Monday, September 17, 2007

Danish dictionary required

New terrorism case confirms that Denmark is a target - International Herald Tribune

This article talks about concern that Denmark is a particular target for Islamic terrorism, and contains this brilliant quote:
At home, the children of Muslim immigrants complain of job discrimination and integration problems, feeding the disenchantment of the small but growing Muslim population.

"In the schools, Danish teachers are always talking about democracy and human rights, but now they see what Denmark is doing in Afghanistan and what they did here with the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad," said Imran Shah, 31, who leads a youth group at a local mosque. "They ask themselves, is this a democracy or are they talking about double standards?"

Yes, I suppose that damned fine democratic institution known as the Taliban is not getting its chance to enforce human rights in Afghanistan because of Denmark and others. A small investment in a dictionary so as to understand what the terms "democracy" and "human rights" mean might come in handy for Imran.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

What does democracy mean to a devotee of a premodern religion. Not a lot actually I suspect.

Do they have a democratic right to embrace an intolerant faith? Are their human rights to be certain they have full access to all truth being infringed by you pointing out that they don't know what human rights mean?

This is two systems talking different languages and Imran is caught on the margins of language - living in secular society on a day to day basis with his beliefs caught up somewhere else.

As usual - no solutions from me.


Geoff