Iran
Holocaust Cartoon Contest Links:
An Iran newspaper says it is conducting a Holocaust
cartoon competition. The newspaper, citing the publication
of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, ...
www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/07/world/main1289317.shtml
Irans biggest-selling newspaper has waded into
the Muhammad controversy by launching a competition
to find the 12 "best" cartoons about the Holocaust.
Farid Mortazavi, graphics editor for Iran Tehran's
Hamshahri newspaper, said that the deliberately inflammatory
contest would test out how committed Europeans were
to the concept freedom of expression."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article727849.ece
An Iran paper holds a contest for Holocaust cartoons,
to retaliate over ... An Iran paper is holding a contest
for cartoons about the Holocaust, ...
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4688466.stm
CAIR Condemns Iran Holocaust Cartoon Contest
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 2/8/06) - The Council on American-Islamic
Relations today condemned a plan by an Iran newspaper
to solicit cartoons denying the Nazi Holocaust.
Irans Hamshahri newspaper says the contest is
in reaction to the publication in Europe of cartoons
mocking Islams Prophet Muhammad. The controversy
over those cartoon sparked worldwide protests.
In a statement, CAIR said:
Now is the time for responsible people of
all faiths to avoid inflammatory actions that are clearly
designed to incite hatred. We call on Hamshahri newspaper
to drop its plans to denigrate the immense suffering
caused by the Nazi Holocaust and urge the Iran government
to repudiate such an insensitive proposal.
The Quran, Islams revealed text, states:
Goodness and evil cannot be equal.
Repel (evil) with something that is better. Then you
will see that he with whom you had enmity will become
your close friend. And no one will be granted such goodness
except those who exercise patience and self-restraint.
(41:34-35)
The Holocaust, like all other acts of genocide,
represents one of the lowest moments in human history
and should not be the subject of derogatory cartoons.
One cannot demand responsible behavior from others while
at the same time acting irresponsibly. Previously,
CAIR and other American Muslim groups rejected the use
of violence in response to the defamatory caricatures
of the Prophet Muhammad published in European newspapers.
In reaction to the cartoon controversy, CAIR officials
met with the Norwegian and Danish ambassadors to express
the Muslim communitys concerns about the caricatures
and urged American Muslims to educate others about the
legacy of the Prophet Muhammad.
CAIR, America's largest Muslim civil liberties group,
has 31 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada.
Its mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, encourage
dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American
Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and
mutual understanding.
http://www.cair-net.org/default.asp?Page=articleView&id=1982&theType=NR
The SEO contestants will wrap these keywords "Iran
Holocaust Cartoon Contest" around their comments
of how Iran has sponsored Islam suicide bombing terror
...
www.israelpr.com/iranholocaustcartoonsdenmarkseocontest.html
Irans bestselling newspaper has launched a competition
to find the best Iran cartoon about the Holocaust in
retaliation for the publication in many countries of
...
www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200602/s1565443.htm
Iran's biggest-selling newspaper has chosen to tackle
the West's ideals of "freedom of expression"
by launching a competition to find the 12 "best"
cartoons about the Holocaust, the Associated French
Press reported on Monday. Farid Mortazavi, graphics
editor for Tehran's Hamshahri newspaper, said that the
deliberately inflammatory contest would test out how
committed Europeans were to the concept freedom of expression.
https://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1138622562556&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
No Iran newspaper publishes winning cartoon in contest
mocking Holocaust
The Associated Press
Published: November 2, 2006
TEHRAN, Iran: Iran's competition for cartoons mocking
the Holocaust drew international reproach but made little
impression at home, with not a single Iranian newspaper
publishing the winning entries and people on the street
saying it left them unmoved.
