Everybody loves Ramy.
This is the man who shows his support of freedom of the press, speech et al, by sacking the managing editor of France Soir.
So why is the sacking of a newspaper editor newsworthy? Well, France Soir was one of the mainstream outlets, along with Die Welt, in Germany, La Stampa in Italy and El Periodico from Spain, to finally carry the Danish cartoons of Mohammed that have been causing such a furore around the world amongst muslims. Just google Jyllands-Posten Danish cartoons and you'll find more information than you can poke a stick at.
But who is Ramy and why is he important?
Ramy (aka Raymond) Lakah is a French-Egyptian citizen with an interesting history. He owns around 70% of France Soir, and according to The Arabist
Rami Lakah was a businessman who had borrowed an enormous amount of money from Egyptian banks in the mid-1990s to expand his medical services empire and constitute a sizable private wealth. In the 2000 parliamentary elections, he ran and won in Cairo’s Ezbekiah district. Lakah flirted with several parties, including the NDP, but no one wanted him. It was clear that he had run because he was unable to repay his debts and that he was only interested in parliamentary immunity.
When politics didn't pan out the way he wanted, he ran away to France, leaving millions behind in debt, and somehow found the wherewithal to purchase the paper.
Shades of Christopher Skase. Good to see some traits are universal.
Over at Tim Blair's, the question was asked as to whether anyone thought M.Lakah was muslim or christian. I thought he was muslim, which after further investigation turned out to be wrong.
But that's okay, too, because while Nina Shea thinks he's Coptic Christian, The Arabist reckons he's catholic. I'm thinking that Mr Issandr El Amrani would know more about this than Nina.
Given Ramy's recent history, somehow I'm actually not all that surprised that he has acted the way he has.
After all
One of the surprising things about how Lakah should have known about the cartoons is that ........ France Soir made a big deal on coming out in favor of the Danish newspaper that originally published them. The headline says “Yes, we have the right to caricature God while the cartoon on the cover shows a Greek god, presumably, saying “Don’t skulk, Mohammed, we’ve all been lampooned at one time or another,” with Buddha and Jehovah (I think?) in the background.
In other words, Lakah either knew and then let his editor take the fall, or should have known.
It will be interesting to see how the management/owners of other MSM franchises handle this situation.
posted by Nilk @ 9:54 PM
13 Comments:
I am waiting to see them in the Australian..... but they are far tooo frightened to publish them. They are terrified of what the local muslims would do.
Print! Find some balls and print damn you!
Rosco
Rosco, on the 31st, the SMH covered their backsides by showing a photo of a burning newspaper opened to the cartoons.
I guess it's now just the waiting game to see if this gets picked up properly.
The piss weak Australian press really need their ass kicking into gear. Everything is done so as not to "offend" Muslims.
maybe we should intoduce compulsory lessons on what is offensive (eg spitting on girls, calling them sluts, raping them, beating up lifeguards) and what is not (publishing a cartoon).
rosco
Rosco: Well said.
I love this whole thing, as you might have guessed by the way I carry on putting up the most outrageous things I think I can get away with.
I went from writing 20 page essays on German philosophy to posting Derek's graphic of Mohammed with a beard made of cockroaches. I went from a dozen or two readers per day with essays on the fascist origins of ecology and anti-Humanism to things Muslims can understand: Portrait of Mo with bugs; caption: "Booga-Booga." I get over a thousand hits a day!
Tomorrow we'll hit them with "homo-hammed" (thanks to our favorite mother.)
Thanks much, Nifknarf. It's really fun.
Welcome, Dag.
I love your essays, just don't have a lot of time to read them. And as they are, in my humble opinion, extremely well-written and scholarly, they need to be appreciated.
I am loving the pictures, though.
I am crap when it comes to anonymity, hence I try not to be too inflammatory. There are plenty of other sites for that.
Besides, a bit of moderation never goes astray.
(anyone not Dag who is reading this, feel free to check out no dhimmitude in the blogroll).
New developments - Enbassies burned in Syria and Lebnon. and now soem Cleric in Victoria is warning us not to publish them.
funny, I thought we lected s government to tell us what we could not do. I ddint see "Imam" on the list.
The first nail has gone into the coffin guys, and we are lying inside....
Rosco
Thanks, Rosco.
I knew about embassies in Damascus, but not about Lebanon.
As for the cleric down here, he is considered to be moderate.
I think it's quite generous of him to give us warning of possible consequences.
Of course, I don't know what consequences there could possibly be - after all, he's a leader in a community of peaceful, law-abiding, citizens. And as a religious leader, what he says should carry some weight amongst them.
Muslim outrage huh. OK ... let's do a little historical review. Just some lowlights:
Muslims fly commercial airliners into buildings in New York City. No Muslim outrage.
