Protesters marched in London over the weekend, angry at the publication of Danish cartoons.
Among the many placards the following slogans were notable:
- "Butcher those who mock Islam"
- "Slay those who insult Islam"
- Behead those who insult Islam"
- "Kill those who insult Islam"
- "Europe ,you will payyour 9/11 is on the way"
- 7/7 is on the way"- This refers to the underground bombings of July 7th 2005
- Europe you will pay, Fantastic 4 are on their way"- again the 4 suicide bombers of July 7th
- Europe, you will pay, Bin Laden is on his way"
The crowd chanted
- " Europe, you'll come crawling, when the Mujahideen come roaring"
- "Freedom go to hell!"
- "Freedom of expression go to hell!"
There were no arrests.
Food for thought.
Terry
16 comments:
I find this all horribly depressing, especially the picture of the child holding a sign calling for violent revenge. Just sad and a bit overwhelming.
Considering how well made the signs are it is clear that these protests are being organized by some group. If it was some spontaneous burst of feeling, I would think the signs would be written in magic marker.
More on the protests (article posted in the NY Times today)
Filed at 10:57 a.m. ET
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Rafiq Maqbool/Associated Press
Protesters crowded outside the Danish embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan.
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Rafiq Maqbool/Associated Press
One of the protests in Afghanistan today was at the main U.S. base in Kabul.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Afghan security forces opened fire on demonstrators Monday, leaving at least four dead, as increasingly violent protests erupted around the world over published caricatures of Islam's Prophet Muhammad. European and Muslim politicians pleaded for calm.
The worst of the violence was outside Bagram, the main U.S. base in Afghanistan, with Afghan police firing on some 2,000 protesters as they tried to break into the heavily guarded facility, said Kabir Ahmed, the local government chief.
Two demonstrators were killed and five were injured, while eight police also were hurt, he said. No U.S. troops were involved in the clashes, the military said.
Afghan police also fired on protesters in the central city of Mihtarlam after a man in the crowd shot at them and others threw stones and knives, Interior Ministry spokesman Dad Mohammed Rasa said.
Two protesters were killed, and three other people were wounded, including two police, officials said. The demonstrators burned tires and threw stones at government offices.
The unrest also spread to East Africa as police in Somalia fired in the air to disperse stone-throwing protesters, triggering a stampede in which a teenager was killed and raising to six the number of deaths in protests related to the publication of the series of cartoons satirizing Islam's holiest figure.
Lebanon, meanwhile, apologized to Denmark a day after thousands of rampaging Muslim demonstrators set fire to the building housing the Danish mission in Beirut to protest the series of cartoons satirizing Islam's most revered figure.
At least one person died, 30 were injured -- half of them security officials -- and about 200 people were detained in Sunday's violence, officials said. Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said the arrested included 76 Syrians, 35 Palestinians and 38 Lebanese.
The European Union issued stern reminders to 18 Muslim countries that they are obliged under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations to protect foreign embassies, and Austria -- which holds the EU presidency, said it called in a top representative of the Organization of the Islamic Conference to express concerns for the safety of diplomatic missions.
The prime ministers of Spain and Turkey issued a Christian-Muslim appeal for calm, saying ''we shall all be the losers if we fail to immediately defuse this situation.''
But Turkey's Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said media freedoms cannot be limitless and that hostility against Muslims was replacing anti-Semitism in the West.
Anger has spread over the 12 caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that were first published in Denmark's Jyllands-Posten in September and recently reprinted in European media and elsewhere in what the newspapers say is a statement of free speech.
One depicted the prophet wearing a turban shaped as a bomb with a burning fuse. The Danish paper said it had asked cartoonists to draw the pictures because the media were practicing self-censorship when it came to Muslim issues.
The drawings have touched a raw nerve in part because Islamic law is interpreted to forbid any depictions of the Prophet Muhammad for fear they could lead to idolatry.
The protesters in Afghanistan threw stones at the U.S. base and smashed a guard post. Some of those in the crowd then shot at the base with assault rifles, prompting the police to return fire, Ahmed said.
U.S. military spokesman, Lt. Mike Cody, said American troops did not fire on the crowd and security was left to the Afghan police.
About 200 protesters also tried to break down the gate of a the Danish government's diplomatic mission office in the capital, Kabul, but failed, said police who were guarding the building.
The protesters then threw stones at the mission and beat some officers guarding it, as well as some guards at a nearby house used by Belgian diplomats.
Police later used batons and rifle butts to disburse the demonstrators who had walked toward the presidential palace. An Associated Press reporter saw at least three protesters bleeding from injuries, and at least seven more who were arrested and driven away in a police vehicle.
''Long live Islam! We are Muslims! We don't let anyone insult our prophet!'' chanted the demonstrators, many of whom appeared to be teenagers. They also chanted, ''Down with America!'' and slogans against the Afghan and U.S. presidents.
Some protesters moved toward the main American base in city and threw stones that smashed windows of a guard house. Police watched but did not intervene.