Iran awarded the first prize worth US$12,000
(€9,400) late Wednesday to Moroccan cartoonist
Abdollah Derkaoui, who drew a picture of an Israeli
crane erecting a wall of concrete blocks around Al-Aqsa
Mosque in Jerusalem, Islam's third holiest site. The
blocks bear sections of a well-known photograph of the
Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz where as many as
1.5 million people mostly Jews died during
World War II.
"The exhibition had no remarkable impact on public
opinion," said Gohar Dashti, a professor at the
Soureh Art University in Tehran. "It was neither
a concern of students nor of the media."
Israel deplored the competition, which drew 204 entries
from Iran and abroad. "The Iran regime has unfortunately
joined the obscene chorus of Holocaust denial,"
Israel Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said.
But Iran's minister of culture dismissed the criticism.
"The cartoonists expressed their hate of oppressors
and their love of (Palestinian) victims," Hossein
Saffar Harandi was quoted as saying in Thursday's edition
of the conservative Kayhan newspaper. "Palestinians
have been the victim of a deceptive history by Zionists,"
the minister added. The cartoons, which have been on
display at the Museum of Contemporary Arts for Palestine
since August, have not drawn large crowds though state
schools bused their students to the show.
"Drawing cartoons ... isn't a good way to solve
real and old problems," said Ahmad Nasiri, a 23-year-old
architecture student. "Denying the Holocaust through
cartoons doesn't contribute to humanity."
Iranian newspapers reported the results of the competition
Thursday, but gave it no significant coverage. Not one
paper printed the winning cartoon. The competition was
launched by the Hamshahri newspaper after a series of
Danish cartoons on Islam's Prophet Muhammad provoked
widespread indignation among Muslims early this year.
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad supported the
exhibition. His frequent denials of Nazi Germany's killing
of 6 million Jews during World War II have made the
Holocaust a feature of Iranian foreign policy. Two of
the top three cartoons did not even deny the Holocaust
and could be interpreted as affirming it. The point
of Derkaoui's winning drawing and that of Carlos Latuff,
a Brazilian who tied for second place, was to compare
the Holocaust with the suffering of Palestinians today.
The exhibition was condemned worldwide. The U.S. State
Department criticized it and U.N. Secretary-General
Kofi Annan expressed his displeasure during a visit
to Iran in September.
Hajar Smouni of Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based
media rights group, said she was shocked by the "very
poor taste" of the competition.
Associated Press Writer Jasper Mortimer contributed
to this article from Cairo.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/11/03/africa/ME_GEN_Iran_Holocaust_Drawings.php
U.S. Denounces Iran Holocaust Cartoon Contest
Iran - Ahmadinejad, Mahmud, president, anti-Zionism
conference, 26Oct2005, Tehran
Iranian President Ahmadinejad addressing an anti-Zionism
conference in Tehran in October 2005
(Fars)
8 February 2006 -The United States has condemned an
Iranian newspaper's plan to hold a contest for cartoons
about the World War II Holocaust of Jews.
The paper announced the contest in response to Danish
caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed that have outraged
Muslims around the world. State Department spokesman
Sean McCormack reiterated U.S. support for freedom of
expression, including in Iran, but condemned the Holocaust
cartoon contest.
"Any attempt to mock or to in any way denigrate
the horror that was the Holocaust is simply outrageous,"
McCormack said. McCormack connected the contest to Iranian
President Mahmud Ahmadinejad's recent anti-Israeli comments,
including his dismissal of the Nazi genocide of 6 million
Jews as a myth.
In its announcement, the "Hamshahri" newspaper
said it wanted to test whether Western countries would
extend freedom of expression to cartoons about the Holocaust.
(AFP, Reuters)
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/02/1b0039db-4b98-4e6f-833b-103a7e7edc9c.html
Appeals for calm over cartoon row
Muslim leader joins U.N., EU in condemning violence
Wednesday, February 8, 2006 Posted: 0734 GMT (1534
HKT)
(CNN) -- The leader of the world's largest Muslim organization
has joined other world leaders in condemning violence
over the publication of cartoon caricatures of the Prophet
Mohammed.
Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, head of the Organization of the
Islamic Conference, joined with U.N. Secretary-General
Kofi Annan and Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign
policy chief, in calling for calm, saying they were
"deeply alarmed at the repercussions" the
cartoons have caused.
"We call on the authorities of all countries to
protect all diplomatic premises and foreign citizens
against unlawful attack," read the statement released
by the three world leaders.
The violence that has swept across parts of the world
has come in response to the publication -- mainly in
European newspapers -- of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed,
something forbidden under Muslim belief. Across much
of the Muslim world on Wednesday, political leaders
urged calm over the dispute.
In Afghanistan, that nation's top Islamic organization
called for an end to riots against the drawings, as
police shot dead two protesters to stop hundreds of
them from marching on a U.S. military base in southern
Afghanistan Wednesday, The Associated Press reported.
At least 10 people were wounded, the AP reported, quoting
officials.
In Indonesia, both government and top Islamic leaders
called on Muslims to prevent rallies from becoming violent,
news services reported.
A prominent Iranian newspaper, Hamshahri, invited artists
to enter a Holocaust cartoon competition, saying it
wanted to see if freedom of expression -- the banner
under which many Western publications reprinted the
prophet drawings -- also applied to Holocaust images.
(Full story)
Thousands of protesters across the Muslim world had
launched protests again Tuesday, with crowds firing
on a NATO base in northwestern Afghanistan, protesters
launching Molotov cocktails at the Danish and Norwegian
embassies in Iran and angry demonstrators chanting slogans
against European Union nations in Pakistan.
Outside the Danish embassy in Tehran, hundreds of Muslims
threw rocks at the building, burned a Danish flag and
clashed with police.
"Death to Denmark!" they chanted, outraged
by the caricatures that were first printed in a Danish
newspaper. Some other European papers have since published
some of the cartoons, and they have also been reprinted
in the Middle East and parts of Asia. The depiction
of Mohammed is forbidden in Islam. In their joint statement,
Annan, Ihsanoglu and Solana urged greater dialogue between
religious and political leaders.
"These events make the need for renewed dialogue,
among and between communities of different faiths and
authorities of different countries, all the more urgent.
We call on them to appeal for restraint and calm, in
the spirit of friendship and mutual respect."
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen also appealed
for restraint by demonstrators, saying the situation
needs to be solved "through dialogue, not violence"
and that the people of his nation are watching in "disbelief
and sadness the events unfolding in the world."
"Today I want to appeal and reach out to all people
and countries in the Muslim world: Let us work together
in the spirit of mutual respect and tolerance,"
Rasmussen said in Copenhagen. Rasmussen blamed the violence
on "radical extremists and fanatics" who are
"adding fuel to the flames in order to push forward
their own agendas," many using high-tech means
-- like text messaging -- to spread false information
before his country can respond to the accusations. He
warned that the situation could get worse if not stopped
now.
"We are facing a growing global crisis that has
the potential to escalate beyond the control of government
and other authorities," Rasmussen told reporters
in a news conference.
Cheney: Violent protests 'overdone'
On Tuesday U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney said the
violent protests by thousands of Muslims angry over
the cartoons was not justified, and he called their
reaction "overdone."
"We think the violence is not justified, in terms
of what's happened there," Cheney told PBS's "The
Newshour with Jim Lehrer." "I think it's been
overdone, I guess if I can put it in those terms."
In the PBS interview, Cheney was asked if the newspapers
were justified in publishing the cartoons: "We
believe very deeply in freedom of expression. Obviously,
we think it's appropriate for people to respect one
another's religion. But I don't believe that the printing
of those cartoons justifies the violence that we've
seen."
CNN has chosen to not show the cartoons out of respect
for Islam.
