The cartoons in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten raise the most important question of our times: freedom of expression.... A democracy cannot survive long without freedom of expression, the freedom to argue, to dissent, even to insult and offend....
This raises another more general problem: the inability of the West to defend itself intellectually and culturally. Be proud, do not apologise.... Do we still have to apologise, for example, for the British Empire, when, in fact, the British presence in India led to the Indian Renaissance, resulted in famine relief, railways, roads and irrigation schemes, eradication of cholera, the civil service, the establishment of a universal educational system where none existed before, the institution of elected parliamentary democracy and the rule of law? What of the British architecture of Bombay and Calcutta?
The British even gave back to the Indians their own past: it was European scholarship, archaeology and research that uncovered the greatness that was India; it was British government that did its best to save and conserve the monuments that were a witness to that past glory. British Imperialism preserved where earlier Islamic Imperialism destroyed thousands of Hindu temples....
The West is the source of the liberating ideas.... Freedom of expression is our Western heritage and we must defend it.
From 'Democracy in a Cartoon', Der Spiegel, 2006
This raises another more general problem: the inability of the West to defend itself intellectually and culturally. Be proud, do not apologise.... Do we still have to apologise, for example, for the British Empire, when, in fact, the British presence in India led to the Indian Renaissance, resulted in famine relief, railways, roads and irrigation schemes, eradication of cholera, the civil service, the establishment of a universal educational system where none existed before, the institution of elected parliamentary democracy and the rule of law? What of the British architecture of Bombay and Calcutta?
The British even gave back to the Indians their own past: it was European scholarship, archaeology and research that uncovered the greatness that was India; it was British government that did its best to save and conserve the monuments that were a witness to that past glory. British Imperialism preserved where earlier Islamic Imperialism destroyed thousands of Hindu temples....
The West is the source of the liberating ideas.... Freedom of expression is our Western heritage and we must defend it.
From 'Democracy in a Cartoon', Der Spiegel, 2006
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are that of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of www.economictimes.com.)
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