Lending a Helping Flag

Thursday, 9. February 2006 - 5:39 PM

Here’s some fresh, innovative stuff from the oven. This Palestinian gentleman has seized a new route to making hay while the cartoon protests rage.

When entrepreneur Ahmed Abu Dayya first heard that Danish caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad were being reprinted across Europe, he knew exactly what his customers in Gaza would want: flags to burn. Abu Dayya ordered 100 hard-to-find Danish and Norwegian flags for his Gaza City shop and has been doing a swift trade. “I do not take political stands. It is all business,” he said in an interview. “But this time I was offended by the assault on the Prophet Mohammad.”

Apparently, his personal stand over the insult to Mohammad makes good business sense.

While normally hard to come by in isolated Gaza, Danish and Norwegian flags are now popping up at daily protests, increasingly replacing Israel’s Star of David. It’s not clear how many merchants apart from Abu Dayya are offering the flags, but they appear to be readily available. Angry Muslims set the flags ablaze or tear them to pieces. [...] “I knew there would be a demand for the flags because of the angry reaction of people over the offence to Prophet Mohammad,” said Abu Dayya, whose PLO Flag Shop also sells souvenirs and presents.

He sells his Danish and Norwegian flags for $11 a piece — a price he acknowledged might be dampening sales. Many protesters prefer to save money and make the flags themselves from scraps of fabric, he said.

Nice, eh?

2 comments

  1. Parimal Gupta

    Nice one Sandeep :-)

  2. Jaffna

    I am still trying to grapple with the issue.

    The Taleban destroyed the 1,500 year old massive monoliths of the Buddha at Bamiyan in 2001. They used cannon fire to demolish the ancient statuary. Buddhists did not take to the streets destroying property in revenge.

    It might have been more productive had Muslim activists used constitutional/legal mechanisms, civic action and the media to express their displeasure. The prolonged riots have been counter productive. 15 people have died, embassies burnt down, churches attacked and a Christian priest killed.

    Best regards

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