-- CNN Producer Syed Mohsin Naqvi and Journalist Tom
Coghlan contributed to this report
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/02/07/cartoon.protests/
In Tehran, a riposte to the Danish cartoons
By Michael Slackman The New York Times
Published: August 24, 2006
TEHRAN The title of the show is Holocaust International
Cartoon Contest, or "Holocust," as the show's
organizers spelled the word in promotional material.
But the content has little to do with the events of
World War II and Nazi Germany.
There is instead a drawing of a Jew with a very large
nose, a nose so large, in fact, that it obscures his
entire head. Across his chest is the word "Holocaust."
Another drawing shows a vampire, wearing a big Star
of David, drinking the blood of Palestinians. A third
shows Ariel Sharon dressed in a Nazi uniform, emblazoned
not with swastikas, but with the Star of David.
The cartoons are among more than 200 on display in the
Palestinian Contemporary Art Museum in central Tehran
in a show that opened earlier this month and is to run
until the middle of September. The exhibition is intended
as a response to the cartoons in a Danish newspaper
that lampooned the Prophet Muhammad and were condemned
by Muslims as blasphemous.
The message of the Holocaust-themed show is as old as
the fictional Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and as
contemporary as the drawings of Israeli tanks running
over Palestinian men, women and children. Each picture
is hung with great care, carefully matted and placed
in a soft wood frame and illuminated by gentle lighting.
"It is not that we are against a specific religion,"
said Seyed Massoud Shojaei, curator of the show, offering
a distinction that visitors to the show are certain
to question. "We are against repression by the
Israelis."
In February, the Iranian newspaper Hamshahri said that
it would challenge the West's concepts of freedom of
expression by probing one of its own taboos and challenging
accounts of the Holocaust. Iran's president, Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, was condemned in the West when he called
the Holocaust a myth.
The idea of the contest is to expose what some here
see as Western hypocrisy for condemning Ahmadinejad,
while invoking freedom of expression when it comes to
cartoons that many Muslims said were deeply offensive.
The cartoons prompted riots in many countries that left
people dead and several European embassies burned by
demonstrators.
Shojaei said that more than 1,000 pictures from 61 countries
were submitted, proving that "there is a new holocaust
in Guanta'namo Bay, Abu Ghraib, Palestine, Iraq and
Afghanistan." The show's provocative theme may
attract the attention of the West. But it has gone little
noticed here. Over a three-day period, the gallery was
virtually empty at different times of the day.
A few visitors stopped by, mostly art students who said
they had visited to examine artistic techniques. Many
were also happy to take away a free poster: a photograph
showing three military helmets piled up, the two with
swastikas on the crown, a third with the Star of David.
"I came here to study the quality of the work,"
said Hamid Derikvand, 27, who said he was an art student
at the university across the street from the gallery.
What did he think of the message? "I am not interested
in politics," he said.
Technically, this is not a government show. The cash
prizes that will be awarded to the winners - with a
$12,000 top prize - will not come from the government,
Shojaei said.
But the theme of the show fits well with the leadership's
efforts to define itself as confrontational with the
West and as a leader in the challenge to Israel's existence.
At the height of the worldwide anger over the Danish
cartoons, there were two protests in Tehran, both organized
by officials. But while people here say they are sympathetic
with Palestinians and Lebanese, and angry at Israel
and the United States, there did not seem to be a huge
rush to see the show.
"Look, these cartoons are the reflections of U.S.
and Israelis' deeds, but wouldn't it have been better
if they were put on display in the U.S. or even in Israel?"
said Ali Eezadi, 70, a retired industrial engineer who
visited the gallery Thursday afternoon.
"If this was the case," he said, "certainly
there would be a rationale for it. But having this kind
of exhibition in Iran does not draw much attention.
I mean, these things are said, written and expressed
in lots of ways that makes people apathetic." At
first, Shojaei was keen to show visitors around. He
was proud to point to his own drawing, a rabid dog with
a Jewish star on its side and the word Holocaust around
its collar.
