Members of the European Parliament have condemned the violent protests in Europe following the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
They expressed solidarity with Denmark, saying an attack on one EU country was an attack on all.
MEPs strongly rejected the idea that a clash of civilisations was at the root of the uproar, but called for dialogue.
Several speakers in the debate also called for press to exercise its freedom with responsibility.
Speaking on behalf of the main centre-left group, Danish MEP Poul Nyrup Rasmussen said Europe had learned the values of peaceful co-existence the hard way.
“We say no to those who claim it is us against them,” he said.
But he criticised Islamic extremists who had, he said, used the cartoons to create new myths and inflame violence.
Best values
The EU has been the target of protests, which damaged its offices in the Palestinian territory of Gaza.
Hans-Gert Poettering, the leader of the main centre-right group in the parliament, said it was not enough to invoke a dialogue of civilisations - the EU had to take more concrete steps.
He condemned the violent protests in Islamic countries, saying they were not spontaneous but had been stirred up by regimes which did not believe in freedom of expression. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said a boycott of Danish goods was by definition a boycott of European goods, and he called for the best of values to win against the worst of prejudices. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4716398.stm
This clearly shows what respect and understanding they have for our sentiments.
Respect is never an issue for the Europeans. They after all supported aparthied in South Africa until the 80s. Europe is defacto a racist society. Who wants respect from a racist?
muslim world has bigger and sicker skeleton in its clauset... I wish iad liberty to delibretae on sanction of salvery in islam anyway point is as of today no. of musli countries which even pretends to show religious tolerance is far outnumbered by totally liberal secular western countries........i belive muslim world has miles to go before it can lecture anyone on tolerance of others beliefs cultures values..
Wow. Lets go over history again shall we? You need a lesson.
200 years of colonialism which included genocide, rape and pillaging.
300 to 400 years of slavery
400 plus years of racism and facism
The genocide in Algeria and the Holocaust of Jews.
All done by the Europeans.
So please list such dire deeds for the Islamic world?
If you want to go all the way back to the Crusades, we can easily document the Inquisition, the burning of Muslims and Jews in the Middle East, while 90% of the Muslim rulers let Christains from Europe live in peace under their domain.
Europeans have fought for centuries to earn the right to mock religion and they aren't jettisoning it anytime soon just because some lony in saudi or syria thinks otherwise........... west society is compleet package you got freedom to practice what you want but get ready to be caricaturied in humourorusway.. if u don;t like this well there is plenty of option right from pakistan tosaudi to syria libiya iraq iran you can shift your residence to that place.........
Wow...do muslims get such a "right" if they commit genocide against the jews? Do muslims get this same "right" after they have raped and murdered millions of women and children over a 300 year period?
Wow...now every society must earn the right to mock others.
Question when do the Europeans "earn" the "right" to be respectful and tolerant?
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and they aren't jettisoning it anytime soon just because some lony in saudi or syria thinks otherwise........... west society is compleet package you got freedom to practice what you want but get ready to be caricaturied in humourorusway.. if u don;t like this well there is plenty of option right from pakistan tosaudi to syria libiya iraq iran you can shift your residence to that place.........
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Then explain to me why a British Author is going on trial in Austria for his comments? What happened to freedom of speech then?
What happened to freedom of speech when a french author wrote about the Genocide in Algeria?