We can’t guarantee your safety
September 29, 2006, 4:54 pm |
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By Andrew L. Jaffee
“Security officials determined that it posed an ‘incalculable security risk.’” “We can’t guarantee safety at the event.” How many times have you heard it — especially when it comes to non-politically correct speakers and/or events? Benjamin Netanyahu? Daniel Pipes? The police don’t want to be bothered. The politicians are hiding under their desks — whether they be university administrators, opera directors, or government apparatchiks. Because of the fear of “provok[ing] Islamic ire,” Berlin’s Deutsche Oper has cancelled all scheduled performances of Mozart’s “Idomeneo.” Granted, the interpretation of the opera is controversial, sporting the severed heads of Mohammed, Jesus, Buddha, and Poseidon. But the opera was cancelled for fear of Muslim reprisals, not Christian, Buddhist, or Greek “sensitivities.” Thankfully, many Germans are fighting back, defending the right to free expression.
From the International Herald Tribune, entitled “German politicians scramble to guarantee safety for debated opera production:”
BERLIN German lawmakers called on authorities Friday to guarantee the security of a Berlin opera house that pulled a production featuring the severed head of Muhammad, amid ongoing calls to stage the production as a sign of moral courage.
A leading member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative party said he understood the decision by the director of the Deutsche Oper to cancel its previously scheduled fall performances of Mozart’s “Idomeneo” after security officials determined that it posed an “incalculable security risk.”
But he joined Merkel and other members of her Cabinet in calling for the production to be staged.
“It is in the interest of the opera house, the company and all opera-goers to actively help create the necessary security” for the opera to be produced, Wolfgang Bosbach said.
The furor over the decision to cancel the opera is the latest in Europe involving Islamic sensitivities — following cartoons of the prophet first published in a Danish newspaper and recent remarks by Pope Benedict XVI decrying holy war.
The decision has been widely condemned as a threat to freedom of speech and the right of the arts to be provocative.
The opera’s director, Kirsten Harms, has said she would reconsider her decision if appropriate security for her staff and the opera house could be guaranteed. She called for a public forum to be held Oct. 3 to discuss the issue.
Public forum? What is to be debated? Free speech in a democracy? Or a smoke-screen for submitting to Islamo-fascism? You can be damn straight that there’d be no “public forum” if the opera only featured the beheading of Christ, Buddha, or Poseidon.
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Categories, Tags: Islam, War Against Islamo-fascism, Europe, Political Correctness
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