He said there were three reasons for holding the show:
The first was because, he said, in the West it is considered
all right to insult religion, but impermissible to question
the Holocaust.
The second, he said, is to ask why Palestinians must
pay the price for the atrocities of the Holocaust -
which he, unlike his president, did not deny. And the
third, he said, is to draw attention to what he called
the creation of a new Holocaust against Muslims, primarily
Palestinians.
"We have been accused of being advocates for neo-Nazis,"
he said, speaking in Farsi through a translator. "This
is not true."
The show took up three floors of the gallery and Shojaei
was on the third floor, surrounded by images, which
at most used the Holocaust as a subtext: A dove chained
to a Star of David. President George W. Bush seated
at a desk swatting doves. A Jew, or Israeli, asleep
with three Arab heads mounted to the wall above his
bed.
"We are not saying the Holocaust is a myth,"
he said. "We are saying that by this excuse Israelis
are repressing other people."
Shojaei was not interested in answering questions
or being challenged on his statements.
"You will need to make an appointment for
an interview," he said abruptly, and left quickly
through the front door after an attempt to engage him.
There were cartoons from other countries on display,
too. China. India. Brazil. Syria. Jordan. Pakistan.
An Israeli soldier holding a gas can that said Holocaust
on the side as the soldier poured the fuel into a military
tank.
A razor blade in the ground, like the barrier Israel
is building along the West Bank, with the word Holocaust
along the side. Two firemen, each with a Jewish star
on his chest, using Palestinian blood to extinguish
the word Holocaust, which was ablaze. Shojaei said that
none of the images were intended as anti-Jewish, only
anti- Zionist and anti-Israeli - and of course, anti-American
and anti-British. As evidence of that idea, he said
that Iranians live peacefully with the Iranian Jewish
community in Iran.
But Morris Motamed, the one Jewish member of Iran's
Parliament, said he did not go to the show because "it
was in line with anti-Semitism and aimed at insulting
Jews."
He added: "I felt if I went, I would get insulted
and get hurt."
TEHRAN The title of the show is Holocaust International
Cartoon Contest, or "Holocust," as the show's
organizers spelled the word in promotional material.
But the content has little to do with the events of
World War II and Nazi Germany.
There is instead a drawing of a Jew with a very large
nose, a nose so large, in fact, that it obscures his
entire head. Across his chest is the word "Holocaust."
Another drawing shows a vampire, wearing a big Star
of David, drinking the blood of Palestinians. A third
shows Ariel Sharon dressed in a Nazi uniform, emblazoned
not with swastikas, but with the Star of David.
The cartoons are among more than 200 on display in the
Palestinian Contemporary Art Museum in central Tehran
in a show that opened earlier this month and is to run
until the middle of September. The exhibition is intended
as a response to the cartoons in a Danish newspaper
that lampooned the Prophet Muhammad and were condemned
by Muslims as blasphemous.
The message of the Holocaust-themed show is as old as
the fictional Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and as
contemporary as the drawings of Israeli tanks running
over Palestinian men, women and children. Each picture
is hung with great care, carefully matted and placed
in a soft wood frame and illuminated by gentle lighting.
"It is not that we are against a specific religion,"
said Seyed Massoud Shojaei, curator of the show, offering
a distinction that visitors to the show are certain
to question. "We are against repression by the
Israelis."
In February, the Iranian newspaper Hamshahri said that
it would challenge the West's concepts of freedom of
expression by probing one of its own taboos and challenging
accounts of the Holocaust. Iran's president, Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, was condemned in the West when he called
the Holocaust a myth. The idea of the contest is to
expose what some here see as Western hypocrisy for condemning
Ahmadinejad, while invoking freedom of expression when
it comes to cartoons that many Muslims said were deeply
offensive. The cartoons prompted riots in many countries
that left people dead and several European embassies
burned by demonstrators.
