• Why Jihad Watch?
  • About Robert Spencer and Staff Writers
  • FAQ
  • Books
  • Muhammad
  • Islam 101
  • Privacy

Jihad Watch

Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Attacking free speech is a core element of jihad terror

May 3, 2015 3:23 pm By Robert Spencer

Mideast Iran Charlie Hebdo Protest-1Referring to the writers who have pulled out of the PEN ceremony honoring Charlie Hebdo, Afshin Ellian has the perfect response to those who say that drawing Muhammad cartoons is needlessly insulting and provoking Muslims: “If you start with saying they shouldn’t make the cartoons, you may as well say they shouldn’t write novels. After all, what have the Jews done? Why are they killed? Would the writers say they shouldn’t have been Jews? A writer who cannot tolerate such a prize is not worthy of the name ‘writer.’”

Indeed. One may say that the cartoonists provoked the Charlie Hebdo killers, but then one must also say that the Jews killed at the Hyper Cacher supermarket provoked their killers. And where does it stop? How much must the West give up of its own identity in order to avoid provoking Muslims?

“Attacking Free Speech is a Core Element of Terrorism,” by Abigail R. Esman, Algemeiner, May 3, 2015:

Afshin Ellian has a thing or two to say about terrorism.

He also has a few things to say about Islam – specifically political Islam – but many don’t particularly like to hear it. In fact, the threats against his life from radical Muslims, particularly in the Netherlands, where the Iranian dissident now lives, have become so frequent that at least one bodyguard accompanies him anywhere he goes.

But Ellian, a professor of jurisprudence at the University of Leiden, also knows a thing or two about freedom: he has spent his life pursuing it since his days as a student in Iran, where in 1978 he took part in the uprising against the Shah. After the revolution, the Ayatollah banned political discourse; threatened with execution, Ellian fled the country. He settled briefly in Kabul before further ideological conflicts led him to escape again, arriving as a political refugee in the Netherlands in 1989.

Now the human rights and counterterrorism expert works valiantly to protect the freedom that he so long fought for – even as he finds the most precious quality of that freedom itself now under threat: the principle of free speech.

It is this which recently brought him to the Nieuwspoort, a debate center for journalists and politicians in The Hague, a city not coincidentally known as “the International City of Justice and of Peace.” The occasion: the presentation of his latest book, simply and appropriately titled Freedom of Speech Under Attack.

In the post-Charlie Hebdo era, it is a book that defines our time.

Speaking to assembled press and his guest of honor, Flemming Rose – the publisher of Jyllands Posten and the renowned “Danish Mohammed cartoons” who also lives under guard – Ellian is clearly unbowed by the threats and attacks on his own freedom. To the contrary, he speaks the words many would prefer went entirely unsaid: Europe must defend itself against radical Islam. To do so, its strongest weapon, stronger than arms, stronger than money, is the protection of free speech.

Yet at the same time, the very principle of free speech is being abused by jihadists to destroy the democracies from which it was created, says Ellian. Recruiters for jihad, those who threaten apostates and Jews and who call for violence against the West rely precisely on the principles of free speech to spread their messages of hate. Consequently, he says, “democracy as a form of society must be understood in terms of a militant system. Whenever democracy is threatened by violence, it has the right to defend itself violently. The alternative would be suicide.” And freedom, he pronounces, “is no suicide pact.”

Ellian’s own confrontation with radical Islam in Europe dates back to 2000, when an article he wrote against the Prophet Mohammed’s orders to destroy poets led to death threats. (In addition to holding graduate degrees in philosophy and law, Ellian is a celebrated poet.) More threats followed, chiefly after the murder of Theo van Gogh in November 2005 by Muslim extremist Mohammed Bouyeri. Immediately after the killing, Ellian called on other Western intellectuals to “put radical Islam on the surgical table” and to fight back against politically correct censorship because, as he says now, “whenever a society applies self-censorship out of fear from terrorism, freedom dissipates.

