In 2017, then–Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen proclaimed: “I am proud and comfortable that we reside in a rustic the place we now have abolished the blasphemy provision and the place you are allowed to be important—even in satire and cartoons—of spiritual symbols.” Final week, nonetheless, Rasmussen, who’s now the minister of overseas affairs, did an about-face.
The Quran burnings have turn into so unhealthy, he mentioned, that Denmark is “seen as a rustic that helps the insult and denigration of different international locations and religions.” In response, Rasmussen introduced laws “that may permit us to place a cease to the type of insult and denigration we’re presently witnessing.”
The invoice criminalizes the “improper remedy of objects of serious spiritual significance to spiritual communities.” The prohibition marks a sea change in a rustic the place nobody has been convicted of blasphemy since 1946, and successive governments have defended freedom of expression following newspaper Jyllands-Posten‘s publication of cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad in 2005.
The Danish change of coronary heart can principally be traced to Rasmus Paludan, an anti-Muslim bigot and far-right activist, whose favourite pastime consists of burning Qurans across the nation. These Quran burnings haven’t solely led to violence and terrorist threats from spiritual extremists but in addition concerted intimidation from the 57 member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which has labored to guard Islam from what they time period “defamation” for the reason that publication of Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses in 1988.
A plurality of Danes assist the invoice. In spite of everything, why ought to they danger terrorist assaults and financial sanctions because of the antics of a extensively despised extremist whose concepts and actions are off-putting even to secular non-muslims? Many Danes really feel there are higher and extra subtle methods to criticize a faith than torching books.
However it’s exactly the tolerance of probably the most offensive concepts put forth by the people most despised by well mannered society that’s the true measure of the civic dedication to free speech. When you abandon precept for expediency, it establishes a precedent that incentivizes calls for for additional concessions.
Utilizing violence and diplomatic coercion, spiritual extremists and the OIC have established that even in liberal democracies, religions and their followers are entitled to particular authorized safety that trumps particular person freedoms. Little doubt the Danish prohibition will type the tip of the spear within the OIC’s international marketing campaign to purge “blasphemous” content material.
The impact of the Danish invoice isn’t confined to the slim circle of far-right pyromaniacs. There’s a very actual hazard that it’ll result in a lot broader collateral injury. Creative and political expressions aren’t exempted.
Accordingly, the Danish-Iranian artist Firoozeh Bazrafkan dangers going to jail if she persists along with her performative artwork items which have included shredding, whipping, and branding the Quran as a protest in opposition to Iran’s theocratic regime. The Spanish artist Abel Azcona would additionally danger arrest if his work “Jihad 191” was exhibited in Denmark. The work consists of 191 Qurans smeared in blood, a reference to the 191 victims of the 2004 Al Qaeda bombings in Madrid.
It is not simply criticism of Islam that might be criminalized. American artist Andres Serrano’s (in)well-known work “Immersion (Piss Christ),” that includes a crucifix immersed within the artist’s urine would virtually actually be punishable. Heavy metallic artists like Behemoth and Marilyn Manson, who’ve desecrated Bibles at live shows, may additionally discover that performing in secular and liberal Denmark is just too dangerous. Which is kind of ironic on condition that Behemoth lead singer Adam Darski was acquitted for blasphemy in Catholic, conservative Poland after he tore the pages from a Bible throughout a live performance.
There may be little hope that the European Courtroom of Human Rights will present a protect in opposition to the Danish invoice. The court docket has lengthy held that expressions deemed “gratuitously offensive” to spiritual believers might be restricted. In 2018, the court docket determined that Austria didn’t violate the proper to freedom of expression of a politician fined for calling the Prophet Muhammad a pedophile, since—in response to a extensively accepted Hadith—Muhammad consummated his marriage along with his spouse when she was 9. The court docket has additionally upheld restrictions of creative movies deemed overtly offensive to Christians. One “The Love Council” ridiculed God, Jesus and the Virgin Mary, the opposite “Visions of Ecstacy” graphically depicted the revered Spanish Saint Teresa of Ávila touching and kissing the crucified Christ in an erotic method.
Denmark’s give up to violent extremists and states that imprison, lash, and execute “blasphemers” is a disturbing signal of the free speech recession that’s sweeping the globe within the twenty first century. One can solely hope that the First Modification will proceed to function inspiration to liberal reformers throughout the globe in a world the place free speech is in quick retreat.
