Re: <nettime> cartoons? come on.

[Florian Cramer <cantsin@zedat.fu-berlin.de>]

Am Samstag, 18. Februar 2006 um 21:50:45 Uhr (-0800) schrieb Sasha Costanza-Chock:
 
>   Can we please shift the conversation from the back and forth of the rights
> regime (free speech! freedom of religion! World Leaders Agreed it's Universal!) to
> the reality of empire, war, and occupation that is the real fuel for the so-called
> 'cartoon protests.'

It is not the real fuel. The fuel are Middle Eastern regimes that choreographed
and coordinated those protests. They were perfect to get their people in line and
create an outlet for their political frustration that wouldn't endanger the
regimes and the violent suppression of free speech and political freedom in those
countries. Besides, Middle Eastern politics cannot be reduced to a simple
black-vs.-white, good-vs.-evil scheme with one evil "empire" pulling the strings.
(Isn't it remarkable how Negri/Hardt use a concept coined by "Star Wars" and
Ronald Reagan?) Conspiciously absent from this debate, for example, are the
Iranian threats to Israel and the Holocaust revisionist conference taking place
there - only because people in Israel or Western countries don't mass-protest
against that, and aren't burning down Iranian embassies?

Don't let yourself manipulate by propaganda and intelligence work. It is
impossible to burn down an embassy without the local government at (the very)
least tolerating it.

-F

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