British Muslim and member of the European Parliament Sajjad Karim responds in an interview about anti-Islam cartoons a French magazine published, deliberately insulting the Prophet Mohammad.
Here, the editor has made a decision which I think is not in the interest of either his magazine or indeed of France on an international scale bearing in mind what is happening presently, it is simply the wrong decision in the current circumstances.
I completely agree. Karim supports freedom of speech but really, those cartoons were simply throwing gasoline on the fire. France has been forced to close embassies and schools in 20 countries due to the cynical irresponsibility of the magazine. They insult the Prophet to make more profit and if Lebanon has to guard the French ambassador’s residence with tanks, well, that’s surely not their problem, is it?
They are countries in which there is very little understanding amongst the masses of one simple fact: in the United States of America, certainly in the European Union, governments simply do not have control over the media in the way that the populations in these countries may think that they have. It’s that fundamental misunderstanding which is leading to these reactions.
This is crucial. The protesters are assuming the US government somehow sanctioned or approved that noxious and vile anti-Islam movie and that the French government ok’ed the cartoons.