Casting itself as a defender of “free expression,” the anti-immigrant Danish paper Jyllands-Posten published racist cartoons painting the prophet Muhammad — and, by extension, Muslims generally —
as a terrorist bomb-lover. Media in Europe and the U.S. followed its example, right down to the ringing phrases about press freedom.
What hypocritical hooey. A powerful rightwing newspaper poses as a champion of civil liberties in order to incite hatred against Muslims, the majority of whom are dark-skinned, without privilege, and struggling to survive.
In Europe, the cartoons serve to justify discrimination by scapegoating immigrants for unemployment and other capitalist ills. The cartoons also dovetail with the anti-Muslim propaganda underlying Bush’s bogus war on terror, helping to legitimize the bombing and plunder of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Ruling elites in the Middle East found their own ways to exploit the controversy. Iran, for example, whipped up anti-Semitic sentiment with Holocaust cartoons.
Exploiting religious pride and prejudice is a convenient way to divert attention from more concrete crimes: imperialist wars and occupations or, in Iran’s case, crackdowns on bus drivers and other workers. In the end, it boils down to dividing and conquering the working class. Well, let’s hear it for labor using its free expression to oppose this tactic!
