Worldwide 'cartoon' uproar

international | rights, freedoms and repression | other press

Wednesday February 08, 2006 12:22

by Robert Bechert - CWI

The angry worldwide Muslim protests against the publication of cartoons depicting Muhammad in various European newspapers have shown again the enormous anger provoked amongst Muslims by Bush’s “war on terror” and the invasion of Iraq. However the issue that has sparked off these protests and their character has renewed discussion about a war of civilisations or of cultures. These developments are a sharp warning of the divisive tensions can develop in the absence of a strong socialist workers’ movement offering a class alternative.

Millions of Muslims, embittered by the western imperialist powers’ policies, have seen these cartoons as the latest in a long series of provocations and aggressive acts, not least the occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq and the toleration of Israel’s settling of more and more Palestinian land in the West Bank. In a number of Arab countries the protests have taken on at least a partial anti-imperialist character, although it appears that the Syrian regime has, for its own interests, used the protests to give a warning to the west and at the same time reassert its interests in the Lebanon. In European countries, including Britain, there is also a groundswell of resentment amongst Muslims against a perceived increase in anti-Islamic feelings, greater police surveillance and harassment.

In Denmark, where the cartoons were first provocatively published in a right wing paper, many Muslims feel threatened by a series of special tough anti-immigrant laws have been passed since 2001 by the Rasmussen government. This government, which depends upon support from the far right Danish People’s Party, has banned immigrants under the age of 24 from marrying and also taken the right to exclude from Denmark the husbands or wives of Danes who are not citizens of an EU country. At the same time the Danish government is one of the strongest supporters of Bush’s policies and has sent troops to Iraq.

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Comments (6 of 6)

lost plot

by dreamer

Wed Feb 08, 2006 15:41

What "socialistworld"? Is this imaginary world similar to Rumsfeld's imaginary world take-over by a few hundred Islamists.

This site should be renamed Disneymedia.

no lost plot

by pat c

Wed Feb 08, 2006 15:51

this article gives an appropriate riposte to those (eg SWP) who bow down before islam. I think the extract below is particularly good.

"seeing faith as a personal issue means that Socialists support the complete separation of church from state, the right to polemicise against religion and oppose the attempts of any religion to dictate to other religions or non-believers.

We defend the democratic rights of all, non-believers and believers, to express their views. This includes the right to produce anti-religious material, whether it is philosophical or satirical. This is why Socialists opposed the attempts of Christian fundamentalists to ban the “Jerry Springer” musical and the 2004 attacks by some Sikhs on the performance of the play Behzti in Birmingham.

Socialists resist all attempts to stigmatise Muslims but at the same time combat the attacks of vicious Islamic reactionaries against gays and the rights of women. Equally we oppose the anti-Semitic material produced under the guise of opposing Israeli policy in many Arab countries. Most of the Islamic states that have protested against the Danish cartoons are dictatorial regimes with brutal histories of oppressing their own populations."

pat there's a chance to tell iran what you think!

by avoca

Wed Feb 08, 2006 23:29

join anarcho-syndicalists who are protesting the publication of holocaust cartoons in the Tehran press yesterday. The Tehran press is controlled by the Iranian state unlike the danish press.
and they took the piss out of every homosexual killed.

don't you see your bandwagon when it arrives?

avoca

Thu Feb 09, 2006 18:25

i will certainly join in these protests. shall we head for the iranian embassy? i wonder if any members of the peoples mudjahdeen organisation of iran are still in the country; we could use their skills. either that or some of the door knocking experts who were at the brit embassy in 1972.

you'll be pleased to know

Thu Feb 09, 2006 19:27

that the embassy complex is rated "low security", but the distance from the walls to the building (a 1930 style villa perhaps better suited to the clontarf /sutton coast) is quite long.
Still a lot of wall space and a big gate offer the dedicated opinion writer space, and considering the road is one of the main access routes to south dublin, any words awrit there will be read. Unfortunately i can't confirm if the embassy is office worker only, but certainly it used not be a residence, so at night there's only a few people about. Do beware of the garda embassy duty squad, its that sort of territory.....hmm...... moped/ bike.....spray.....go.

ná lig sinn i gcothu. (thats the codeword)

Thu Feb 09, 2006 19:32

i'm sure they have armed guards inside. most embassies do. might be safer to spray in daylight when the iranians are less likely to shoot. get some people to diatract the gardai.

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Worldwide 'cartoon' uproar

Comments (6 of 6)