Free Republic

PREMIER Peter Beattie has strongly supported freedom of speech after a second Queensland newspaper published a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed. The Rockhampton Morning Bulletin today joined Brisbane's Courier-Mail in publishing one of 12 cartoons first printed in Denmark and which have sparked a violent backlash across the Muslim world. Any depiction of Mohammed is considered blasphemous and banned in Arab countries, although not in some non-Arab Islamic countries. But Mr Beattie said he felt strongly about freedom of the press in Australia. "I strongly support their right to publish these cartoons," Mr Beattie said.

Attitudes towards Muslims are hardening even in Europe's most liberal, multicultural societies, writes James Button. WE ALL know September 11, 2001, transformed the US. But will historians say that in the long run it transformed Europe just as much, even more? It is a question worth asking as the fire lit by the publication of 12 cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad continues to burn. Because a straight line runs from September 11 to here. September 11 enraged Pim Fortuyn and drove him into politics. Fortuyn was the maverick Dutch politician who called Islam a "backward" religion. He might have rocketed...