Shojaei said that more than 1,000 pictures from 61 countries
were submitted, proving that "there is a new holocaust
in Guanta'namo Bay, Abu Ghraib, Palestine, Iraq and
Afghanistan."
The show's provocative theme may attract the attention
of the West. But it has gone little noticed here. Over
a three-day period, the gallery was virtually empty
at different times of the day.
A few visitors stopped by, mostly art students who said
they had visited to examine artistic techniques. Many
were also happy to take away a free poster: a photograph
showing three military helmets piled up, the two with
swastikas on the crown, a third with the Star of David.
"I came here to study the quality of the work,"
said Hamid Derikvand, 27, who said he was an art student
at the university across the street from the gallery.
What did he think of the message? "I am not interested
in politics," he said.
Technically, this is not a government show. The cash
prizes that will be awarded to the winners - with a
$12,000 top prize - will not come from the government,
Shojaei said. But the theme of the show fits well with
the leadership's efforts to define itself as confrontational
with the West and as a leader in the challenge to Israel's
existence. At the height of the worldwide anger over
the Danish cartoons, there were two protests in Tehran,
both organized by officials.
But while people here say they are sympathetic with
Palestinians and Lebanese, and angry at Israel and the
United States, there did not seem to be a huge rush
to see the show.
"Look, these cartoons are the reflections of U.S.
and Israelis' deeds, but wouldn't it have been better
if they were put on display in the U.S. or even in Israel?"
said Ali Eezadi, 70, a retired industrial engineer who
visited the gallery Thursday afternoon.
"If this was the case," he said, "certainly
there would be a rationale for it. But having this kind
of exhibition in Iran does not draw much attention.
I mean, these things are said, written and expressed
in lots of ways that makes people apathetic. At first,
Shojaei was keen to show visitors around. He was proud
to point to his own drawing, a rabid dog with a Jewish
star on its side and the word Holocaust around its collar.
He said there were three reasons for holding the show:
The first was because, he said, in the West it is considered
all right to insult religion, but impermissible to question
the Holocaust.
The second, he said, is to ask why Palestinians must
pay the price for the atrocities of the Holocaust -
which he, unlike his president, did not deny.
And the third, he said, is to draw attention to what
he called the creation of a new Holocaust against Muslims,
primarily Palestinians.
"We have been accused of being advocates for neo-Nazis,"
he said, speaking in Farsi through a translator. "This
is not true."
The show took up three floors of the gallery and Shojaei
was on the third floor, surrounded by images, which
at most used the Holocaust as a subtext: A dove chained
to a Star of David. President George W. Bush seated
at a desk swatting doves. A Jew, or Israeli, asleep
with three Arab heads mounted to the wall above his
bed.
"We are not saying the Holocaust is a myth,"
he said. "We are saying that by this excuse Israelis
are repressing other people."
Shojaei was not interested in answering questions or
being challenged on his statements.
You will need to make an appointment for an interview,"
he said abruptly, and left quickly through the front
door after an attempt to engage him.
There were cartoons from other countries on display,
too. China. India. Brazil. Syria. Jordan. Pakistan.
An Israeli soldier holding a gas can that said Holocaust
on the side as the soldier poured the fuel into a military
tank.
A razor blade in the ground, like the barrier Israel
is building along the West Bank, with the word Holocaust
along the side. Two firemen, each with a Jewish star
on his chest, using Palestinian blood to extinguish
the word Holocaust, which was ablaze. Shojaei said that
none of the images were intended as anti-Jewish, only
anti- Zionist and anti-Israeli - and of course, anti-American
and anti-British. As evidence of that idea, he said
that Iranians live peacefully with the Iranian Jewish
community in Iran.
But Morris Motamed, the one Jewish member of Iran's
Parliament, said he did not go to the show because "it
was in line with anti-Semitism and aimed at insulting
Jews."
He added: "I felt if I went, I would get insulted
and get hurt."
