Certainly the Salman Rushdie experience was intense and unique in many ways.  But it is not isolated or singular as an example of where courage is needed with one’s artistic choices.  A similar situation involving some Danish cartoons published in a newspaper can be studied for further thought on this question of what art is worth dying for.  The following youtube video is a slide show of these cartoons.  Watch the slide show before going on.

It all started when a Danish writer, Kare Bluitgen complained that he was unable to find an illustrator for his children’s book about the Prophet Muhammad. An editorial was printed with twelve accompanying cartoons, published in September 2005 by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. The cartoons show the Muslim Prophet Muhammad in a variety of situations. Some are rather provocative while others are quite innocuous.

Jyllands-Posten’s culture editor, Flemming Rose, says he did not ask the illustrators to draw satirical caricatures of Muhammad. He asked them to draw the Prophet as they saw him. Rose cited a long tradition of biting satire with no taboos in Danish publishing.  He said the illustrators showed no difference in their treatment of Islamic content than with other religions.  This brought on the republishing of these cartoons in other newspapers as a show of solidarity.

The cartoons were republished in Austria in January, and then at the beginning of February in a number of European newspapers in France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Diplomatic protests by governments of Islamic countries started in October 2005, escalating to the closure of embassies. Boycotts of Danish products and protests across the Islamic world built up in late January and early February. In the Palestinian territories, armed groups made direct threats against citizens of the countries in which the cartoons were published. There were also some death threats against the artists.

February 2nd, 2006, Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen appeared on Arabic TV to apologize for offence caused by the cartoons, but he also defended freedom of expression. There have since been angry and sometimes violent protests across the Islamic world, and in Britain and France, but time has brought about an end to such demonstrations.