Fight speech with speech

Several Muslim groups in Nigeria condemned the Miss World beauty pageant that was originally scheduled to be held tomorrow in the country's capital city Abuja. They think the contest promotes promiscuity and indecency.\nIsioma Daniel, a Nigerian columnist who resigned and left the country when a Nigerian Muslim state called for her death, thought the groups opposing the beauty pageant were overreacting.\n"What would Muhammad think?" she wrote on Nov. 16 in the Kaduna, Nigeria newspaper ThisDay. "In all honesty, he would probably have chosen a wife from among (the contestants)."\nUpon reading her column, demonstrators burned the office of ThisDay and also set fire to churches in Kaduna. More than 200 people have been killed in rioting between Muslims and Christians since her column appeared, and the contest has been relocated to London.\nThisDay ran extensive apologies and said it would be more careful in its editing. Other Nigerian newspapers also said that what Daniel wrote was wrong.\nIt was probably never a good idea to hold the Miss World contest in Nigeria, knowing the customs and the culture there. In addition, Daniel's comments were inflammatory and understandably considered insensitive by many Nigerian Muslims. But the reaction to Daniel's article should not have been violence and murder; it should have come in the form of columns and op-ed pieces that expressed disagreement and even disdain with what Daniel wrote.\nBoth the United Nations and non-governmental organizations must get involved to make sure such an incident does not happen again and that Nigeria moves in the direction of fighting speech with speech, not violence.\nThe United Nations' International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights protects freedom of thought and expression.\n"Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference," according to Article 19, Section 1. "Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression…impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or print…," according to Article 19, Section 2.\nNigeria has been a registered member of the UN since 1961, but has not adopted the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.\nThe U.N. must push Nigeria to accept the covenant, and do so publicly. But the U.N. seeks to accomplish its goals primarily through diplomatic means, so it is unlikely it will ever take harsh action against Nigeria.\nBut non-governmental organizations can be even more effective than the U.N. because they do not have to be diplomatic. Both public and private groups must be vocal and bring international awareness to what happened to Daniel so that widespread pressure is put on the Nigerian government to change its policies on speech and expression.\n-- Michael Eisenstadt for the Editorial Board