Okay, maybe the West is not doomed, but it is still a bit shocking to see how quickly Western institutions bow to religious extremism at the same time that individuals in countries dominated by religious extremism fight that trend.
In late September, two stories appeared in the British press about separate art exhibits and very different attitudes toward freedom of expression.
On September 26, the Associated Press reported that in response to the July terrorist bombings in London, the Tate Museum had pulled works from an art exhibit in order to avoid offending Muslims. The work by John Latham, “God Is Great,” featured, according to the AP,
. . . a large sheet of glass and copies of the Quran, the Bible and Judaism’s Talmud that have been cut apart, with the pieces mounted on either side of the glass to make it appear that they are embedded in it.
Latham, 84, derided the Tate’s cowardice noting that such outrageous reactions simply empower religious extremism. Latham was quoted by the Associated Press as saying,
Tate Britain have shown cowardice over this. I think it’s a daft thing to do because, if they want to help militants, this is the way to do it.
“God Is Great” is part of the museum’s permanent collection, and Latham asked the museum to return the artwork given its decision to remove it.
While Tate Britain was cowering trying to avoid offending anyone, activists in Tehran were putting on art show of their own. On September 26 the Sunday Times reported that a group of Iranians put on an art show in Tehran showing off 190 paintings that had been banned as “anti-Islamic” after the Islamist revolution there.
While Tate Britain removed “God Is Great,” Iranians were viewing works by Picasso, Toulouse-Lautrec and Andy Warhol that was intended to offend the sensibilities of Muslim extremists. Incoming Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad recently announced the firing of the Museum of Contemporary Art’s director, Ali-Reza Samiazar, and the show featuring the banned artwork was essentially a parting shot by Samiazar against the hardline conservative Ahmadinejad.
The Western intelligentsia cowers in the corner at the fear of religious extremism, while those who have to live under the brunt of it daily openly rebel against it. Maybe the West is not doomed, but it is certainly troubling how much it is willing to bend over backwards to accommodate its enemies.
Sources:
Banned art in a show of revolt against mullahs. Peter Conradi, The Sunday times, September 25, 2005.
Tate Britain Museum Pulls Artwork. Associated Press, September 26, 2005.