Yet days after the presentation of Ellian’s new book, six members of PEN America, the prestigious organization for authors and writers that defines itself as a leader in the defense of free expression, called for a boycott against the association, citing its decision to honor the magazine Charlie Hebdo with its Toni and James C. Goodale Freedom of Expression Courage award. When I tell him of this, Ellian’s fury sizzles through the phone.

“If you start with saying they shouldn’t make the cartoons,” he fumes, “you may as well say they shouldn’t write novels. After all, what have the Jews done? Why are they killed? Would the writers say they shouldn’t have been Jews? A writer who cannot tolerate such a prize is not worthy of the name ‘writer.’”…

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Follow me on Facebook

Filed Under: Featured, free speech, Jihadist intimidation and thuggery, Useful idiots Tagged With: Afshin Ellian


Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Comments

  1. Stephanie says

    May 3, 2015 at 3:46 pm

    … Muslim extremist(?, DEVOUT) Mohammed Bouyeri.”

  2. Don McKellar says

    May 3, 2015 at 3:56 pm

    Garry Trudeau has a lot to answer for. The question needs to be put to him, again and again and again until he gets it.

    “One may say that the cartoonists provoked the Charlie Hebdo killers, but then one must also say that the Jews killed at the Hyper Cacher supermarket provoked their killers. And where does it stop?”

    Well, Trudeau, you poseur coward left-fascist — where does it stop?

    • jihad3tracker says

      May 3, 2015 at 4:59 pm

      Trudeau has a Facebook page . . .

      • Don McKellar says

        May 3, 2015 at 5:34 pm

        He has been messaged him.

        All should message him. And you could, if you wish, send the same message I did: One may say that the cartoonists provoked the Charlie Hebdo killers, but then one must also say that the Jews killed at the Hyper Cacher supermarket provoked their killers. And where does it stop?

        • mortimer says

          May 3, 2015 at 8:35 pm

          Garry Trudeau STANDS WITH THE KILLERS OF FREE SPEECH because he will not condemn them.

    • mortimer says

      May 3, 2015 at 9:24 pm

      It’s always easier to stand with the thugs and vigilantes. They won’t smash your windows or slit your children’s throats.

      • Firebug says

        May 4, 2015 at 11:10 am

        Yeah, until there’s no kuffar left to pay the Jizya.

  3. Champ says

    May 3, 2015 at 4:14 pm

    How much must the West give up of its own identity in order to avoid provoking Muslims?

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    In order to avoid provoking muslims and to meet that impossible goal, then the West would have to give up *all* their freedoms. We would have to give up what we wear, what we eat or drink & even how we view God — since muslims are provoked by anything and everything deemed unislamic.

    No way — and no thank you! ..islam be gone.

  4. jewdog says

    May 3, 2015 at 4:54 pm

    Great guy and nice sentiments, but as long as Muslims keep colonizing Europe the situation will only get worse.

  5. linn says

    May 3, 2015 at 5:19 pm

    Islam be gone…right on !!!!
    That is the ONLY way. Anyone who is a Muslim is a radical…the so-called religion calls for it, demands it.what kind of religion calls for demolishing everyone else ??!? It is NOT a religion, it is a totalitarian regime that wants to take over the world .

    • Charli Main says

      May 4, 2015 at 3:25 am

      Like the Nazis and Communists of the last century———

  6. Wellington says

    May 3, 2015 at 5:29 pm

    Islam is as much an enemy of free speech as was Nazism. For all intents and purposes there is no difference between these two on the matter of free speech. I defy anyone to prove me wrong here.

    • mortimer says

      May 3, 2015 at 9:26 pm

      Vigilantism is the means Islam uses to crush free speech. Every Muslim is potential vigilante-killer of blasphemers.

      Every single one. Sharia law has no punishment for one who kills a blasphemer … a ‘HARBI’ verbally at war with Islam.

      In Islamic jurisprudence ‘verbal counterjihad’ is worse than military jihad! Think about it.

      • mortimer says

        May 3, 2015 at 9:30 pm

        id est “military counterjihad”

        To fight Islam may be forgiven, but blasphemy may not be forgiven even with an apology.

        That is why Islam is so severe against our freedom of speech. ANY criticism of Islam is blasphemy, no matter how mild, and must be punished by death.

