"Extremists... prove the cartoonists right"
That's the take of French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy on the violent demonstrations over the Danish cartoons:
"I am totally shocked and find it unacceptable that -- because there have been caricatures in the West -- extremists can burn flags or take fundamentalist or extremist positions which would prove the cartoonists right," he told LCI television.
Indeed. It's interesting to see Europe struggling with multiculturalism, after years of claiming superiority in this area. But it also highlights the dangers of multiculturalism to every nation - many European nations are now deciding whether to shift their national values with the introduction of each new immigrant.
We've been struggling with the same issues over here, to the point that we actually ignore immigration laws in some cities so that illegal immigrants feel safe applying for college grants and food stamps. But there is at least one major difference in the conflict here and that being waged across the Atlantic.
Our response to the pressures of multiculturalism has been timidity and appeasement in the face of protests, lawsuits, and media pressure. Europe, on the other hand, is threatened with violence for it's offence of publishing a few cartoons. And surprisingly, there are a few in the European media willing to fight back.
But the cultural clash has grave consequences stemming directly from the larger conflict between Islam and the rest of the world:
Early Friday, Palestinian militants threw a bomb at a French cultural center in Gaza City, and many Palestinians began boycotting European goods, especially those from Denmark.
"Whoever defames our prophet should be executed," said Ismail Hassan, 37, a tailor who marched through the pouring rain along with hundreds of others in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
"Bin Laden our beloved, Denmark must be blown up," protesters in Ramallah chanted.
In mosques throughout Palestinian cities, clerics condemned the cartoons. An imam at the Omari Mosque in Gaza City told 9,000 worshippers that those behind the drawings should have their heads cut off.
"If they want a war of religions, we are ready," Hassan Sharaf, an imam in Nablus, said in his sermon.
About 10,000 demonstrators, including gunmen from the Islamic militant group Hamas firing in the air, marched through Gaza City to the Palestinian legislature, where they climbed on the roof, waving green Hamas banners.
"We are ready to redeem you with our souls and our blood our beloved prophet," they chanted. "Down, Down Denmark."
Religion of peace indeed. But while Europe's press is taking the high road, European governments are taking the traditional liberal tack of appeasement. I hope Europe realizes that it's liberal tendancies toward appeasement will ill serve them in this era. The behavior they reinforce will be used again, with perhaps consequences closer to home.
The muslims interviewed in the media would have you believe that this is about respect. Respect, though, is earned - and not through threats of violence. Respect is not earned by burning flags, or firing weapons into the air. Respect is not earned by holding a sign calling for a second holocaust.
When a government chooses to make religion it's cornerstone, it opens itself up to political critisism on that cornerstone. Since muslims can't draw a distinction between religion and politics, it can hardly expect westerners to do so either.
It's been said by many before, and it's worth saying again - when Islam cleans it's own house of the rampant killing in the name of Mohamed, maybe there will be some reason to protest the stereotypes depicted in the Danish cartoons. Until then, blaming others for the stereotypes that they themselves have reinforced deserves contempt.