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/08/24/news/iran.php
Iran: "We will wipe Israel off the map"
The Israel News Agency just had to add these
cartoons above and below
to the Iran Holocaust Cartoon Contest!
Iran paper to run Holocaust cartoons
Robert Tait inTehran, Declan Walsh in Islamabad and
Owen Bowcott
Tuesday February 7, 2006
The Guardian
Muslim protesters infuriated by cartoons depicting
the prophet Muhammad raised the diplomatic stakes last
night as Iran's best-selling newspaper announced it
would retaliate by running images satirising the Holocaust.
The decision by the rightwing Hamshari daily to launch
an international competition to find the most suitable
caricatures came as demonstrators hurled firebombs and
stones at the Danish embassy in Tehran and the Iranian
government imposed a formal trade ban on Danish imports.
Last night mobs were attempting to storm the Danish
compound.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/cartoonprotests/story/0,,1703925,00.html
Moroccan wins first place in Iran Holocaust cartoon
contest
By The Associated Press
Iran awarded a Moroccan artist Wednesday the top prize
in an exhibition of cartoons on the Holocaust that has
received international condemnation, including from
UN chief Kofi Annan.
Meant to be a response to the Danish cartoons of Islam's
Prophet Mohammed that sparked rage among Muslims around
the world, the exhibit appears inspired by Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's tirades calling for Israel to
be destroyed. Tehran has several times announced plans
to host a conference to examine the scientific evidence
supporting the validity of the Holocaust, dismissing
it as exaggerated. Its most recent announcement came
in September during Annan's visit to the Iran capital,
where he said he discussed the cartoon show with officials.
Abdollah Derkaoui received $12,000 for his work depicting
an Israeli crane piling large cement blocks on Israel's
security wall and gradually obscuring Al-Aqsa Mosque
in Jerusalem. A picture of Nazi Germany's Auschwitz
concentration camp appears on the wall. Tehran Museum
of Contemporary Arts, next to the Palestinian Embassy,
which was the Israeli diplomatic mission before the
1979 Islamic Revolution.
The exhibit curator, Masoud Shojai, said the contest
would be an annual event. "Actually, we will continue
until the destruction of Israel," he said. The
display, comprising 204 entries from Iran and abroad,
opened in August.
Carlos Latuff from Brazil and A. Chard from France
jointly won the second prize of $8,000 and Iran's Shahram
Rezai received $5,000 for third place. Many Muslims
considered the cartoons published by the Danish newspaper
Jyllands-Posten a violation of traditions prohibiting
images of their prophet.
The Tehran daily Hamshahri, a co-sponsor of the exhibition,
said it wanted to test the West's tolerance for drawings
about the Nazi killing of 6 million Jews in World War
II. The entries on display came from nations including
United States, Indonesia and Turkey.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/782695.html
Iran Holocaust cartoon contest kicks off
AFP ^ | Febuary 13 2006 | Siavosh Ghazi
Posted on 02/13/2006 5:58:06 PM PST by jmc1969
A controversial contest for cartoons of the Holocaust
was launched in Iran on Monday in a tit-for-tat move
over the caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed that have
enflamed Muslims worldwide.
The first entry was said to be from renowned Australian
cartoonist Michael Leunig, according to the Website
organizing the competition with Iran's biggest selling
newspaper Hamshahri, triggering outrage in the United
States and Germany in particular.
"As a show of solidarity with the Muslim world,
and an exercise in free speech, I would like to submit
a cartoon to you on the theme of the Holocaust,"
Leunig was quoted as saying in a statement on the Irancartoons.com
Website.
Hardline President Mahmud Ahmadinejad has already
prompted international anger by dismissing the systematic
slaughter by the Nazis of mainland Europe's Jews as
a "myth" used to justify the creation of Israel.
The first of Leunig's two cartoons on the Website show
a poor man with a Star of David on his back walking
toward the Auschwitz death camp in 1945 with the words
"Work Brings Freedom" over the entrance.
