Is provocation the best response to extremists ?

Rachad Armanios reproaches Danish papers for having republished a caricature of the prophet Mohamed on February 13th as a reaction to a foiled attempt to assassinate a caricaturist in Denmark. "When extremists - according to the police - attempt to add oil to the fire, should we play their game and flex our muscles ? ... Instead of taking sides with the majority of Muslims - who are hostage to these fanatics- the same caricatures that accuse them are published again and again. The Danish papers and the others could have thought up new drawings, more subtle ones capable of denouncing at a glance not Islam, but the fanatic excesses that this religion, as well as all the other ones, can lead to. This 'nuance' is unlikely on today's agenda, judging by the unreserved, opportunistic reception French politicians and media are giving the new 'Muslim Marianne', the Somali Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who only sees death and desolation in the Koran and the prophet."

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