U.S. soldiers later arrested two photographers outside the base and checked the memory discs of an AP photographer, but did not arrest him. Cody, the U.S. military spokesman, said he had no details about the matter.
Thousands of other people demonstrated peacefully in at least five other cities. The spreading unrest came day after some 4,000 Afghans took to the streets across the country.
About 200 demonstrators in Iran threw stones at the Austrian Embassy in Tehran, breaking windows and throwing firecrackers that started small fires. The demonstration lasted two hours, but police quickly extinguished the blazes and stopped some protesters from throwing stones.
Several thousand Iraqis rallied in southern Iraq, burning Danish, German and Israeli flags, as well as an effigy of Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, to demand diplomatic and economic ties be severed with countries in which the caricatures were published.
Protesters called for the death of anyone who insults Muhammad and demanded withdrawal of 530-member Danish military contingent operating under British control.
Danish Capt. Philip Ulrichsen said Danish troops were shot at and targeted by stone-throwing youths on Sunday and a roadside bomb was defused, but no soldiers were wounded.
In Somalia, hundreds of protesters threw stones at police and aid workers after attending a peaceful rally in the northern port city of Bossaso, sparking the stampede in which a teenage boy was killed, said businessman Mohamed Ahmed, a witness. Officials could not be reached for comment.
Melees also broke out during protests in New Delhi and Gaza City, while several thousand students massed peacefully in Cairo on the campus of al-Azhar University, the oldest and most important seat of Sunni Muslim learning in the world, to protest the drawings.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for an end to violence and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the country would try to use its contacts with Arab countries to cool the violence.
''We cannot allow this argument to become a battle between cultures,'' Steinmeier said.
Lebanese Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said the government had unanimously ''rejected and condemned the ... riots,'' saying they had ''harmed Lebanon's reputation and its civilized image and the noble aim of the demonstration.''
''The Cabinet apologizes to Denmark,'' Aridi said.
Police investigating Sunday's fire and riot at the building housing the Danish mission said that, contrary to previous reports, the mission offices were intact. The fire and wrecking of offices had been confined to Lebanese businesses on lower floors.
The Beirut violence came a day after violent protests in neighboring Syria, including the burning of the Danish and Norwegian missions. The United States accused the Syrian government of backing the protests in Lebanon and Syria, an accusation also made by anti-Syrian Lebanese politicians.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero published a column in the Paris-based International Herald Tribune in which they appealed for ''respect and calm,'' saying the dispute ''can only leave a trail of mistrust and misunderstanding between both sides.''
"Religion is the opium of the people"
Karl Marx
Religion...is the opium of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo. Criticism has plucked the imaginary flowers on the chain not in order that man shall continue to bear that chain without fantasy or consolation, but so that he shall throw off the chain and pluck the living flower. The criticism of religion disillusions man, so that he will think, act, and fashion his reality like a man who has discarded his illusions and regained his senses, so that he will move around himself as his own true sun. Religion is only the illusory sun which revolves around man so long as he does not revolve around himself. Karl Marx
In my opinion, what Karl Marx meant was that as long as humans continue to reach for a mythical heaven, they deny themselves the opportunity to create their own heaven here on Earth. A unspoken rule of religion, is that we really shouldn't allow ourselves to be too happy here in this life. What's required of us is sacrifice, and doing our duty. In our culture, this is actually viewed as a virtue.
OK....( Ithink)
I thought it was "religiion is the opium of the MASSES." .
Xenobia,
What are the masses?
Aren't they people?
Karl Marx's work has been translated to different languages. You read "masses", some others read "people".
It is exactly the same thing.
What matters is the understanding of his philosophy.
so what are your points????? I'm confused here.... the issue isn't about religion, in my opinion, but it is people's insensitivity and lack of respect for others who are different, for things they do not understand. Religion is just a symptom of the larger problem at hand.
Granted many muslims across the world aren't using appropriate means to speak their mind or to show that they are unhappy with their current situation. I definately agree witht that. But they are not being hypersensitive when they take issue with the images and stereotyes, bounderies have been broken down, and basic respect for other people's vaues is no longer in existance.
I guess my point is that the images on display during these protests are offensive. Though they condemn free speech, the gestures are targeted to push the boundaries of free speech.....and yet do not result in the violence that the original cartoons seemed to foster. The protesters do Islam no favours....they simply reinforce the stereotype of an insane mob thinking in simple cartoon like sentiments. There is little culture, moral depth or intelligence on display.
Religion isn’t the central point here. There are cultured sophisticated Muslims throughout the world. The problem is the intolerant mental yokes harnessed to all who follow dogmatic, literal interpretations of any book be it the Koran, Bible or Torah. This usually happens with groups who are uneducated, simple, unthinking people, looking for simple answers based on moral absolutes which can never be questioned.
There are moral absolutes: Sticking pins in a baby’s eyes is always wrong…but these instances transcend any moral proscription and are self evident, not handed down from the one dimensional to the morally illiterate.
