controversy, events

Return of Islamophobic Cartoon Contest

Here we go again…

“The Prophet Muhammad is pictured in this Islamic manuscript dated 1539–43. It comes from a royal miniature made to illustrate a copy of the poems of the celebrated Persian Nizami, and depicts the prophet’s ascension to heaven on the horse Buraq.” (Copyright © The British Library Board; courtesy of WBUR)

From Reuters:

The Freedom Party of Dutch anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders will hold a competition of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad, it said on Tuesday. The party said the plan to hold the competition in the party’s secure offices in Dutch Parliament had been approved by the Dutch Counter-terrorism Agency NCTV.

If this sounds familiar, it should. There was a “Draw Mohammed” Contest in Garland, TX in 2015, won by Bosch Fawstin who will serve as a judge for this new event. Wilders served as a keynote speaker at that 2015 contest, and two gunmen, claimed by ISIS, were killed on site.

This competition is being billed as a “free speech event,” not  unlike the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten‘s own 2005 showcase of Mohammed cartoons, similarly resulting in violence.

On a related note, Twitter recently suspended Fawstin’s account following his posting opposing on Marvel Entertainment’s plans for Muslim superheroine Ms. Marvel. This was the latest in his “multiple or repeat violations of the Twitter Rules.”

Bosch Fawstin's tweet

Islamic culture has a history of respectful images of Mohammed, though that does not in any way seem the goal of Fawstin and Wilders’s insulting affair.