Dusseldorf - A Muslim leader in Germany criticized a
carnival float in a Monday parade that satirically suggested Islam
was not peaceful.
The float carried two identical cartoon-style papier-mache
figures, each wearing a suicide-bomber's belt and carrying a dagger
and a pistol. The first was labelled 'the cliche,', the second was
labelled 'the reality.'
Both scowling figures were labelled 'mullahs,' a term used in
Germany as it is in Pakistan to describe both Shiite and Sunni
clergy. The float was part of a carnival parade watched by more than
half a million people in the western city of Dusseldorf.
'This hasn't got anything to do with humour,' said Aiman A
Mazyek, general secretary of the National Council of Muslims in
Germany. 'The message it gives me is: 'We love our prejudices, we'll
stand up for them, even if they are flagrantly untrue.''
'As a born-and-bred Rhinelander, I wouldn't get too upset about
it,' said Mazyek. 'I'm sure most of the revellers don't want to
spread anti-Islam cynicism.'
Mockery and rule-breaking is a key element in carnival, which is
celebrated mainly in Germany's heavily populated Rhineland where
Catholics form a majority. Floats, built by clubs of amateurs for the
Dusseldorf parade, often have crude messages.
Another float showed Nazi dictator with his pants off and
represented a far-right-wing German party as his bodily waste.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
USA
Your Talkback on this Story