Students from the Danish Royal Military Academy and the American University in Cairo (AUC) agreed to take equal responsibility for increasing understanding about each other’s cultures, both in the Arab world and in Europe.
The agreement was a result of a panel discussion initiated by the Danish embassy and held in AUC’s Jameel Center auditorium during assembly hour, from 11 to 12 p.m, last Wednesday. The discussion was held to establish dialogue between Arab Muslims and Danes in light of the republication of the cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohamed as a terrorist in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.
Christen Sondergaard, one of the 23 students from the academy who attended the panel discussion, admitted the cartoons were first published as a result of ignorance about the sanctity of the Prophet’s image to Muslims. “The second time it was because the editor had received death threats from Muslims and he wanted to show that he wasn’t afraid,” he added.
“People should not write about things they do not understand. What does this man know about Islam?” asked Ahmed Hassanien, construction engineering junior.
The Danish cartoons controversy began when 12 editorial cartoons depicting Prophet Mohammed as a terrorist were published in Jyllands-Posten on September 30, 2005. The cartoons triggered protests across the Muslim world, in which more than 50 people were killed. Danish embassies in Iran, Lebanon and Syria were burned down and a campaign to boy-
cott Danish products was launched in the Middle East.
The cartoons were reprinted in French and German papers in February 2006. On February 13, 2008, Jyllands-Posten republished one of the cartoons after the 73-year-old cartoonist, Kurt Westergaard, received death threats.
“Apart from cheese, cartoons and the Danish Experience [an Egyptian comedy], what do you know about Denmark?” said David, who didn’t want his last name used because of his current military status in the academy.
Leading the Danish delegation was Andreas Ludvigsen, who teaches cultural understanding and dialect classes at the military academy. “The first thing I noticed about Egyptians is that everyone is against Danes, and everyone is against Jews and so on,” he said, “But after two minutes of interaction with a Dane or a Jew, these stereotypes fade.”
Ludvigsen added that while he felt the discussion was an important first step in bridging the gap between Arabs and Danes, he had been offended by some students who came up to him, said something and walked off before hearing his response. “In a Danish university, [that] would be unacceptable,” he said.
Rasha Allam, an adjunct professor of journalism and mass communication who moderated the talk, was pleased that both sides owned up to their responsibility in contributing to the ignorance and lack of tolerance that caused the cartoon controversy.
“Reprinting the cartoons was a mistake, but it’s our role to enhance our image and reflect real tolerance of other religions,” she said.