Protest Calls SDSU Paper 'Racist'
Cartoons Raise Ire Of Muslim, Asian Students
POSTED: 11:29 a.m. PST November 1, 2002
UPDATED: 11:44 a.m. PST November 1, 2002
SAN DIEGO -- Two dozen San Diego State University Muslim and Asian students seized several thousand copies of the student-run newspaper The Daily Aztec in a protest over political cartoons, it was reported Friday.
The protesters piled the newspapers in front of the student center Thursday in an area known as the Free Speech Steps and taped some to the ground to spell out the word "racist," the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
The students were upset over two political cartoons published in The Daily Aztec, the newspaper reported.
One cartoon, published Sept. 25, depicted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as camels with President George W. Bush in the middle, thinking, "Definitely time for a regime change."
The second cartoon ran Oct. 22 and showed an overweight man labeled China speaking in broken English in reaction to the North Korea Nuclear Program, the newspaper reported.
The two cartoons generated several letters and demands for apologies, the newspaper reported.
"It makes my blood boil to hear someone label Middle Easterners camels," Omar Behnawa, president of the Muslim Students Association and one of the protest organizers, told the Union-Tribune.
University Police Sgt. Claudia McDaniel said no students were cited and that, after the protest, the group helped put newspapers back on the racks.
"This is an inconceivable and scandalous assault on freedom of speech," Thor Halvorsen, executive director of the Philadelphia-based Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, told the Union-Tribune in a reference to the protest. "The answer to speech you do not like is more speech."
University officials said they do not defend the cartoons, but their view is not the issue.
"We don't always agree with the opinions in The Daily Aztec, but as an independent paper, they have their right to publish what they feel fit to publish," university spokesman Jason Foster told the Union-Tribune.
Daily Aztec Editor Jessica Zisko said the newspaper staff has no intention of apologizing for the cartoons.
"Editorial cartoons will sometimes anger people, and I understand that passions can get inflamed by images," Zisko told the Union-Tribune. "The theft and vandalization of newspapers is not the solution. It's an ultimate form of censorship."
Coincidentally, in the same issue that carried the North Korea cartoon, an article by cartoonist Dan Carino sought to explain the Sept. 22 camel cartoon.
The Daily Aztec is printed four times a week and has a daily circulation of 15,000.
The protesters piled the newspapers in front of the student center Thursday in an area known as the Free Speech Steps and taped some to the ground to spell out the word "racist," the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
The students were upset over two political cartoons published in The Daily Aztec, the newspaper reported.
One cartoon, published Sept. 25, depicted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as camels with President George W. Bush in the middle, thinking, "Definitely time for a regime change."
The second cartoon ran Oct. 22 and showed an overweight man labeled China speaking in broken English in reaction to the North Korea Nuclear Program, the newspaper reported.
The two cartoons generated several letters and demands for apologies, the newspaper reported.
"It makes my blood boil to hear someone label Middle Easterners camels," Omar Behnawa, president of the Muslim Students Association and one of the protest organizers, told the Union-Tribune.
University Police Sgt. Claudia McDaniel said no students were cited and that, after the protest, the group helped put newspapers back on the racks.
"This is an inconceivable and scandalous assault on freedom of speech," Thor Halvorsen, executive director of the Philadelphia-based Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, told the Union-Tribune in a reference to the protest. "The answer to speech you do not like is more speech."
University officials said they do not defend the cartoons, but their view is not the issue.
"We don't always agree with the opinions in The Daily Aztec, but as an independent paper, they have their right to publish what they feel fit to publish," university spokesman Jason Foster told the Union-Tribune.
Daily Aztec Editor Jessica Zisko said the newspaper staff has no intention of apologizing for the cartoons.
"Editorial cartoons will sometimes anger people, and I understand that passions can get inflamed by images," Zisko told the Union-Tribune. "The theft and vandalization of newspapers is not the solution. It's an ultimate form of censorship."
Coincidentally, in the same issue that carried the North Korea cartoon, an article by cartoonist Dan Carino sought to explain the Sept. 22 camel cartoon.
The Daily Aztec is printed four times a week and has a daily circulation of 15,000.Copyright 2002 by TheSanDiegoChannel.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
