I hope Thomas Friedman is not holding his breath.

He wrote in yesterday’s NYT that he wants to see Pakistanis protesting the Mumbai attacks as stridently as they protested the Danish Mohammed cartoons. You know, take it to the streets: marches, chants, banners, etc.

We know from the Danish cartoons affair that Pakistanis and other Muslims know how to mobilize quickly to express their heartfelt feelings, not just as individuals, but as a powerful collective. That is what is needed here.

Good luck with that, Tom. I’d like to see it, too. Been waiting for anti-Islamic violence protests anywhere in the Muslim world for a long, long time. Not counting on it.

There have been protests against terrorism, but they tend to erupt in the Muslim world only when Muslims are targeted. Five thousand protested in Algeria after 50 Algerians were killed. Jordanians were outraged by a set of terrorist bombings at hotels, including in the midst of a wedding, and 20,000 of them took to the streets after learning that other attacks on them had been averted. Iraqis have also demonstrated against terrorism in their country. (At least the Iraqi protests had a tone of support for Saddam’s overthrow and a desire for peaceful democratic rule.)

Anger when “infidels” are killed? Not so much.

While I long to see such protests, I think I understand their absence, and in a way that gives anti-Islamist Muslims the benefit of the doubt.

I think you don’t see these protests for the some reason that you don’t see many large-scale conservative street protests here. Unless the issue they protest is ideologically huge and the government is against their position — the annual “March for Life” against abortion is what I have in mind — conservatives are too busy doing things they find more important and effective than protesting: working within the system (media, government, lobbying) for change or protecting the values of their own families against assault.

I’d like to think the absence of anti-Islamist protests in the Muslim world is for much the same reason. Muslim governments have official positions against Islamist violence, so there is no objectionable government position to change by protest. Perhaps if the populace of any Muslim country ever believes their government is simply paying lip service to the anti-terrorism cause, we’ll see protests.

Still, such protests would be very good for the Muslim world. It would be nice if some of those in the U.S. who keep insisting we must raise our standing in the world would call on Muslim populations to raise theirs.

Of course, I’m always prepared to give credit where credit is due. The protests in Iraq tended to get little news coverage (can’t show anything good resulting from the invasion, you know — at least not until Obama takes office). If anyone knows of any such protests in the Muslim world, let me know and I will update this post

UPDATE: My apologies to feed subscribers, who had to endure the typo-ridden original of this post!

UPDATE #2: HotAir links to video of a Pakistani protest, but it’s not exactly what Friedman was hoping for.