Posted on 02/22/2006 9:50:50 AM PST by Dark Skies
LONDON (Reuters) - The far-right British National Party (BNP) said on Wednesday it would distribute leaflets showing a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad, a move Muslim groups said would provoke protests and was "playing with fire".
A spokesman for the tiny fringe party, which has no seats in parliament but a handful on local councils, said its use of the image was not intended to cause offence, but illustrated how Islam and Western values did not mix.
The party says it is not racist, but its leader Nick Griffin and another activist are due in court on race-hate charges in October.
The cartoon is one of 12 which first appeared in a Danish newspaper and were later reprinted in other European countries, sparking violent protests across the Islamic world. Many Muslims believe it is blasphemous to depict the Prophet.
At least 50 people have been killed during demonstrations around the world, and a Pakistani Muslim cleric last week offered rewards amounting to more than $1 million to anyone who killed any of the Danish cartoonists.
The cartoons have not been published by the mainstream press in Britain.
The content of the leaflets can already be seen on the BNP's Web site and the leaflets will be circulated ahead of local elections in May.
The leaflet asks "Which Do You Find Offensive? A cartoon of Mohammad with a bomb for a turban or Muslim demonstrators calling for terrorist attacks on Europe and the 'extermination' of non-Muslims?"
"PLAYING WITH FIRE"
"By showing you just how mild and inoffensive the cartoon is, we're giving you the chance to see for yourself the huge gulf that exists between the democratic values that we share, and the medieval views that dominate Islam, even supposedly 'moderate' versions," the leaflet said.
The party spokesman said the BNP wanted the cartoon to provoke debate. "We published the cartoon not to offend individual Muslims -- that's most important -- but to make a stand for freedom," he said.
The move drew immediate condemnation.
"The BNP are playing with fire and there can be no doubt they are doing this in order to try to raise tensions and provoke conflict," the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) said.
"We would urge all British Muslims to not fall into the trap laid by the far right," added MCB spokesman Inayat Bunglawala.
"British Muslims should refuse to be provoked and continue to keep all protests peaceful and firmly within the law."
Around 15,000 Muslims staged a peaceful protest against the drawings in London last week.
A demonstration earlier in the month provoked outrage after masked men held up placards calling for the beheading of those who insult Islam, and praised the London bombings last July which killed 52 people.
Ian McCartney, chairman of the ruling Labour Party, condemned the leaflets as "straight out of the Nazi textbook".
The BNP commands a fraction of the support of far-right parties elsewhere in Europe but has several seats on local councils, mainly in poorer areas with large ethnic populations.
They may be a bunch of twits, but good for the BNP.
Suddenly the Arab version of an Islamic Comic Book is appearing at the top of the list which used to be dominated by my personal favorite:
Islamic Comic Book
The Arabs have made this one:
Islamic Comic Book for Arabs
...and so does politics!
hold on to your heads, boys.....
...before it's too late...
Sure..pour some more gas on.
We are just about to break into a full fledged nuclear war, why wait?!?
There can be no doubt that the powers in the UK are pro-appeasement.
Why they choose to persecute people who simply say Muslim immigration is not good for the UK is disgusting.
Flemming Rose of the Jyllands-Posten...
"Has Jyllands-Posten insulted and disrespected Islam? It certainly didn't intend to. But what does respect mean? When I visit a mosque, I show my respect by taking off my shoes. I follow the customs, just as I do in a church, synagogue or other holy place. But if a believer demands that I, as a nonbeliever, observe his taboos in the public domain, he is not asking for my respect, but for my submission."
Like I said in another post, the cartoons are neither racist nor offensive but truthful and Muslims can`t handle the truth. For example, the one cartoon with the bomb in the turban. They got all upset over that and acted exactly how the cartoon portrayed them. They threatened to explode, they threatened murder, and they committed murder, not to mention burning down the Danish embassy amongst other things. Like Jack Nicholson says "You can`t handle the truth!"
.
Er...you posted to me first. My guess is that no one is looking for you. Don't post to me, I'll stay away from you.
You must be referring to the imams that republished the cartoons along with some fake ones to whip up Muslims riots four months after they were originally published.
"playing with fire"
Now isn't that interesting, where's the tolerence ?
Oh I forgot, it's strickly a one way street.
Time for the ABC extinguishers and garden hoses.
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