These cartoons were not published in Britain. The cartoons were not published in the US.
But check the news and see the protest in Afghanistan, for instance, against the USA.
"They also chanted, ''Down with America!'' and slogans against the Afghan and U.S. presidents."
"Some protesters moved toward the main American base in city and threw stones that smashed windows of a guard house. Police watched but did not intervene." New York Times 2-6-2006
"The cartoons, one of which showed Mohammad with a turban resembling a bomb, first appeared in a Danish newspaper and were then reprinted in other countries, although not in Britain." Reuters (London)
Now more...
"Afghan police shot dead four people protesting on Tuesday against cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad that have unleashed waves of rage and soul-searching across the Muslim world and Europe."
People have already died for this stupidity.
The cartoons were published, originally, by one paper. It was not the Danish government. It's not the whole European Continent. It's not the world.
There have been cartoons about virgin Mary. Even some paintings of her in bikini. Look at a previous entry on this blog, and you will see an image of Jesus; an image that could have offended some people.
We can choose to be offended by it or not. I don't want to go to heaven if God doesn't have a good sense of humor.
Terry has a good point on his post:
"The problem is the intolerant mental yokes harnessed to all who follow dogmatic, literal interpretations of any book be it the Koran, Bible or Torah. This usually happens with groups who are uneducated, simple, unthinking people, looking for simple answers based on moral absolutes which can never be questioned.
There are moral absolutes: Sticking pins in a baby’s eyes is always wrong…but these instances transcend any moral proscription and are self evident, not handed down from the one dimensional to the morally illiterate."
It is amazing how so many people hide behind the cloak of being anonymmous because they are afraid that people are afraid that anyone will know that they expressed their views or thoughts - perhaps they are not totally confident in their views or else they are afraid that their own views are questionable - food for thought - flood gates perhaps should be closed for a while
Everybody has a lot to say but hidding behind an anonymus title to give their point of view - isn't that an interesting place to start- I wish there was a sociologist amungst this crowd, -perhaps the reality of it all is that cultures have great difficulty melding and perhaps on a global scale the melting pot / assimulation is not possible / how is cultural diversity ever going to be able to really be achieved / established in the uk / perhaps its important to realise historically that the UK is on a big learning curve.immigration in a small geographical area with a big population / huge economic power globally is ultumattly going to have concequences - lets just reflect for a moment on how well the British gov has and still is dealing with NI - need i say anymore -
Yes I suppose the masses are the people and perhaps it is just a question of translation. But I always found the word "masses" in that quote to be interesting. It connotes contempt in a way that "the people" does not. "Masses" conjures up the image of herd of sheep or something, one indistinguishable from the next being directed from place to place by herders and their dogs. For me that helps to convey the very point about religion that you raise.
But I must admit that I have some hesitance about making blanket condemnations of religion. I am not religious myself, but at the same time I can appreciate the purpose it has in the lives of "the people". Life is difficult as the Buddhists say. It is full of gain and loss, joy and pain etc. The belief in some higher power or greater scheme can function as a way to stay balanced, to keep from becoming overwhelmed by the upheavals of life. Religion at its best can offer solace and help sustain people through difficult times. That every culture in history has come up with some spiritual practice or another suggests to me that it satisfies an innate need in human beings that atheism can never meet. That need is easily manipulated by organized religions and that seems to me to be the problem...the institutionalization of spirituality. Religion becomes a tool for manipulation and oppression here on earth when the genesis of every religion has been transcending the constraints of this earth.
Xenobia,
If you read the previous post carefully, and let it get through you, you will see that what you are saying is what this post about Karl Marx is saying too.
Now, about the masses: we are the masses. This term is constantly used to refer to people. A very clear example is what your president used as an excuse to attack Iraq. According to him, Iraq had "weapons of MASS destruction". So, masses are not sheeps. Among the masses, the people, there are some who are well educated and think by themselves.
The media goes to the masses. The masses read the papers and watch TV.
Karl Marx was German, and it's not a matter of translation, it is a matter of understanding what he meant in his writings.
Sara,
So far, we have managed to have a good conversation here. No one has insulted or disrespected anyone. So, whether they want to say their names or not, is not important.
Don't let this bother you.
People could post under different and ficticious names, and we would not know who they really are.
Ellen Goodman, is a Pullitzer- price winning columnist. She has a column in the Boston Globe on Sundays and Thursdays. She is also a great essay writer and someone posted one of her essays on an earlier entry here. "The Company Man" is an essay she published in the '70s. I doubt Ms. Goodman reads this blog.
Let's just enjoy the entries, and the freedom of speech.
Terry could also require everybody to give their real name, email, and all that when they post. Maybe you should ask him to do that, and that way you will at least read a name, with no face or personality.
Well, Petra, I guess Marx and I have more in common than I thought! Thanks for setting me straight. Blogs can be so educational!!!
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