The second shows the same scene but depicting "Israel
2002" with the slogan "War Brings Peace"
over the entrance and the same man walking toward it
bearing a rifle.
"I have had some difficulty getting this work
published in my own country, and I believe it would
help highlight the hypocrisy of the West's attitude
to free speech if you were to publish it," the
Melbourne-based Leunig was quoted as saying. Hamshahri,
which is published by Tehran's conservative municipality,
said that the contest was officially launched on Monday
with the title "What is the limit on freedom of
expression in the West?"
Its graphics editor Farid Mortazavi said earlier this
month that the aim was to turn the tables on the assertion
that newspapers can print offensive material in the
name of freedom of expression. Anger over cartoons of
the Prophet Mohammed, first published in Denmark in
September, has boiled over into violent demonstrations
across much of the Muslim world.
"Freedom of expression has always been a pretext
for Westerners ... to insult the beliefs of Muslims,"
Hamshahri charged in its advertisement for the contest.
"This assault is taking place while criticizing
many issues such as the crimes of the United States
and Israel as well as historical events like the Holocaust
are seen as an unforgivable crime all over the West."
Iran's fiercely anti-Israeli regime is supportive of
so-called Holocaust revisionist historians, who maintain
that the systematic slaughter by the Nazis of mainland
Europe's Jews as well as other groups during World War
II has been either invented or exaggerated.
The newspaper said that the contest was open until
May 5. It did not announce what the prize would be but
said that each artist would receive a book of the cartoons
submitted.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1577938/posts
Iran presents: Holocaust cartoon contest
Leading newspaper presents contest in response to
cartoons disparaging Muhammad
Roee Nahmias
Published: 02.06.06, 22:08 / Israel News
Iran's most popular daily newspaper, Hamshahri, is
set to initiate a Holocaust cartoon contest in what
it says is a response to cartoons disparaging Islam's
prophet Muhammad published in a Danish newspaper.
"This will be an international cartoon competition
on the topic of the Holocaust," said Farid Mortazawi,
the paper's graphic editor.
The editor added the newspaper intends to fight back
by claiming the publication of Holocaust cartoons is
done in the name of freedom of expression.
"Western newspapers published these caricatures,
which constitute desecration, under the pretense of
freedom of expression," he said. "Let's see
if they mean what they say once we publish Holocaust
caricatures." Meanwhile, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi,
a leading Muslim Brotherhood cleric, has condemned the
harsh reactions to the cartoons among Muslim communities
around the world.
Speaking on al-Jazeera's Sharia program, Qaradawi said:
"The acts of destruction carried out by a minority
of people in capitals around the world are unacceptable
as a response to what European newspaper published.
We never called on people to burn cars. We call on you
to show the fury in an intelligent way as to avoid unthinkable
damage."
"We condemn those who are attacking us when we
do not attack them. We are bound by the laws of Allah
and to his instructions," said Qaradawi, who has
a major influence on the Arab Muslim community and on
Muslim communities in the West. Responding to a question
about churches damaged in Beirut by rioting masses,
Qaradawi said: "This is unacceptable. We have seen
Muslim imams preventing people from doing this, but
it seems there are those who will exploit the rage of
the people to pour fuel on the fire." Qaradawi
has called for "sanctions on countries that published
the cartoons in their newspapers. We demand an international
law forbidding religions from being humiliated, and
we held a rally as a response to these injuries. These
are the ways to respond."
Qaradawi also condemned freedom of speech, saying: "No
one has this freedom. When you drive in a car, you can't
swerve right and left because there are other people
on the road with you. You must drive according to traffic
laws."
Meanwhile, 400 Iranian protesters threw rocks and Molotov
cocktails at the Danish Embassy in Teheran. Earlier,
the Austrian Embassy in the Iranian capital was attacked.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3212064,00.html