Tony Auth has since the outbreak of the Intifada attacked Palestinians in dozens of cartoons. He has shown Palestinians dismantling their houses to throw stones at Israeli tanks (the houses running the caption "The Palestinian State"), Arafat leading Palestinian kids over a cliff, Arafat riding a camel (i.e., a "camel driver") whose humps conceal missiles, Palestinian parents standing side by side with a Palestinian child strapped with a bomb belt, expressing their pride in their child, to name just a few of the many racist cartoons that have portrayed, time and again, Palestinians as the main aggressors in their struggle for independence.

For some examples, see:

In contrast, Mr. Auth has published only a handful of cartoons that could qualify as critical of the Israelis. But practically all of them have focused on Ariel Sharon. No cartoons show fanatic, gun-toting settlers putting their children in harms way by building settlements on Palestinian land, or trigger-happy soldiers aiming for Palestinians heads, as many human rights organizations have documented. No cartoons from Mr. Auth on house demolitions, the killing of children in "curfews", the checkpoints and their devastating consqeuences on daily life, the months-long house imprisonments. All of that and much much more has been basically ignored by Mr. Auth.

And now, here is Mr. Auth taking the inevitable next sliding step in the slippery-slope of Arab and Muslim bashing: tarring Islam itself and casting doubt on its tolerant character.

In and of itself, Mr. Auth's actions would not be infuriating: if Mr. Auth believed that all religions are by nature intolerant, his cartoon would not be that offensive and discriminatory.

But Mr. Auth has conveniently singled out Islam.

For instance, in the tumult that is rocking the Catholic Church here in the US and beyond, Mr. Auth has published numerous hard-hitting cartoons against Catholic priests and the Church. And yet, not once has Mr. Auth published a cartoon showing a priest arguing that CHRISTIANITY is a tolerant religion, since it tolerates pedophiles in the ranks of its clergy. Mr. Auth has been very careful not to tar the whole religion because of the actions of a miniscule few (a few who by the way OFFICIALLY speak for not only the Church but who believe that they are speaking for the whole of Christiandom).

Similarly, many rabbis have been very supportive of the policies of Ariel Sharon, with many critical of him because he has not been as hard-hitting as they think he should be. And yet, Mr. Auth has never published a cartoon showing a rabbi saying that Judaism is a tolerant religion, since it tolerates genocide, ethnic cleansing, the killing of children, the stealing of other people's land and houses, establishment of an apartheid regime, etc., etc.

So, why Islam?

And why now, at a time when Muslims in the US are at their most vulnerable?

Mr. Auth published his cartoon on November 28, 2002, just three days following the release on November 25, 2002, of an FBI report on a 1,600 percent jump in attacks against Muslims -- from 28 in 2000 to 481 in 2001. See: http://www.salon.com/news/wire/2002/11/25/hate_crimes/?x

His cartoon will certainly NOT help make things any better for Muslims. The likes of Bill O'Rilley, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and other even more incendiary demagogue-talk-show hosts will now have to push the outrage envelope that much further to remain to the right of a mainstream that is eager to play catch up with them.

Please contact the prize committee and insist that they withdraw their award for Mr. Auth. Mr. Auth simply does not deserve any awards after jumping on the bandwagon of Islam bashing.

Here is contact information:

Germany contact for the prize committee:

	Ms. Gudrun Schäfer, 
	Im Fort 7, D-76829, 
	Landau, Germany
	PHONE: 49-6341/280-156

You can also share your comments with:

	
	Tony Auth
	tauth@phillynews.com

	The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists
	PHONE: (919) 859-5516 
	Fax: (919) 859-3172
	wnicholson@nc.rr.com

	Philadelphia Inquirer Editorial Page editor
	Chris Satullo
	PHONE: (215) 854-5943
	csatullo@phillynews.com

	Walker Lundy
	Editor and Executive Vice President
	(215) 854-2765
	wlundy@phillynews.com

	Robert Hall
	Publisher and Chairman
	(215) 854-4600

If possible, please give them a phone call. And at the least, send them an email. You can send an email to all the above by entering your message below and hitting, "send".

If you know of any Muslim organizations based in Germany, please give them a heads up on this action call. The url for this page is: http://www.pmwatch.org/pmw/cast/authandislam.asp