More than cartoons

While I know this is a little off-topic from anything and everything Paris, I've had a few interesting conversations lately with some of my friends from Morocco about the cartoons in Jyllands-Posten. Of course, it's been on all of their minds, so the question I've been getting the most from them lately is what I think about the cartoons/how I feel about them. I thnk just having this dialogue has been incredibly useful, because let's face it, it's a dialogue that's hard to come by, to say the least.

One of my buddies, Naoufel, from the Association Nouvelle Rencontre in Akkari has been posting on his blog in english on this : http://spaces.msn.com/members/naoufallena. I've also been talking to Yassine and few other students and people I worked with last summer. One of the most common sentiments I'm getting is that there's a real mixture of anger and sadness. There's also a tangible powerlessness in what one can do for a reaction. Think about this, you're living in a third-world country trying to make a statement to western european country and the whole western world, what on earth do you do? Do you do nothing and pretend that literally the most important person in your religion, your culture, the very basis for how to lead a perfect life, is not worthy of some sort of reaction?

These reactions, from renaming danish pastries ala "freedom fries" back in some of the more ignorant days of American foreign relations (*cough* ongoing, I mean), to boycotting danish goods and protests and even to riots, have run the gamut. While I stated to my friends in Morocco that violent reactions (often organized and aggravated by a select few) do as much of a disservice, if not more to Islam, I also understand why people are upset. I feel there's a huge disconnect in this regard, because Americans look at this situation and we think instantly of our rights to free speech, and how incredibly sacred that is to our way of life. We're throwing this concept, this western idea that is not universal in this world (not to say I oppose freedom of speech) onto a lot of people that feel incredibly disrespected, and view it as just one part of how westerners view and constantly disrespect Islam.

While I was in Morocco, I had the occasion to meet an Al-Jazeera reporter who was literally asked to leave the country the day after I met him for reporting on the Western Sahara indigenous movement for independence from Morocco. Of course, I was shocked, even though I thought the reporter was a raging anti-semite and I couldn't have a decent conversation with him. Anyways, his dismissal was a function of a system that us Americans are quick to condemn. What we don't realize at the same time is that if there was freedom of press and free elections in Morocco, we'd have a majority Islamist party in power, not a strong western ally as we have in King Mohammed VI. Of course, nobody ever talks about Morocco when we talk about democracy (or the UAE, or Saudi Arabia, I could go on forever). When Bush says "freedom" he has a slightly selective view. What I mean by all of this is that there are elements in the Middle East right now that are very undemocratic and serve our interests, so we don't get upset about them. However, when Muslims react to these cartoons, we get all upset about protecting western values.

Obviously, I'm not Tom Friedman and I don't have a quick and easy solution. If I did, I'm sure I'd be tapping it out on my keyboard right now. I think it's just important in something like this cartoon issue to really try, harder than ever, to see every facet possible. This is not a simple question of liberty of the press. Nothing involving religion and international affairs is ever simple. All I want to do is keep on asking questions and keep on having dialogue. I'll try and post some more some other time after I talk with my friends more.