Stand up for Freedom of Speech
French paper reprints Danish Mohammad cartoons
A French newspaper reprinted on Wednesday a series of 12 Danish newspaper cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad that have sparked protests in the Muslim world and prompted Saudi Arabia to recall its ambassador from Denmark.
The France Soir daily said it had published the cartoons in the name of freedom of expression and to fight religious intolerance, saying a secular country like France could not be bound by the precepts of any religion.
There was no immediate reaction from Muslim leaders in France, which is home to the largest Islamic minority in Europe.
“The publication of 12 cartoons in the Danish press has shocked the Muslim world for whom the representation of Allah and his prophet is banned,” France Soir said in a front page comment below one of the controversial drawings.
“But because no religious dogma can impose its view on a democratic and secular society, France Soir publishes the incriminated cartoons,” it said.
The German paper Die Welt also re-printed them.
I’m not going to be one-upped by France Soir. Here they are. Two of the most objectionable full-size, followed by a strip of all twelve (click to expand). And, just to be and ‘equal-opportunity offender,’ I’ve also shown the infamous Piss Christ (which sparked a fair amount of bombast in 1987, but no boycotts, recalled ambassadors, or bomb threats.)
Will the NY Times, the London Times, La Prensa, La Repubblica, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, O Globo, the Buenos Aires Herald, and others also stand up for free speech? Looks like it! BBC NEWS: Muhammad cartoon row intensifies: France Soir, Germany’s Die Welt, La Stampa in Italy and El Periodico in Spain all carried some of the drawings.
The Jawa Report has been re-printing the cartoons for some time now. Good for Rusty et al. Our favorite Egyptian blogger, Sandmonkey, joins in with Let’s boycott the boycott. Michelle Malkin is on the case, with a re-print.
How about some other bloggers? Ann Althouse mentions the France Soir item, but doesn’t re-print the cartoons. Same with Instapundit. Seems to me, since we bloggers are all so “free-wheeling new media” and all that, we should not shrink from re-printing the actual cartoons. Except for Lefte bloggers; since this is not George Bush intimidating free speech, they don’t care; “it’s not my beat” they will claim.



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