Posted on 02/19/2007 12:56:11 PM PST by Michael81Dus
Dusseldorf - A Muslim leader in Germany criticized a carnival float in a Monday parade that satirically suggested Islam was not peaceful.
The float carried two identical cartoon-style papier-mache figures, each wearing a suicide-bomber's belt and carrying a dagger and a pistol. The first was labelled 'the cliche,', the second was labelled 'the reality.'
Both scowling figures were labelled 'mullahs,' a term used in Germany as it is in Pakistan to describe both Shiite and Sunni clergy. The float was part of a carnival parade watched by more than half a million people in the western city of Dusseldorf.
'This hasn't got anything to do with humour,' said Aiman A Mazyek, general secretary of the National Council of Muslims in Germany. 'The message it gives me is: 'We love our prejudices, we'll stand up for them, even if they are flagrantly untrue.''
'As a born-and-bred Rhinelander, I wouldn't get too upset about it,' said Mazyek. 'I'm sure most of the revellers don't want to spread anti-Islam cynicism.'
Mockery and rule-breaking is a key element in carnival, which is celebrated mainly in Germany's heavily populated Rhineland where Catholics form a majority. Floats, built by clubs of amateurs for the Dusseldorf parade, often have crude messages.
Another float showed Nazi dictator with his pants off and represented a far-right-wing German party as his bodily waste.
Why are these prejudices untrue? The cliche is, that the Mullahs are radical and violent, and that´s - from my perspective - reality.
this is the parade that had Clinton holding the boobs of the statue of liberty, right? These floats are a hoot! Muslims are missing the humor gene.
Cool!
Makes the Rose Parade look pretty tame. :)
Now THAT'S a parade !
Wish I had seen it.
Where's the prejudice? Where's the untruth?
Yep, a million spectators watch the parade (I was one among them), and several millions more on TV. In 2003 they showed (now Chancellor) Merkel crawling in the a$$ of President Bush. They´re making fun of all current developments, and whether you support the message or not, it´s humorous.
Could've done without that Hitler one though...
More pics here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1787449/posts
The message is: the NPD (Nationaldemocratic Party Deutschland) is nothing else but brown s#it! I say: good observation! :-)
I loooove it !
Thanks.
Michael,
Here in America, the headline template goes "Muslims upset by ___________". Please alert the European producers of this news story that they need to use the correct headline template in the future. Too many Americans don't understand what "criticize" means today - but "upset", they understand completely.
Thank you, Michael.
/sarc
Wonder if when the parade is over the paper mache figures explode into fireworks?!?!?
LOL, yeah, I see what you mean. Sun rises in East, Democrats blame Bush for ....., Muslims upset by ...., Sun sets in West, and so on. ;-)
These are great...thanks! What the World needs now is another round of political cartoons about Islam.
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