        Even Nazism did not go so far.

  7. Angemon says

    May 3, 2015 at 6:56 pm

    In fact, the threats against his life from radical Muslims, particularly in the Netherlands, where the Iranian dissident now lives, have become so frequent that at least one bodyguard accompanies him anywhere he goes.

    It’s both disheartening and infuriating to know that there are some people out there who think that he has it coming and that he should just shut up and toe the line.

  8. ChrisLA says

    May 3, 2015 at 7:12 pm

    The target of much of Charlie Hebdo’s humor is simply arrogance. The definition of arrogance is: “making or disposed to make claims to unwarranted importance or consideration out of overbearing pride.” When someone is shamelessly doing something that most people consider shameful, he/she is showing arrogance. Charlie Hebdo had a field day when French President François Hollande sneaked away on a motorbike (with a security guard) for a secret rendez-vous with actress Julie Gayet. Such arrogance is often seen in politicians, celebrities, and (sadly) religious leaders.

    Here is an easy experiment: While casually talking with someone, interrupt with “Did you know your zipper is down?” People will instinctively check their zipper. Why? Because in all cultures being “unzipped” is an embarrassment. To be deliberately “unzipped” could be a sign of perversion. The person’s reaction is either “oops” or a “thank you.”

    What Charlie Hebdo does quite often with the ideology of Islam is point out acts and beliefs that would be embarrassing or perverted in any civilized society – beheading non-believers, raping captives, chopping off the hands of petty thieves, putting full-face niqabs on their women, sanctioning polygamy. But Muslims cannot correct these issues because, so they believe, they were commanded by God himself. They cannot thank someone for pointing out these problems, so their only response is to become angry and offended. (In the extreme, people get killed.) This is the pinnacle of arrogance – a group of people who believe God told them to do things that no other civilized society (or religion) would tolerate today.

    Other religions have suffered criticism and saw fit to change their ways. The Roman Church stopped selling indulgences (get-out-of-Hell-free cards) after Martin Luther pointed out the practice was unscriptural. Jews have long-since abandoned many of the harsh punishments of Mosaic law. Mormons have abandoned polygamy and the belief that African-Americans cannot become priests. However, Islam cannot change their offensive practices without abandoning the belief that the Quran is the verbal word of God.

    Charlie Hebdo is indeed a courageous participant in free speech. Whether it is with regard to politicians, celebrities, or religious ideologies, their cartoonists grate away at the arrogance that erodes our civilization and humanity. Modern societies are remarkably tolerant and forgiving, but the one thing that must not persist is arrogant intolerance supposedly sanctioned by God Himself.

  9. mortimer says

    May 3, 2015 at 8:39 pm

    LET ME SAY IT: “Attacking free speech is a core element of ISLAM.”

  10. Western Canadian says

    May 3, 2015 at 8:57 pm

    That a less than second rate ‘artist’ or ‘writer’ like Garry Trudeau would NOT stand up for the free speech rights of people who don’t march in moronic lock-step with him, is really no surprise. He has NEVER advocated anything, for anyone who does not live in the same bubble of ignorance and self-righteousness that he occupies….. He is a low grade failure, who’s ‘success’ is entirely to his pandering to the rest of the self-proclaimed ‘elite’. And this elite is the most shabbily educated, ignorant, programmed not to think of the last several generations….;.

    Might I suggest a boycott of any rag that publishes his drivel, and the same boycott for the cowards who jumped ship from PEN America…. and why not add a boycott of PEN, if you are a published author, until this quisling bastards are thrown out??

  11. Lucretius says

    May 3, 2015 at 11:45 pm

    Some of what Ellian said seemed unclear.

    “Europe must defend itself against radical Islam. To do so, its strongest weapon, stronger than arms, stronger than money, is the protection of free speech.”

