Long (needs to be p. 49-ed) but interesting.Translated from the French: Caricatures danoises : lintolérable manipulation face à linacceptable capitulation
In the past weeks, one of Western democracy's essential principles, freedom of speech, has been under attack. With a number of exclusive informations, we shall attempt here to establish a frame of reference to help understand the context of the current situation.
A short recap of the facts
On September 30, 2005, a Danish newspaper, the Jylland-Posten, published twelve cartoons representing the prophet Muhammad. One showed him wearing a bomb-shaped turban with a lit fuse.
The newspaper chose to commission those cartoons after the Danish author Kare Bluitgen expressed regrets that he could not find an artist who'd dare illustrate his book on Muhammad.
On October 19, 2005, eleven ambassadors from Muslim countries, posted in Denmark, formally protested against the cartoons. At the time, the Danish Prime Minister refused to receive them.
On December 29, 2005, the Arab League condemned the cartoons.
On January 10, 2006, a Norwegian paper, Magazinet, published the cartoons.
On January 23, 2006, a boycott of Danish products was launched from Saudi Arabia.
On February 1st, the French daily France-Soir published the twelve Danish cartoons. The same evening, the paper's managing director, Jacques Lefranc, was fired by the paper's owner, the French-Egyptian businessman Raymond Lakah.
On February 8, the French satirical weekly, Charlie Hebdo, published all twelve cartoons as well as a number of cartoons of their own on the subject.
By the end of January, 2006, European embassies as well as cultural centers located in Muslim countries were trashed in the name of the defense of Islam.
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