday, thought to be immigrants from Yemen and Morocco, in connection with an alleged conspiracy to murder the Swedish cartoonist and fine artist Lars Vilks because of his drawing depicting the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog. According to the article a terrorist group has been offering $100, 000 as reward for killing the cartoonist since 2007. The original drawing was turned down for exhibition by a number of Swedish galleries who were concerned over the controversy and subsequent security problems the image could cause and was later published as part of an article on self-censorship, where writers and artists and publishers are censoring their own work in advance to avoid exactly this kind of disgustingly violent reaction following the Danish Muhammad cartoon image the year or so before. Disturbing if you value freedom of expression, the same freedom which in democratic countries also allows people of all religious denominations to practise their beliefs freely as well as for cartoonists to ply their trade and for readers to read them and decide for themselves on the merits of their work. On the BBC site though Vilks himself is quoted as being not overly worried: “I’m not shaking with fear, exactly. I have prepared in different ways and I have an axe here in case someone should manage to get in through the window.” (tip of the hat to Mark Kardwell’s twitter for the link)
(image of Lars Vilks borrowed from the artist’s blog)
Wed, Mar 10, 2010
Comics and cartoons