02-14-06,9:14am

The cartoon crisis has grown. Demonstrations are made in many countries Embassies and consulates were burned down. While the rage against the imperialist arrogance and audacity spreads out, the imperialists are seeking for ways of seizing the developments to attack Iran and Syria.

It is senseless to consider the cartoons, which were published in Danish newspapers and incited a great reaction, within the framework of 'freedom of expression'. Actually it is also highly disputable whether the published drawings are cartoons. These don't contain any thought, but they rather reflect a tendency for stubbornness against a religious belief. The dominant language of cartoons is humor; these drawings have nothing to do with humor, either. It is also not possible to talk about challenging bigotry in a scientific way.

There is a clear provocation going on. While there is heavy tension in Middle East, which is mostly inhabited by Moslem communities, because of the imperialist occupation and Israel's terrorist policies, it cannot be considered just as carelessness that stubbornness on cartoons is continued for weeks. The governments of Denmark and other European countries, which didn't care about the criticism and reaction from different circles, continued with their indifferent attitude, even when various community leaders started to discuss the issue and engaged in preparations for actions.

The issue can be speculated in various ways. One of these is the explanation that the imperialists have completely lost the initiative in Middle East and are having difficulty in developing new policies. It is possible that the imperialists who got blind because of colonialist arrogance, are unable to judge the rage they are about to face. Furthermore, it can be considered that the imperialists try to escalate the tension in order to create public support for more aggressive policies against Iran and Syria.

Under these circumstances,

1. The publishing and republishing of these cartoons cannot be justified with freedom of thought. The creators of these cartoons shall apologize immediately.

2. While the reaction by large masses in many countries contain some aspects with the potential of escalating religious clashes and hurting the fraternity between peoples, it shall be considered as a rage against imperialist pressure and barbarism.

3. It offers significant opportunities for the struggle of the oppressed that some Islamist movements, which have been part of the policies of the USA and other imperialist countries, can no longer orient themselves within these polices and that the Moslem masses started to distance themselves from the imperialist west.

4. Left is rising in Latin America. Imperialism cannot hold in Middle East. Although the developments in these two geographies are quite different, they are supporting each other. This is a further opportunity.

5. Instead of waiting for the answer of the question whether the rage in Moslem societies will turn into a real anti-imperialist struggle or provide an adequate ground for imperialist provocations, it is necessary to focus on the rise of the struggle against imperialism and make effort so that it acquires a progressive character. It shouldn't be forgotten that the reactions are completely open for provocations and imperialist manipulations in today's conditions.

6. While the AKP government, the collaborator of imperialist countries, is heading towards even more coward policies, it is significant that it was quite indifferent towards the provocation in Trabzon. AKP, which is both reactionary and collaborator, is one of the most dangerous actors of these incidents.

Patriotic Front 08.02.2006, Wednesday