Workers' Liberty

It appears the internet has exploded. The protests around the world over the publication of the Danish cartoons have resulted in deaths, boycotts, embassy storming, and a large amount of flag burning. Flame has been liberally chucked around online as well. The AWL decided to publish the cartoons on our website and this has provoked quite a response elsewhere, as was to be expected I suppose.

I’m not entirely sure, on one level, what is actually being objected to. Of course, the cartoons are racist so it would seem obvious what objections are being raised, so allow me to clarify. We’ve published racist stuff in the past. We’ll probably do so again. Does this mean we actually condone its message? Clearly not. We published Stalinist and Nazi anti-semitic cartoons in articles on the rise of anti-semitism in Europe. Does this make us anti-semites? Harry’s Place has carried the retaliatory AEL cartoons with anti-semitic and homophobic messages (Here). Is Harry’s Place now considered anti-semitic?

Clearly context is important. There is widespread anti-Muslim racism throughout Europe, so it could certainly be argued that publication of the cartoons is irresponsible. But anti-semitism has not gone away either. Is publication of anti-semitic cartoons also irresponsible? The racism in society is certainly a context that must be taken into account, and I think we’ve done that in the article accompanying the cartoons, which has been so studiously ignored in the hysterical denunciations of us. However there are also other contexts to note. The fact that no media outlets will publish these is part of the context, and I think it’s being wilfully blind to global events to say that this is due to the strength of the anti-war movement as Meaders claims (Here). Surely the death threats and the lobbying of various right wing religious figures might have had something to do with it.

Censorship is a huge part of the context we must be aware of. It wasn’t that long ago that Christian groups were lobbying to stop the Jerry Springer opera from appearing on the BBC. I’m sure the opera offended many peoples deeply held beliefs but that was never a concern for me, or indeed many other people, when considering whether or not they should have a veto on what the rest of us could watch. The same applies to Bezhti, the play depicting sexual abuse in a Sikh temple, which was cancelled due to the pressure of local religious groups. Simple consistency demands that if we didn’t support the right of religions not to be offended then, we shouldn’t now.

Much of the argument against our publication of the cartoons seems to rest on some rather shaky ground. Meaders claims that it is in the interests of “decency” that we should have refrained from publication, and that it shows we can’t recognise racism when we see it. Clearly we have recognised the racist intent in some of the cartoons, and have said so in the article accompanying them. As I’ve said above though, publishing racist cartoons is certainly nothing new for anti-racist organisations. Presumably Lenin’s Tomb will be getting a dressing down from Meaders any day now for this post: Here . The pictures without the article certainly paint a rather biased picture of what Lenin is going on about. Reading the article certainly seems to be a requirement for understanding why the pictures are published with it all. I think the same is true for the article Meaders is attacking.

So the reason for which the cartoons were published is clearly important, as we’ve established that publishing racist material is not in itself racist. The article in which we published the cartoons makes it clear we do so to attack the convention of religious leaders deciding what it is permissible for people to see. If Meaders, Lenin, and others, disagree with our decision to publish the cartoons it is presumably because they disagree with this, yet they do not argue why.

I can only assume that they would be behind the Fox networks decision not to run this . I’m already worried about the reaction I might get for linking to this .