I am writing in a matter of great importance to my country, Denmark.
Today,
an EU office has been occupied in Gaza. Danish flags are being burned
in the
streets. Arab consumers are boycotting Danish goods and Palestinian
and Al
Qaeda groups are encouraging and threatening to kill Danish, Norwegian
and
French citizens all over the world.


This is all because a Danish newspaper has published 12 drawings of
the
Muslim prophet Mohammed. Some of the drawings portrayed the prophet in
a
negative way and according to (some versions of) Islam it is not at
all
allowed to portray the prophet.



The escalation of the conflict has, however, been strongly helped by
false
information. I hope you will take interest in reading about the
background
and clarifying some serious misunderstandings.



Should anyone in your country require further dialogue, I will be very
happy
to take it up or even travel to participate! Please contact me via my
website www.jarlov.dk

The drawings are NOT sponsored by the Danish people or government

The drawings were published by an independent and privately owned
Danish
newspaper (Jyllandsposten). The Danish government has, according to
Western
constitutional principles, absolutely no connection to this newspaper.
The
government has not endorsed the drawings in any way what so ever. But
nor
has it condemned the drawings because it would be an unprecedented and
unconstitutional step for a Danish government to try to influence the
work
of the free press.



However, the government has several times, in general terms, condemned
"any
statement, action or expression that attempts to demonise groups of
people
based on their religion or ethnic background". This statement by the
Prime
Minister was made in his speech to the Danish people on New Years Day
after
a public debate about the drawings. It has been repeated many times
since.



The Danish government (and Queen) will not apologise

The Danish government has taken the stance that it can not apologise
for the
drawings. It feels that this would be acknowledging responsibility for
the
drawings.



What was the newspaper's reason for publishing the drawings?

The newspaper claimed that there is an intimidation of public space
where
Muslims "claim the right to special treatment when insisting on
special
considerations for their own religious feeling. It is not compatible
with a
secular democracy and freedom of expression where you must be prepared
to be
mocked and ridiculed". Therefore, they invited artists to draw
Mohammed as
they see him and published the results on September 30th.



Are Danes burning the Koran in the streets and planning to publish a
state
censured version of it?

These accusations are completely false. Regarding the burning of the
Koran,
there was an SMS from unknown sources going around that this would
take
place. But it did not. If it did it would be punishable. Nor have
there been
any other violent expressions against Muslims in Denmark.



Supporting the campaign against Denmark does NOT help the Danish
muslims

It is a small minority of Danish Muslims that think it does. The
Danish
Muslims that started the campaign by travelling to Saudi Arabia to
rally
support against Denmark represent 15.000 out of the approximately
200.000
Muslims in Denmark. Muslim MPs in Denmark and spokesmen from the vast
majority of Danish Muslim organisations have condemned the campaign
against
their country. For obvious reasons, they do not think that it helps
them.



The Danish Prime Minister has refused to meet with 11 ambassadors from
Muslim countries in order to discuss the issue

This is true. On October 12th, the ambassadors asked for a meeting and
sent
a letter to the Prime Minister "urging Your Excellency's government to
take
all those responsible to task under law of the land in the interest of
interfaith harmony, better integration and Denmark's overall relations
with
Muslim world. We rest assured that you will take all steps necessary".
The
meeting was refused on the ground that the prime minister can not take
any
legal steps against the free press.



On February 3rd the prime minister and foreign minister has invited
the
ambassadors from all countries represented in Denmark to a meeting in
order
to discuss the conflict.



Denmark is a responsible member of the international community

Some people try to make this a general issue about racism in Denmark.
However, the most thorough survey of European racism clearly rejects
the
accusation that Danes should be xenophobic.



The Eurobarometer is made by the European Commission. This survey asks
1000
citizens in each EU country about their attitude to immigrants. It has
consistently showed that Danes are less hostile to multicultural
society
than the European average. (Full report:
http://www.europa-kommissionen.dk/upload/application/6f66e279/EB2005-summary
.pdf )



Also notice that Denmark gives the third largest foreign aid per
capita in
the world and ranks highest in the global development index which
takes
account of how factors such as trade and investments help reduce
global
poverty.



Thank you very much for taking the time to read this!



Kind regards,



Rasmus Jarlov

Candidate for Danish Parliament (Conservative Party)





Links:

· The Muhammed drawings (at the bottom of the page):
http://www.zombietime.com/mohammed_image_archive/



· The letter from the Muslim ambassadors to the Danish Prime
Minister:
http://gfx-master.tv2.dk/images/Nyhederne/Pdf/side1.pdf and
http://gfx-master.tv2.dk/images/Nyhederne/Pdf/side2.pdf ..

· The Prime Ministers response:
http://gfx-master.tv2.dk/images/Nyhederne/Pdf/side3.pdf



· BBC's coverage of the story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4664408.stm



· Development Index:
http://www.cgdev.org/section/initiatives/_active/cdi



· Eurobarometer:
http://www.europa-kommissionen.dk/upload/application/6f66e279/EB2005-summary
.pdf