Cartoons: Freedoms or Hate Speech?

A tit-for-tat fight erupted between France and Russia after the Moscow Embassy in Paris shared what was referred to be offensive cartoons depicting Europe and the United States, WION news reported.

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Despite the fact that both tweets were deleted after the tension, the French Foreign Ministry said it had summoned the Russian ambassador to France to denounce the "unacceptable" tweets.

In the cartoons shared on Twitter, the first one depicted two doctors American, with Dr. Imprie of the Lies written on the white coat, and an EU one seen injecting Europe with syringes with labels on them reading "Russophobia", "Neo-Nazism", "Cancel Culture", and "Sanctions."

The other cartoon showed a kneeling Europeans licking the buttocks of a man dressed as Uncle Sam. 

Russia slammed France's move and reminded it of Charlie Hebdo's offensive caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. Russia accused France of double standards when it comes to freedom of speech.

Around two years ago, Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical weekly magazine, announced it would re-share the offensive caricatures of the Prophet on the day of the trial of one of the accused accomplices in an attack by Islamist gunmen on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in 2015.

French President Macron refused to denounce the magazine's cartoons and defended them under the "freedom of speech" slogan. "There is in France a freedom to blaspheme which is attached to the freedom of conscience. I am here to protect all these freedoms. In France, one can criticize a president, governors, blaspheme," the president added.