There are things going on in Scandinavia right now that should interest us. Burning the Koran has become blasphemy.
Last January, demonstrators burned the Koran during a demonstration outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm. The Turkish dictator, the Islamist Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reacted by threatening to prevent Sweden from entering NATO. Swedes have therefore decided to return to the embassy and burn the holy book of Islam again.
Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State
The controversy then spread to Holland, Denmark, Norway and Finland, where protesters promised to do the same. Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State promised retaliation.
This is where the twist comes. In February, the Swedish police authorities refused to allow this demonstration to burn the Koran again, citing security reasons. Similar decisions were taken in Finland and Norway. The issue does not apply to the Bible or the Torah, only Islam benefits from what is, de facto, a new offense of blasphemy.
The decision sparked an outcry and a legal challenge. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson reacted. Burning the Koran is a very bad idea according to him. He understands that Muslims are offended. He upheld the ban while calling himself a defender of free speech.
Kristersson’s reaction reminded me of Justin Trudeau’s when Samuel Paty was assassinated in France in 2020, beheaded for showing caricatures of Muhammad in his classroom. While condemning this terrorist attack, our Prime Minister had implied that Paty had thrown oil on the fire, a bad idea in his eyes.
Fleurdelysé and the Koran
In this kind of situation, tempering is not an option. The only position possible is a total and complete defense of the right to criticize all ideologies. I will remember all my life the English-Canadian demonstrators who, at the time of the Meech Lake accord, marched on the Quebec flag. I had been deeply outraged by this provocative and contemptuous gesture. However, I have never called for a ban on wiping your feet on the fleur-de-lysé. The right to profane and shock is an integral part of our freedom of expression…even when it veers into stupidity. This goes for our flag and for the Koran.
Fundamentalists are also threatening our freedoms here as well. Recently, the Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council called for the lifting of the parliamentary immunity of our elected officials when they discuss Muslim organizations. This rule prevents prosecution for comments made in the chamber.
To take another example, in Alberta, the former head of the Human Rights Commission, Collin May, was fired following a smear campaign by the National Council of Canadian Muslims and the NDP. His crime? In 2009, he wrote a reading review of a book that criticizes Islam.
Such events will multiply with the arrival in office of Amira Elghawaby. This federal civil servant managing a budget of 5 million dollars is responsible for combating “Islamophobia”.
Today, the crime of blasphemy is reinstated in Sweden. Tomorrow it will be with us.