Islam, Cartoons, Hindus

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BanerjeeFriday, February 17, 2006

http://www.canadafreepress.com/2006/banerjee021706.htm The global reaction to

the recent cartoons of Muhammad in Denmark is part of a familiar pattern. In

2004, a Dutch filmmaker named van Gogh was shot dead by Islamic fanatics

because he made a film which dared to question the treatment of women in Islam.

Similarly, global violence and death threats accompanied the publication of

Salman Rushdie’s book, the Satanic Verses. His Norwegian publisher, William

Nygaard, was shot by Islamic fanatics in his own country. Every supposed

‘insult’ to Islam leads to violence, murder, and threats. Other communities,

particularly the Hindus,

have also suffered their fair share of inaccurate and demeaning assaults on

their religion and traditions in the west. In late 2005, the Toronto Film

Festival and Canadian media bestowed awards and honor on Deepa Mehta, director

of the movie Water. This movie featured a bizarre plot involving widows in the

holy city Varanasi (which is equivalent to the Vatican or Mecca) being forced

into prostitution by Hindu priests. Despite the fact that the movie was

extremely demeaning and depicted practices virtually unheard of in India,

Hindus in the west did not resort to violence or murder to express their

displeasure. This was not the first time that Hindus have been unfairly

stigmatized. In 2003, the Toronto Star, which bends over backwards to flatter

and please some of their favored minority groups, published a nude picture of a

revered Hindu goddess. Again in 2005, the AIDS Committee of Toronto put on a

fashion show which

featured semi-nude transsexuals dressed as Hindu deities. In both these cases,

the large Hindu community in Toronto and the Western world did not burn

buildings, destroy public property, or attack Westerners. Instead, they used

democratic and peaceful means to voice their protest. To understand what

gives rise to these divergent reactions, we need to examine the historical

record. Unlike Hinduism, Islam was imposed on adherents of other faiths through

conquest and subjugation. In South Asia, Islam was spread through a brutal

conquest, which began in the 8th century AD. In fact, famed historian Will

Durant has referred to this conquest as the bloodiest story in history. During

this period, many Hindus were enslaved and millions were massacred. Fear of

death, subjugation, and enslavement forced hapless Hindu victims to convert to

Islam. Fanatical Islamists, who exercise significant power and influence,

continue to

nurture these notions and ideals. These elements are responsible for the

violence and murder that follows each perceived insult of Islam throughout the

west. Apologists, whether in the West or India, often attempt to justify the

acts of Islamic fanatics by arguing that such acts are legitimate means of

protest against discrimination or imperialism. This argument is untenable:

Islamist fanatics are not victims but rather champions of imperialism and

bigotry. Their utter disregard for people of other faiths and their desire to

Islamize, through conquest, the non-Muslim world, including India and Europe,

clearly demonstrates their imperial designs. Democratic societies, both in

India and the West, can dissuade these fanatics only by demonstrating that

legitimate means of protest are more successful than violence and murder.

Fanatical Islamists receive tremendous

incentives to continue their behavior when they find that their methods are more

successful than those employed by groups which utilize democratic means. A

just democratic society should reward good behavior and penalize negative

conduct. Western democracies, when dealing with radical Islamists, appear to be

doing the precise opposite. The West, for its own survival, ought to reconsider

this curiously self-destructive attitude. Ron Banerjee is the director of the

Hindu Conference of Canada. He can be reached at letters (AT) canadafreepress (DOT) com.

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