November 08, 2007 MUHAMMAD ON BROADWAY? Controversial Cartoon Inspires Musical Several drawings of the Prophet Muhammad in the European press have already scandalized the Muslim world. Now, a Swedish cartoonist is converting his controversial work into a musical. AFP This group in Pakistan was not happy with Lars Vilks' portrayal of the Prophet Muhammad. Almost two years ago, 12 unflattering caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad appeared in the Danish paper Jyllands-Posten. After a bit of PR work by some radical imams in Denmark, the Muslim world erupted in protest. Never one to leave well enough alone, Swedish artist Lars Vilks decided to keep the scandal going, and last summer, he drew a cartoon depicting the prophet's head on the body of a dog, which was published in the tiny Swedish paper Nerikes Allehanda. The caper earned him numerous death threats and a $100,000 bounty on his head, courtesy of al-Qaida -- who promised a $50,000 bonus if the murder was accomplished by slitting his throat. Undeterred, Vilks has now come up with a dubious new idea: Why not turn the entire scandal into a musical? He has already started work on the project -- with the working title "Dogs" -- and envisions a stage production in the mold of "Jesus Christ Superstar" or "Cats." "Muhammad is also a superstar in the modern sense of the term," Vilks told the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter. Vilks said that other characters in the show might include the Swedish prime minister, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and al-Qaida. There will also be an elegy performed by the "choir of the offended," he told the paper. The Swede claims that he is unconcerned about the response his musical might generate. "People will understand that this is a positive debate," he says, hopefully. "A sense of humor about this has been missing so far." Still, it is not likely to go unnoticed. Although his dog cartoon only appeared in a small regional paper in Sweden, protests came from the governments of Egypt, Jordan and Pakistan. His timing might be perfect. The Swedish Emergency Management Agency has entrusted Sweden's Örebro University with studying the dynamics of how far-flung protest developed following the publication of the dog cartoon. The study is also to compare last summer's somewhat muted protest with the violent reactions engendered by the original Jyllands-Posten caricatures. Now, the study will likely have to be extended -- to look at what happens when the Muslim world catches wind of Vilks' musical. pmm/afp <http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,516216,00.html> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
