Economic and human costs of the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy

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Jyllands-Posten
cartoons controversy

Events and reactions

Primary parties involved

1 Human costs
2 Economic costs
3 External links
4 References

[edit] Human costs

Andrea Santoro, an Italian Catholic priest, was killed on February 5, 2006, in Trabzon, Turkey. A 16 year-old high school student was arrested two days later carrying a 9mm pistol. The student told police he had been influenced by the cartoons.^[1]

At least four protesters were killed in Afghanistan, in Mihtarlam, and an US air base in Bagram. One boy was trampled to death in Bossaso, Somalia, when the crowd stampeded as police fired in the air to disperse them. On February 5, 2006, one protester died at the blazing Danish Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon.^[2]

On February 6, 2006, one demonstrator involved in the torching of the Danish consulate in Beirut, Lebanon, was found dead on a staircase. One protester was shot to death in Laghman Province, Afghanistan.^[3]

Four people were killed and 22 injured on February 7, 2006, in an attack on a NATO base in Maymana, Afghanistan.^[4]

On February 13, 2006, two people were killed in Lahore, Pakistan. The next day two were killed in Peshawar, Pakistan; and another in Lahore.[1]

On February 15, 2006, three people were killed by local police forces in the city of Peshawar, Pakistan during widespread demonstrations in the city.

On February 17, 2006, eleven people died during protests in Libya ^[5]

On February 18, 2006, sixteen people were killed in northern Nigeria as demonstrators protested the cartoons by storming and burning Christian churches and businesses.^[6] The majority of the casualties were believed to be Christians, a minority group in Northern Nigeria.

As of February 24, 2006, around 146 people have been killed in religious riots in Nigeria, touched off by attacks against Christians in the predominantly Muslim North [2][3].

As of March 22, 2006, 139 people have died, and at least 823 people have been injured as a result of the cartoons (those figures do not count riots in Nigeria).^[7]

As of April 14, 2006, a 67 year old Coptic Christian was knifed to death by a 25 year old Muslim in an attack on faithful in a Coptic church in Alexandria, Egypt. At the same time others attacked two other Coptic churches and injured more than ten Christians.^[8] According to press reports, referring to the department of the Interior of Egypt, the killer acted in revenge to the publication of the Muhammad cartoons.^[9]

On May 3, 2006, 28 year old Pakistani Amir Abdur Rehman Cheema hung himself in prison in Berlin, Germany while awaiting trial for an unsuccessful attempt to enter the building of the German newspaper Die Welt, armed with a knife, and attack the chief editor. At his autopsy, two high-ranking Pakistani police officials were present.^[10]

[edit] Economic costs

While many Muslims and supporters took part in protests throughout the world, many more took part in one of the single biggest consumer led boycotts of all time. Consumers, especially Arab nations, began a process of boycotting all Danish goods. This was then followed by the governments of Iran and Saudi Arabia issuing boycotts and restrictions on Consumer products imported from Denmark. Denmark is concerned about the potential loss of 11,000 jobs resulting from boycotts against Danish products in the Islamic world.^[11]

The biggest single loser of the Boycott was a Swedish-Danish company called Arla. Arla, Denmark's biggest exporter to the Middle East, has been losing 10 million kroner (1.6 million dollars, 1.3 million euros) per day since its products were taken off the shelves in several, and has had to temporarily lay off 125 workers. In response, Arla began to sell its product without its brand name being present and in large containers. Other companies have replaced their "Made in Denmark" label with a "Made in the EU" label. Others still have used foreign subsidiaries to camouflage the origin of Danish production, according to the Confederation of Danish Industries’ (DI).

The Boycott continued, despite hopes that it was a temporary dispute which would quickly blow over. The pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk said that it had lost a 200-million-kroner insulin contract in Turkey blaming the ongoing controversy. Jyske Bank has estimated that the cost of the boycott to the Danish economy could total 7.5 billion kroner which is in the area of 0.5 percent of the Danish GDP.^[12]

Another study has shown that Danish export losses due to the boycott were more than compensated by gains in other markets. The Danish export to the Arab world is less than 2% of GDP.^[13]

[edit] Consumer Boycotts of Danish Products

People in Saudi Arabia called for a boycott on Danish products on January 20 and carried it out starting January 26. The boycott primarily targeted dairy products produced by Arla Foods, but has also hit other products such as Bang & Olufsen and Lego.

Arla halted production in the Saudi capital Riyadh and sent home 170 employees.^[14] Arla exports account for almost 380 million Euros a year.^[15]^[16]

The boycott spread to Kuwait where the country's largest retail chain, the state-owned Coop, has taken all Danish products off the shelves. This has lead to the Confederation of Danish Industries sending an open letter to Jyllands-Posten in which they state that the paper should comment on these events because they feel their members are caught in a "battle" between religious movements and the paper.^[17] The newspaper has reacted to the letter by saying that "Dictatorships should not dictate what Danish newspapers are to draw and write".^[18]

The Jyllands-Posten reported that the Danish products now seem to be on a rebound. Sales for April 2006 are virtually as high as April 2005, and for medical products the export is even up, [4] however, the BBC reported in October 2006 that export of Danish foods to Muslim countries has fallen 35% while other European countries have seen a 10% rise in exports to the same region.^[19]

On September 9, 2006, it was announced that the Muslim boycott of Danish goods had reduced exports by 15.5%, costing about 134 million euros.^[20]

[edit] Property Damage

On February 4, 2006, the buildings containing the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Syria were set ablaze, although no one was hurt.^{[citation needed]}

On February 12 - February 15, 2006, during three days of riots in the city of Peshawar, Pakistan people demonstrated against symbols of Western culture. Fast food restaurants, banks and two offices of Telenor (a Norwegian telecom company) were vandalized.^{[citation needed]}

On February 18, 2006, eleven Christian churches were torched in riots in the state of Borno, Nigeria. A number of hotels, stores and vehicles were torched in Maiduguri, the state capital, after the local police force used tear gas to disperse rioters.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Other calls for boycott

In February, the French international supermarket chain Carrefour took all Danish products off the shelves in Muslim countries. Posters with the Carrefour logo proclaiming a boycott of Denmark, resulted in a boycott of Carrefour in Brussels.^[21]

On March 05, 2006 Ayman al-Zawahiri of Al Qaeda urged all Muslims to boycott, not only Denmark but also Norway, France, Germany and all others that have "insulted the Prophet Mohammed" by printing cartoons depicting him.^[22]

Iran has announced that it plans to review its trade ties with all countries where the cartoons were published.^[23] A high level committee involving the Foreign Minister, the Deputy Foreign Minister, the Deputy Trade Minister and the Deputy Oil Minister has been set up.

[edit] Support Denmark movement

An example of one of the banners being posted across the web to encourage support for Danish goods.

The Support Denmark Movement is a movement in Western countries to support the Danish people as a reaction against the Anti-Denmark Boycott. Supporters are encouraged to seek out and buy more Danish produce and display stickers and web banners with supportive slogans and Danish flags. Large numbers of blogs, websites and message boards have sprung up, listing Danish products that people can buy and publishing messages of support.