    What is this “strongest weapon,” “the protection of free speech” exactly? It is not free speech itself. This is something that is naturally weaker so that it is what is in need of being protected. So what is protecting it? ARMS, armed men, such as Ellian’s bodyguards and the armed government men, which are paid arms, so money as well. So what protects free speech are armed men who act to protect every speaker’s right to say what he pleases from attack and to avenge attacks made. It is these armed men who will either threaten or strike to defend free speech from its disbelievers that are “Europe’s greatest weapon.” What makes these men obedient to this cause? It is indoctrination resulting in believing obedience, beginning when they are small, about the nobility of defending this right. Armed men are not usually independent thinkers, (for they are either under orders and organized, or in chaos and fighting for what party shall prevail), they follow a Deen, and it’s just as ibn Taymiyya said, “so the foundation of this Deen is a guiding book and a supporting sword.”

    Ellian continues:

    “Yet at the same time, the very principle of free speech is being abused by jihadists to destroy the democracies from which it was created, says Ellian. Recruiters for jihad, those who threaten apostates and Jews and who call for violence against the West rely precisely on the principles of free speech to spread their messages of hate. ”

    What I think he is saying here is this: there are the teachers of the Deen of free speech and their armed students, but there are also these other teachers and recruiters of armed men for the Deen of Muhammad. The first army is protecting speech which allows for recruitment of an opposing army.

    “Consequently, he says, ‘democracy as a form of society must be understood in terms of a militant system. Whenever democracy is threatened by violence, it has the right to defend itself violently. The alternative would be suicide.’ And freedom, he pronounces, ‘is no suicide pact.'”

    What he’s saying in this conclusion isn’t spelled out clearly. Exactly when is he saying a democracy being threatened by violence? Is it whenever someone speaks to recruit to the Deen of Islamic supremacy? Is Ellian advising us to “violently” defend ourselves from such speech by using public force to punish and expell its speakers, by denying them the right to speak such a doctrine freely?

FacebookYoutubeTwitterLog in

Subscribe to the Jihad Watch Daily Digest

You will receive a daily mailing containing links to the stories posted at Jihad Watch in the last 24 hours.
Enter your email address to subscribe.

Please wait...

Thank you for signing up!
If you are forwarding to a friend, please remove the unsubscribe buttons first, as they my accidentally click it.

Subscribe to all Jihad Watch posts

You will receive immediate notification.
Enter your email address to subscribe.
Note: This may be up to 15 emails a day.

Donate to JihadWatch
FrontPage Mag

Search Site

Translate

The Team

Robert Spencer in FrontPageMag
Robert Spencer in PJ Media

Articles at Jihad Watch by
Robert Spencer
Hugh Fitzgerald
Christine Douglass-Williams
Andrew Harrod
Jamie Glazov
Daniel Greenfield

Contact Us

Terror Attacks Since 9/11

Archives

  • 2020
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2019
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2018
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2017
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2016
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2015
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2014
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2013
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2012
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2011
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2010
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2009
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2008
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2007
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2006
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2005
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2004
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2003
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • March

All Categories

You Might Like

Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Recent Comments

  • gravenimage on Erdogan: ‘Turks must defend the rights of Jerusalem, even with their lives’ for ‘the honor of the Islamic nation’
  • gravenimage on Erdogan: ‘Turks must defend the rights of Jerusalem, even with their lives’ for ‘the honor of the Islamic nation’
  • Walter Sieruk on Iranian Kurdistan: Muslim brothers behead their sister in honor killing over her romantic relationship
  • gravenimage on Uighur leader: ‘We’re actually quite worried’ about what Biden might let China get away with
  • James Lincoln on Iranian Kurdistan: Muslim brothers behead their sister in honor killing over her romantic relationship

Popular Categories

dhimmitude Sharia Jihad in the U.S ISIS / Islamic State / ISIL Iran Free Speech

Robert Spencer FaceBook Page

Robert Spencer Twitter

Robert Spencer twitter

Robert Spencer YouTube Channel

Books by Robert Spencer

Jihad Watch® is a registered trademark of Robert Spencer in the United States and/or other countries - Site Developed and Managed by Free Speech Defense

Content copyright Jihad Watch, Jihad Watch claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to their respective owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish for it appear on this site, please E-mail with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.

Our mailing address is: David Horowitz Freedom Center, P.O. Box 55089, Sherman Oaks, CA 91499-1964

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.