Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Once a dissident, always a dissident...

Via LaurenceJarvikOnline, this UPI story:

Moscow museum to exhibit Mohammed cartoons

MOSCOW, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- A Moscow museum has announced it will exhibit the entire series of cartoons of Mohammed that have caused riots throughout the Islamic world.

Yury Samodurov, director of the Sakharov Museum and Public Center, said on Russian television that the center was ready to organize a public exhibition of the cartoons satirizing the founder of Islam that originally were published in a Danish newspaper, Pravda.ru reported Monday.

"We must show the whole world that Russia goes along with Europe, that the freedom of expression is much more important for us than the dogmas of religious fanatics," Samodurov said.

The exhibition reportedly will open in March. Lawyer Yury Shmidt has said he will invite French philosopher Andre Glucksmann and French novelist Michel Houellebecq to the opening ceremony to read lectures about the threat of Islamic fundamentalism.

In 2003 the Sakharov Museum outraged many Russian Orthodox believers with the art exhibit "Be Careful -- Religion," which many felt was insulting to their beliefs.


This is likely to piss off not just some 20 million Russian Muslims, but president Putin as well, now that he has condemned the publication of the Danish cartoons.

4 comments:

  1. Well, to tell the truth, although I am not a Muslim, this "pisses me" off too!

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  2. The problem is that they want to impose their point of view over those offended, and they want to offend people and never get any PEACEFUL protests like boycotts. Violent protests are not accepted by any means.I am a Muslim and I am offended by these photos. I stopped boycotting the Danish products as I thought the apology was well enough. But now what, even Russia... I hope Russia had any products so that I could boycott them.

    Great blog by the way, I think I will be a regular visitor :)

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  3. Interesting...The responsibility of the Muslim association in Denmark for this mess is not to be understated. If you go crying to Saudi Arabia or Iran, you know it's going to end badly.

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