Posted on 02/02/2006 3:02:20 PM PST by Cornpone
PARIS: Newspapers in France, Germany, Spain and Italy have reprinted Danish caricatures of the prophet Mohammed, saying press freedom is more important than protests and boycotts that the cartoons have sparked across the Muslim world.
The Danish embassy in Damascus was evacuated after a bomb threat that turned out to be a hoax and Syria recalled its ambassador from Denmark in protest at the cartoons, one of which shows Mohammed wearing a turban shaped like a bomb.
In Copenhagen, police met Islamic leaders to try to calm reactions there, and in the city of Aarhus, the offices of the Jyllands-Posten newspaper that first published the caricatures last September were briefly evacuated after a bomb threat.
Two large Danish companies reported their sales falling in the Middle East after protests against the cartoons in the Arab world and calls for boycotts.
Muslims consider images of prophets distasteful and caricatures blasphemous.
"Enough lessons from these reactionary bigots!" France Soir editor Serge Faubert wrote in a commentary explaining why his newspaper had printed the cartoons.
"Just because the Koran bans images of Mohammed doesn't mean non-Muslims have to submit to this."
The newspaper's front page carried the headline "Yes, We Have the Right to Caricature God" and a cartoon of Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim and Christian gods floating on a cloud. Inside, the paper reran the drawings.
Dalil Boubakeur, head of the French Muslim Council, denounced the publication of the drawings as "a genuine provocation towards France's millions of Muslims".
"The principle of freedom of the press, which the French authorities defend around the world, will not be questioned," French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy told a news conference in Ankara, adding that the principle must, however, be exercised with a spirit of tolerance.
Germany's Die Welt newspaper reprinted the cartoons, arguing that a "right to blasphemy" was anchored in democratic freedoms.
But Burhan Kesici, a leader of Germany's Turkish community, said they reduced Islam "to two or three terrorists".
Some of the cartoons were also published by Italy's Corriere della Serra and La Stampa, and two Spanish newspapers, ABC and El Periodico.
Jyllands-Posten has apologised for any hurt the caricatures may have caused, but police said the paper's offices in Aarhus were evacuated on Wednesday night for the second time in two days after a bomb threat.
Thousands of Palestinians protested against Denmark this week, and Arab ministers called for punishment of Jyllands-Posten.
Saudi Arabia has recalled its ambassador from Copenhagen and Libya has closed its embassy. Qatar condemned the cartoons.
Occurs to me that Islam lived for centuries peacefully (more or less) with western nations. It was only after the rise of the oil economy that they wielded any real power. It continues to be that the only real power they have is the "addiction to oil" that President Bush alluded to in his SOTU. It is this influx of money from their oil that empowers the current Islamic world revolution. Wean the world off their oil and they will fade into obscurity.
So you're saying that the mass immigration of Muslims into Western democracies might not be such a good idea?
But seriously, I saw one of the French Muslim leaders on television saying that people don't have a right to draw such pictures. Such an attitude is completely imcompatible with a free nation, and as long as the work in question is not funded by the state, then people should just accept it as a cost of living in a prosperous free state. The cartoonist will probably require a body guard for the foreseeable future.
should be a full blown comic book!!
Shiite Pet.... ROTFLOL!!!!
Ooooh stirring up the ol' pig pen.
This is really what it comes down to.
http://michellemalkin.com/archives/004413.htm
All 12 cartoons, clear and sharp.
Dang, that will get you on a Jiad list...
Good point squared!!
Even we freepers who have a sensitive antenna for stuff like that don't often notice. Just goes to show how powerful the lame stream media still is in shaping our attitudes...
I can't speak for others, but I do notice the subtle religious bias in articles. It just creeps me out.
Yay! FNC: Brit Hume showed the cartoons.
I'm already on a Jihad list, just because I'm not mooslimb!
ROFLMAO!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.