Thursday, September 20, 2001

Cartoon in Berkeley Paper Sparks Protests and Campus Debate By DANA MULHAUSER Students at the University of California at Berkeley are holding protests at the student newspaper's offices over a cartoon about last week's terrorist attacks. The cartoon showed two bearded men wearing turbans and long robes, standing in a hellish scene and saying, "We made it to paradise! Now we will meet Allah, and be fed grapes, and be serviced by 70 virgin women, and ..." "We understand that it's a matter of free speech, but it's hate speech," said Jaspreet K. Saini, a council member of the Sikh Student Association. "That kind of speech is not protected by anyone. It only encourages more violence and more killing." Ms. Saini said that the men depicted in the cartoon were not drawn to represent the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks, but instead all Muslims. She noted that, unlike the men in the cartoon, the hijackers were not reported to be wearing traditional Muslim dress. The protesters want a front-page apology and greater Arab and Muslim representation on the newspaper staff. The paper's senior editorial board issued a statement saying it would not apologize for the cartoon, which "in no way reflects the views and opinions of The Daily Californian." "Although the concerns of appropriateness and timing are understood, we maintain the cartoon falls within the realm of fair comment," the editorial board said. "Editorials are meant to be exaggerated," said Janny Hu, the editor in chief. "It's not a statement of fact. It's only one person's commentary." Ms. Hu said the paper does not plan to alter its procedures, although the editors will probably be more sensitive in the future. The cartoon was drawn by Darrin Bell, a Berkeley graduate. Mr. Bell could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Among their other demands, the protesters want a pledge that The Daily Californian will run only content produced by current students. Ms. Hu first called the police around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. More than 100 protesters "were chanting and banging on walls, so we were unable to continue normal operations," she said. The police and university officials monitored the protest until 3:30 a.m., when the police issued citations for trespassing to the 18 remaining students. More protesters, including the student body president and vice president, restarted the protest at noon Wednesday outside the newspaper office. They plan to camp out there until their demands are met, according to Ms. Saini. In editorials last week, the newspaper blamed the media for planting "the seed of prejudice" against Muslims. "We must not allow anti-Arab or anti-Muslim hysteria to blind our resolve for justice and transform it into a thirst of vengeance," the paper said. The Daily Californian has been the subject of student protest before, notably when it ran an advertisement placed by David Horowitz last winter. The advertisement argued against reparations for the families of former slaves. Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

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