Hamshahri
Encyclopedia : H : HA : HAM : Hamshahri
Hamshahri (Persian: همشهری) is an Iranian Persian-language newspaper published by the Municipality of Tehran, and founded by Gholamhossein Karbaschi.
International Cartoon Competition on the limits of Western freedom of expression
On February 6, 2006, Farid Mortazavi, graphics editor of the newspaper, announced a competition for cartoons on the Holocaust, in retaliation to the twelve cartoons published by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten (see Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy). The twelve best contributions are to be rewarded with a golden coin each.
On February 7, 2006, Joel Leyden, publisher of the Israel News Agency, responds to the Iranian Holocaust cartoon contest by announcing an SEO Internet search engine optimization marketing contest to prevent Hamshahri and any other Iranian news Web sites from reaching top positions in Google. [link] The Israel News Agency kept its promise and as of February 14 secured both a first and second place ranking in Google for the key words "iran holocaust cartoons". In addition, the INA has posted Holocaust cartoons from Iran with its own disclaimer on the reality of the Holocaust.
On February 8, Flemming Rose (the cultural editor for Jyllands-Posten), told CNN: "My newspaper is trying to establish a contact with that Iranian newspaper [Hamshahri], and we would run the cartoons the same day as they publish them". Later that day, the paper's editor-in-chief said that Jyllands-posten would under no circumstances publish the Holocaust cartoons.
Around February 13, Hamshahri published an English introduction to the contest, as well as preliminary rules. In that introductory message for the contest, they denounced an alleged Western hypocrisy about freedom of speech, claiming that in the West it was impossible to joke upon or even discuss certain topics related to Judaism (the Holocaust, Israel) or Western domination.
On February 14, 2006, the editor in chief of Hamshahri commented in Persian that "the purpose of establishing such a competition is not to offend or ridicule anyone, but to do a discussion about the realities of the Holocaust." He also indicated that Hamshahri tries really hard not to cause pain for anyone and also added that the newspaper has no contention with the Jews in Iran or any other place, but that it has problems with "Zionism". [link] Masood Shojaei, the director of Iran’s Caricature House which cosponsors the competition also said: Iran’s Caricature House, as the only technically qualified center involved in the competition believes that Holocaust was a horrible and saddening event. [link]
On February 14, 2006, Hamshahri websites have been attacked by hackers. Simultaneously websites of Sepah Bank and Refah Bank, two major Banks in Iran and also website of Iran’s ministry of education went unaccessible, as they use the same domain.
On February 14, 2006 Israeli graphic artists announce the Israeli Anti-Semitic Cartoons Contest in response to Hamshahri's contest.
Reactions in Iran
Several reformers and democratic forces criticizes the cartoon competition and also the president's statements about the Holocaust. Emadoddin Baghi, a famous member of religious-intellectuals circle, Ebrahim Yazdi, the head of Nehzat Azadi Party Hamid Reza Jalaeipour, a prominent figure of IIPF (the biggest reformist party in Iran) and Sadeq Zibakalam, a prominent political analyst close to Kargozaran party criticized these new policies by calling them useless, scientifically-baseless and purely political actions which originates from the authorities' lack of historical knowledge. In an interview with BBC, Nikahang Kowsar, a former cartoonist for Hamshahri, said he thought the competition was the wrong approach. It's a bad reaction to a bad action coming from the Danish newspaper, he told the BBC. He also said in his weblog that, Hamshahri cartoonists will have a bad fate if they refuse to take part in the competition. [link]See also
External links
- [Hamshahri.org newspaper homepage] (Persian)
- [Hamshahri.com homepage] (Persian and English)
- [Preliminary contest rules on Hamshahri.org] (English)
- [Holocaust Cartoons] - mirrored cartoons from Hamshahri, and commentary by irregulartimes.com
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.