"Ten to 15 boys stormed in and started throwing computers around," said textile design student Azeem Rana.
Rana's computer displayed his textile patterns with soft music in the background; the attackers threw it to the floor and slapped and kicked him.
Tooba Fatima said she and some other students locked themselves in a room to escape the assault. "It was very scary."
The exhibition reopened the following day, but only after teachers barred all videos and music.
"How can I show my work?" asked Zoheb Anwar, pointing to a couple of sketches he made for a cartoon film which is no longer part of the exhibition. "I am unable to define my ideas."
....Naheed Raza, a leading painter, said only a small minority opposes arts being studied at the universities.
"They use strong-arm tactics to dictate their views," said Raza, herself under fire by rightwing students for drawing nudes. "They find nudity in everything.
"These are forces of the dark ages who want to destroy arts and science. But they are failing, as privately people are promoting arts despite the opposition." [Reuters]
Imagine trying to pursue an education, trying to express one's deepest creative impulses under threat of life and limb. God, I despise these Dark Ages thugs, these maniacal pinheads with cramped souls. This is the very heart of what we are fighting in the War on Terror: those who would impose their constipated, atavistic, anti-human vision on the rest of the world through any means necessary, those who would seek to crush the artistic expression of others purely out of spite, jealousy and fear.
How dare anyone defend such appalling wickedness.
Article comments
1 - Al Barger
Now Eric, quit being such a imperialist racist running dog American. Their culture and ours are strictly equally good.
Capice? Or are we going to having to send you off for re-education?
2 - jadester
"The Islamic students who attacked the final-year exhibition in November said it was sacrilege to hold the show during the fasting month of Ramadan"
surely then, the first step of the arts department should be to arrange the exhibition(s) around such religious dates. They may view it as unfair, but if the Islamists are prepared to be so violent about their protests, the best way to combat them is to accomodate their religious views.
I'm not saying the islamists are right, but if the arts department were to do the less expected thing (no doubt the islamists fully expect them to fight back somehow, even if not physically) it will catch the islamists off-guard.
3 - frost
it may catch them off guard, but would it change anything? no. They would simply be caving in fear of a backlash.
4 - Eric Olsen
I would say accomodation is exactly the wrong approach - one does not accomondate terrorists, even such penny ante terrorists such as these. It is accomodation of these retrograde rimjobs that has emboldened the extremist Islamist movement. They need to be directly and forcibly confronted, told to mind their own fucking business and prosecuted for any illegal activity. Accomodation only leads these sackless scum to assume they have the high moral ground. it is exactly at this level that terrorism must be nipped in the bud, rooted out, the assholes must not be allowed to prevail ANYWHERE.
5 - Molly
I just find it very interesting that these fucking savages claim to not want to observe the art because it is their high holiday and yet, they observe their high holiday by perpetrating violence. Those people have no conception of what religion or holiness is. They are all nothing but a waste of space, as well as a waste of flesh and blood. They should all be put into ovens and baked. No wonder Saddaam was treating them the way he was....that's the way they deserve to be treated. They are not even human. They smell bad, and they don't deserve to live on this planet. They should remove all of our military from over there and just nuke em all and let Allah sort em out. Turn that desert into a sheet of glass, but of course, before we do that, make off of the ones that are anywhere else in the world, go back over there first so that there are none left at all! WOuldn't the world smell better! They are the lowest form of life. That's my story and I'm stickin to it!!
6 - RJ Elliott
Molly:
Are you single?
(I'm Kidding!)
7 - SFC SKi
jadester ""The Islamic students who attacked the final-year exhibition in November said it was sacrilege to hold the show during the fasting month of Ramadan"
surely then, the first step of the arts department should be to arrange the exhibition(s) around such religious dates. They may view it as unfair, but if the Islamists are prepared to be so violent about their protests, the best way to combat them is to accomodate their religious views.
I'm not saying the islamists are right, but if the arts department were to do the less expected thing (no doubt the islamists fully expect them to fight back somehow, even if not physically) it will catch the islamists off-guard."
You have to understand that the hardcore element will use an excuse if it cionvenient, rather that express intolerance outright. If this were an isolated incident in a single country, it could be considered anomalous, but combine this and other similar incidents, like the destruction of the statues at Bamiyan, and the way they go about expressing their discontent, by smashin the medium and assaulting the artist, and you have to admit it is an aspect of fundamentalism, not an anomaly. Hardcore Islamicists will not back off, for to compromise or dilute theiri view of Islam is impossible for them, any detraction from the letter of the law is heresy.
It is almost impossible to understand this viewpoint, or find its corollary in the West. There are hardcore elements in all religions, but in Eastern (non-Pacific or Western) Islam it is combined with a level of vioence that intimidates any moderates that may exist.
8 - jadester
Point taken. I suppose i just don't like to think there are people in the world that'd be so unnecessarily and willingly destructive.
9 - Eric Olsen
There are and that mentality across the board is why there is a "war on terror," as the terror is rooted in this kind of mentality and cannot be reasoned with.
Molly, I understand your frustration but it is critical that we distinguish between moderates, fundmentalists and terrorists: painting with such a broad brush is exactly what the terrorists do to us - we dont' want to be like them in any way other than tenacity.
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