I should...

I should write something about why Islamophobia* is bad (and about its likenesses with anti-semitism), and I should write something about why we should all be very worried about how governments invade our privacy. But as long as I'm working as much as I do now, that will have to wait. I just wanted you to know that it worries me.

*In general, I do not favor the Abrahamitic faiths. I would propose using the term Muslimophobia (i.e. fear of Muslims) instead of Islamophobia.

Freedom of speech

I saw a sign, on a photography in the newspaper, from Jakarta, Indonesia, stating that "Enough is enough. Be careful with Muhammad saw and Islam". The sign is from a demonstration outside the Danish embassy in Jakarta.

I recently saw a letter to the editor of another newspaper, where a muslim, living in Norway, called for fifteen years in jail as punishment for offending islam and its prophet Muhammad.

The Danish cartoonists, who drew Muhammad caricatures, are living under death threats, just like the author of the Satanic verses, Salman Rushdie.

Does any of you remember when the singer Sinnead O'Connor insulted the Pope? She called him "the enemy". Catholics were outraged, and called her (O'Connor) names. Did she get any death threats? No.

And what about the Iranian newspaper, which published Holocaust caricatures? Did anyone burn down an Iranian embassy? Not that I know of. (By the way, anti-semitic caricatures are common in the media in many muslim countries.)

So why should muslims get a special treatment?

Some muslims accuse the western world of hypocrisy, stating that we can mock Muhammad and islam, but we've got laws against mocking Jesus and Christianity, and against denying the Holocaust.

That's actually a good point. That is hypocrisy. Just like Timothy Garton Ash, I call for the abolition of all blasphemy laws, and all laws against denying the Holocaust.

My demand to the western world is: stop being hypocritic!
My demand to the muslim world: behave!

The market must cater to minorities

Ramadan started on 23 September this year, and it ends
23 October. Most ethnic Swedes care little about this,
me included, because it is none of my business.

However, according to the Swedish newspaper Dagens
Nyheter, Ramadan is a feast for Swedish grocery
chains.  The article quotes representatives for Axfood
and Coop, two of the largest grocery chains in Sweden.

The persons quoted, Irene Seideman of Axfood and
Magnus Frisk of Coop,  both have names that imply that
they are ethnic Swedes. It is not such a wild guess
that they do not celebrate Ramadan.

But as a business, operating on a market, a grocery
chain cannot afford not to cater to Muslims, at least
not when Muslims represent large numbers (although
still a minority) in Sweden. For the same reason that
grocery stores in areas in Sweden with many Finnish
immgrants sell the Finnish Lauantai makkara ("Saturday
sausage", which  I recommend), they now sell beef
soup, chicken soup, dadles and baklava. The reason is
simple: there is a demand for it.

From my own experience, I know that you can buy halal
food in food stores in Oslo (a city with a large
Muslim minority), and eat Swedish-style pizza at a
restaurant in this city, because of the Swedish
minority here, creating a demand for it.

As opposed to politics, where a majority can oppress a
minority, in the market, that is too expensive.
Business cannot afford no to cater to minorities,
whether they are Swedes, Finns or Muslims.