Book burning is an ugly business; in America is generally associated with Nazis standing gleefully before bonfires of forbidden books. Still, the freedom of expression is the freedom of expression, and if someone wants to burn a copy of Mein Kampf or The Catcher in the Rye or the Bible, that’s his business. When it comes to the Qur’an, however, suddenly the most stalwart exponents of the freedom of expression start talking about how much we need to curtail that freedom in order to respect the rights of others. It’s all happening again in connection with the burning of a Qur’an in Sweden on Friday.
Rasmus Paludan is a Danish politician to whom the establishment media universally refers as “far right,” which these days means little more than, “This is someone the elites don’t want you to like or support.” He obtained permission from the Swedish government to burn a Qur’an publicly; the permission was granted precisely in the interest of upholding the freedom of expression.
After the book was duly burned, the real firestorm began. Several countries summoned their Swedish ambassadors. Condemnations came in from all over the Islamic world. The Turkish Foreign Ministry declared that the act was “an outright hate crime” and added: “Permitting this anti-Islam act, which targets Muslims and insults our sacred values, under the guise of freedom of expression is completely unacceptable. This despicable act is yet another example of the alarming level that Islamophobia and, racist and discriminatory movements have reached in Europe.” The Foreign Ministry said nothing about the jihad violence or Sharia oppression that might lead someone to dislike the Qur’an in the first place.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry chimed in with, “This senseless and provocative Islamophobic act hurts the religious sensitivities of over 1.5 billion Muslims around the world.” It insisted that such acts were “not covered under any legitimate expression of the right to freedom of expression or opinion, which carries responsibilities under international human rights law, such as the obligation not to carry out hate speech and incite people to violence.”
Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al Jaber Al Sabah said the burning “hurts Muslims’ sentiments across the world and marks serious provocation.” He said that the world should “shoulder responsibility by stopping such unacceptable acts and denouncing all forms of hatred and extremism and bringing the perpetrators to accountability.”
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said that Europe invokes the freedom of speech in order to “allow extremist and radical elements to spread hatred against Islamic sanctities and values.” He said that the burning was a “clear example of spreading hatred and fueling violence against Muslims” and had “nothing to do with freedom of speech and thought.”
Such responses demonstrate a superficial (at best) understanding of the freedom of speech, but as they come from Muslim countries, they’re understandable. Less forgivable was the reaction of the High Representative of the UN Alliance of Civilizations, Miguel Angel Moratinos. His office issued a statement saying: “While the High Representative stresses the importance of upholding the freedom of expression as a fundamental human right, he also emphasises that the act of Quran-burning, amounts to an expression of hatred towards Muslims. It is disrespectful and insulting to the adherents of Islam and should not be conflated with freedom of expression.”
In other words, the High Representative of the UN Alliance of Civilizations does not really believe in the freedom of expression as a fundamental human right at all. He believes that when someone threatens to kill you over your expression, you should adopt a respectful silence. In other words, he wants Sweden and the rest of the West to submit to Sharia blasphemy restrictions.
Related: This Imam Quoted the Qur’an. You’ll Never Believe What Happened Next.
Moratinos and others issued these condemnations in the first place because of jihad violence. That’s the only reason. If someone burned a Bible, would the act make any headlines at all? No. Would any ambassadors be summoned? No. Would the High Representative of the UN Alliance of Civilizations start huffing and puffing about how the burning of the Bible was “disrespectful and insulting to the adherents of Christianity”? No.
What’s the difference? If you burn a Bible, Christians won’t kill you. If you burn a Qur’an, some Muslims will want very much to kill you. If you give in to them and curtail your activities accordingly, you’ll end up encouraging more such violent intimidation. Once the jihadis see that the West will give them what they want if they threaten violence, they’ll threaten ever more violence. That’s why Miguel Angel Moratinos is a fool who deserves the condemnation of all free people.
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