Muslim officials block the exit where school girls are trying to escape a burning building because their faces were exposed. No Muslim outrage.
Muslims cut off the heads of three teenaged girls on their way to school in Indonesia. A Christian school. No Muslim outrage.
Muslims murder teachers trying to teach Muslim children in Iraq. No Muslim outrage.
Muslims murder over 80 tourists with car bombs outside cafes and hotels in Egypt. No Muslim outrage.
A Muslim attacks a missionary children's school in India. Kills six. No Muslim outrage.
Muslims slaughter hundreds of children and teachers in Beslan, Russia. Muslims shoot children in the back. No Muslim outrage.
Let's go way back. Muslims kidnap and kill athletes at the Munich Summer Olympics. No Muslim outrage.
Muslims fire rocket-propelled grenades into schools full of children in Israel. No Muslim outrage.
Muslims murder more than 50 commuters in attacks on London subways and busses. Over 700 are injured. No Muslim outrage.
Muslims massacre dozens of innocents at a Passover Seder. No Muslim outrage.
Muslims murder innocent vacationers in Bali. No Muslim outrage.
Muslim newspapers publish anti-Semitic cartoons. No Muslim outrage
Muslims are involved, on one side or the other, in almost every one of the 125+ shooting wars around the world. No Muslim outrage.
Muslims beat the charred bodies of Western civilians with their shoes, then hang them from a bridge. No Muslim outrage.
Newspapers in Denmark and Norway publish cartoons depicting Mohammed. Muslims are outraged.
Dead children. Dead tourists. Dead teachers. Dead doctors and nurses. Death, destruction and mayhem around the world at the hands of Muslims .. no Muslim outrage ... but publish a cartoon depicting Mohammed with a bomb in his turban and all hell breaks loose.
Come on, is this really about cartoons? They're rampaging and burning flags. They're looking for Europeans to kidnap. They're threatening innkeepers and generally raising holy Muslim hell not because of any outrage over a cartoon. They're outraged because it is part of the Islamic jihadist culture to be outraged. You don't really need a reason. You just need an excuse. Wandering around, destroying property, murdering children, firing guns into the air and feigning outrage over the slightest perceived insult is to a jihadist what tailgating is to a Steeler's fan.
I know and understand that these bloodthirsty murderers do not represent the majority of the world's Muslims. When, though, do they become outraged? When do they take to the streets to express their outrage at the radicals who are making their religion the object of worldwide hatred and ridicule? Islamic writer Salman Rushdie wrote of these silent Muslims in a New York Times article three years ago. "As their ancient, deeply civilized culture of love, art and philosophical reflection is hijacked by paranoiacs, racists, liars, male supremacists, tyrants, fanatics and violence junkies, why are they not screaming?"
Rosco (but stolen from another site)
Asking me whether I regret publishing the cartoons is like asking a rape victim if she regrets wearing a short skirt Friday night at the discotheque.
Flemming Rose, Jyllands-Posten's culture editor
Submitted by Rosco, who thinks this is Soooooooo True.......
Bullshit you moron, there was loads of muslim outrage, it's just it didn't get published because the Jew controlled media likes you to think that all muslims are evil...
Anonymous 2.24
I know there was plenty of muslim outrage, but you need to define outrage first.
If you are talking outrage by those who want to bring on more violence against the West, then there was no doubt about that. It's been in the papers and the tv news for weeks now.
If you are talking about moderate muslims who are grossly offended about the continual misrepresentation of their faith by the radical minority, that's another thing altogether.
According to Prince Al Walid bin Talal he's got more influence over some sections of the media than any mere Jew.
Perhaps it's because muslims cannot be seen to criticize their own before infidels - a house divided can only fall, and all that sort of thing.
While you argue amongst yourselves and express your outrage behind closed doors or on online forums, you are not doing yourselves any favours.
The infidels cannot take back Islam. Only YOU can do it.
While I do believe there is a lot of good in Islam, I also believe that there is a lot that is far from good, and more infidels every day are becoming aware of what's hiding under the carpet.
As a moderate muslim, do you agree that apostacy should warrant the death penalty?
Should homosexuality? Satire? (Ref Asma bint Marwan, for an example).
The inequity of inheritance laws under sharia are likewise incompatible with infidel society.
These are issues that would need to be addressed, and loudly until you drown out the hordes burning embassies and killing people over a few scribbles.
So long as muslims allow other muslims to act like bullies, this will never be resolved.
So there was muslim outrage.....
i was in Jakarta. No FUKIN outrage there mate.........
Didnt see any in Lakenba or Auburn either tosshead.
Listen buddy just cos your religion says you can lie to us Kaffers doesn't mean we are stupid enough to believe you.
Grow up and take responsibility.
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