Jacob Christensen

With the benefit of hindsight it was obvious that the first actor to choose the chicken strategy in the cartoon standoff would be the Confederation of Danish Industries. This followed protests by the Saudi Arabian and Kuwaiti governments and – more importantly – calls for a boycott of Danish dairy and meat products in Saudi Arabian and Kuwaiti supermarkets.

A Letter to the Editor

This Friday the CEO of the CDI issued an open letter to Jyllands-Posten in which the Confederation demanded that the paper issued a formal apology to the groups that have been offended by the cartoons. The CDI does not make it entirely clear if the apology should be directed to Danish Muslims or to the various Arab governments which have intervened in the matter.

Perhaps more interesting from a political science point was that it was the leader of the Conservative Party’s parliamentary group Helge Adam Møller – known as Helge Saddam Møller among friends – who followed the CDI’s lead while the leader of the Danish People’s Party dismissed the intervention as grotesque and the Liberal Party declined to make any comments. This is one of several cases where the Conservative Party has chosen to follow business interests even if it meant that the party would distance itself from the Liberal and Danish People’s Party.

Following a session of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Danish parliament the Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Møller announced the he would discuss the issue on the next meeting of the EU Foreign Ministers.

That business interests often conflict with political interests outside of economic policy is a well-known fact. Pressure for human rights improvements usually don’t originate from the business community and politically motivated calls for boycotts frequently embarass businesses. If the CDI is forced to choose between freedom of speech and the possibility of doing business in the Arab world, guessing the result is a no-brainer.

Another fascinating twist in this case is that Jyllands-Posten during the last twenty years has made great efforts to present itself as the national newspaper for the business community. What effects, if any, the Muhammad case will have for Jyllands-Posten’s place in the Danish media landscape remains to be seen.

The Arab Angle

The role played by the Saudi and Kuwaiti governments in the conflict is more difficult to gauge. On the one hand the calls for a boycott of Danish products have been issued by Muslim clerics and the governments have followed by applying traditional diplomatic means (recalling ambassadors for consultations etc).

On the other hand Saudi Arabia stands out as one of the most un-free countries in the world with regard to political liberties, including freedom of speech. It is hard to imagine that a widespread and well-publicised boycott can take place without the implicit support of the Saudi government. On the other hand a de facto support for a boycott of Danish products can be seen as a low-cost way of appeasing conservative clerics.

The Kuwaiti intervention is a little more puzzling. One possible explanation for the political initiatives by the Kuwaiti government could be that the emirate is facing a complicated transition of power from an older to a younger generation of the ruling al-Sabah family. Diplomatic initiatives and calls for a boycott of Danish products could either serve as a token in a power struggle or reflect political cleavages between moderates and conservatives within Kuwaiti society.

Attacks against Danish Homepages

Meanwhile in the cyberworld, the websites of a number of Danish newspapers including Jyllands-Posten, Berlingske Tidende and BT were hit by attacks on Friday. This meant that the sites were partially unavailable for some hours.

Similarly, Jyllands-Posten and Politiken had been hit by a deluge of spam e-mails earlier in the day. It is suspected that persons in the Middle-East were behind both rounds of attacks.

And by the way

Jerusalem Post covered the story in an article on Saturday, January 28. You may also want to see this interview with Huston Smith on Slate regarding “religion in a global age”.