Tranquil nation at the centre of a clash of cultures

By Stephen Castle in Copenhagen

Denmark, once the epitome of Nordic tranquillity, finds itself at the epicentre of a clash of cultures. Four months after Jyllands-Posten published 12 cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed, a nation used to a warm reception around the world has been shocked to see its flag burned, its diplomats threatened and its products boycotted.

Publication of any image of Mohamed is considered blasphemous by Muslims. But, in a taxi speeding across the city, the paper's culture editor, Flemming Rose, said that, when the decision was taken in September to commission the cartoons, the intention was freedom of expression, not provocation.

The paper's journalists were discussing the case of Kåre Bluitgen, the author of a children's book on the life of Mohamed, who struggled to find a cartoonist willing to make an image of the Prophet. The idea of challenging Denmark's society of cartoonists to do the same, said Mr Rose, came not from him but from a colleague whom he does not want to name.

Though Jyllands-Posten has apologised for causing offence, and its editor-in-chief has been quoted as saying that he would not have published had he known the consequences, Mr Rose is not in a mood to say sorry. He said: "I stand by the publication. Wearing a short skirt at the discotheque in our culture does not imply that you invite everybody to have sex with you. When you draw a cartoon of the Prophet, in our culture that does not mean that you are denigrating, that you are marginalising, that you are humiliating religion. This is just the way we do things."

Although the row rumbled on for months, it escalated last weekend after Denmark was denounced by clerics across the Middle East. The furious international reaction has, Mr Rose says, "very little to do with these cartoons".

"This has more to do with this campaign by radical imams who travelled to the Middle East, who lied about the context, who said that Muslims are suppressed, that it's awful to be a Muslim in Denmark, while they were travelling to a country that violates Muslim human rights every single day."

Among those in his sights is Ahmad Abu Laban, a radical cleric and leader of the Islamic Society in Denmark. On the way to preaching in Copenhagen's main mosque, Mr Abu Laban said there can be no compromise: "We are not against freedom of speech but the Prophet Mohamed has unique status."

"Some Danish people - and the media - started to tell Muslims that they should sit down, keep quiet, and behave themselves".

But why has this row blown up in Denmark? The dispute has touched a nerve in a country where immigration is a hot political issue.

According to Toger Seidenfaden, editor-in-chief of Politiken newspaper, the dispute "reflects the general shape of the debate in Denmark which has been strongly xenophobic and islamaphobic". It has, he adds, been mishandled by the Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who allowed the crisis to escalate when he should have used diplomacy to defuse it.

Mr Rasmussen was elected on a tough, anti-immigration platform and has tightened rules on asylum. Moreover, his government has relied on the far right, anti-immigrant, Danish People's Party for support.

For weeks after the publication of the cartoons, the Prime Minister refused to get involved, arguing that this was an issue for the newspaper alone.

Mr Rasmussen rejected a request from ambassadors of 11 mainly Muslim countries, staying aloof until the dispute escalated to a crisis. But yesterday he changed course and appeared on al-Arabeya television, defending freedom of expression, but arguing: "I would never depict religious figures in a way that could hurt other people's feelings." The question is if the effort to dampen the flames has come too late.