 Protest in Bangladesh against the racist cartoons. Photo: Reuters/Mohammad Shahidullah |
On Sept. 30, 2005, the newspaper Jyllands Posten—one of Denmark’s largest circulation dailies—ran a series of 12 cartoons shamefully depicting racist caricatures of Islam’s holy figure, the Prophet Muhammad. Immediately, the Danish Muslim community began to rise up in protest, backed by a large and unified international Muslim community.
Jyllands Posten defended its decision to publish the illustrations as a matter of “freedom of speech.” Hiding racism and oppression behind lofty phrases is nothing new for ruling-class apologists. Creating a climate of fear for Muslims at a time when U.S. and European imperialists are engaged in a vicious occupation of Iraq and Palestine is a provocation much like Ku Klux Klan thugs issuing racist and terrorist proclamations by day, and death and lynchings against the Black community by night.
The “freedom of speech” lie was revealed on Feb. 20 when Danish police arrested four members of the Danish Left Socialists Party and issued warrants for three others. What was their crime? The seven were charged with “supporting foreign terrorist organizations”—for selling t-shirts supporting the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
A coordinated racist campaign
What might have been considered an isolated show of right-wing bigotry grew into a massive and coordinated anti-Muslim propaganda campaign. Other European publications began to republish the cartoons. In early February, one right-wing newspaper in France, France Soir, went so far as to create one of its own racist cartoons and print it on its front page.
All these media hid behind “freedom of speech” in their campaign to defame and demonize an entire religious community. Yet just three years ago, the same Jyllands Posten editorial board denied the publication of cartoons of Jesus Christ on the grounds that they would “offend its readership.”
Initial attempts by Danish Muslims to stop the publication with the legal system of the country were ignored.
As the anti-Muslim campaign widened, so did the outcry of the masses. In Damascus, Syria, crowds attacked the Danish and Norwegian embassies on Feb. 4. On Feb. 5, a mass demonstration in Beirut, Lebanon, burned down the Danish consulates. Other protests took place in Egypt, Palestine, Algeria and throughout the Arab world.
The demonstrations were by no means restricted to the Arab world, however. The risings grew to encompass Muslims in Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Turkey, the Philippines, Tanzania, Kenya and Somalia, and in the cities of London and Hong Kong.
 Italian Reform Minister Roberto Calderoli puts racism on display. Photo: Gamma |
On Feb. 17, Italian Reform Minister Roberto Calderoli—a member of the ultra-right anti-immigrant Northern League—exacerbated the insult by wearing a t-shirt with one of the racist cartoons during a televised appearance. That move provoked massive demonstrations in Libya, an African country that endured decades of brutal colonial rule at the hands of the Italian government.
Amid calls for his resignation, Calderoli replied he would resign “only if Islamic leaders made a gesture of appeasement” (Agence France Presse, Feb. 18)—as if Muslims must bow down and beg to receive respect and civilized treatment. He resigned on Feb. 18.
Rise of anti-immigrant racism
The publication of the cartoons have to be seen in the context of growing xenophobia and anti-immigrant racism that is being promoted by sectors of the European ruling classes. Danish journalist Martin Burcharth, writing in the Feb. 12 New York Times, notes that there are over 200,000 Muslims in Denmark—primarily immigrants from the Middle East. Yet, for the last 20 years, successive Danish governments have turned down bids to build mosques in the capital, Copenhagen. There is not a single Muslim cemetery in Denmark, forcing observant Muslims to send family members’ remains back to their home countries for burial.
Burcharth also points out the campaign headed by Brian Mikkelson, a member of the right-wing People’s Party and the Danish minister of cultural affairs, to create “a canon of Danish art, music, literature and film.” Beneath this innocent-sounding project, though, is a racist campaign. “In Denmark we have seen the appearance of a parallel society in which minorities practice their own medieval values and undemocratic views,” Mikkelson told a People’s Party conference in summer 2005. “This is the new front in our cultural war.”
This effort, combined with the racist cartoon campaign, is part of an effort to divide European workers from immigrant workers. Right-wing parties like the People’s Party are making greater attempts to recruit members.
Nor is this effort restricted to Denmark. The National Front in France, the Northern League in Italy, the Austrian Freedom Party and others across Europe have been making every effort to channel working-class anger against unemployment and war into the channels of anti-immigrant bashing and nationalist chauvinism.
Building unity
A number of communist and workers’ parties in Denmark and around the world have called for a real apology from the editors of Jyllands Posten. The Communist Party of Turkey (TKP), in a Feb. 8 statement, noted, “while the reaction by large masses in many countries may contain some aspects that have the potential of escalating religious clashes and hurting the fraternity between peoples, it shall be considered as rage against imperialist pressure and barbarism.”
The TKP statement went on to state that, “Instead of waiting for the answer [to] the question whether the rage in Muslim societies will turn into real anti-imperialist struggle or provide an adequate ground for imperialist provocations, it is necessary to focus on the rise of the struggle against imperialism and make efforts so that it acquires a progressive character.”
It is not the first time in history that seemingly small insults become the catalysts for mass outpourings of rage. The cartoons, set against the backdrop of anti-immigrant racism, imperialist wars and occupations and a long history of colonial brutality, are really a spark that set off an explosion of anti-imperialist sentiment around the world.
The impact and immediacy of a visual image, especially one so simple and straightforward as a cartoon, has been used as a slap in the face to the millions of Muslims—overwhelmingly poor and working class in nations oppressed by imperialism.
The language used is universal. Its racist content is not hidden behind dense and coded rhetorical writing. You don’t need to study or interpret it. It is immediate and explicit.
In the face of these insults and provocations, the Muslim communities and the Arab people deserve the support of all progressive and working people.
Articles may be reprinted with credit to Socialism and Liberation magazine.
