Since the conservative-majority Supreme Court of the United States overturned abortion laws last Friday, the world has been reacting to the increasingly less liberal face of the United States, including hundreds of articles discussing the decision, in addition to a Swiss cartoon published in Le temps.
Source
The cartoon published by Le temps on Friday, only hours after the Supreme Court of the United State decision, depicted several men dressed in traditional Afghan attire that has long been associated with conservative Muslims, particularly after the rise and fall of the Taliban group several times in the span of three decades.
A radical reactionary Christianity restricts women's rights
— Ciarán 'The Hot One' Dold (@CiaranDold) June 26, 2022
Swiss Paper: "this is Islam's fault!" https://t.co/zceZTwuI48
The men seem to represent the conservative ideology increasingly adopted in the Supreme Court of the United States while one of them holds a paper reading in French "end of the right to abortion".
Mais???? Quel rapport avec les musulmans ?? C'est un pays super chrétien. Ce sont majoritairement de vieux hommes blancs qui ont voté. Quel rapport avec les musulmans ?????????
— El Tigre Chino ⚓ (@69vieille) June 25, 2022
Translation: "But? What do Muslims have to do with this? It's a super Christian country and the majority of decision-makers were old white men. What do Muslims have to do with this?"
As soon as the cartoon was published, online backlash against the newspaper started by many commentators who condemned their attempt to link the killing of abortion rights in the United States to Muslims, especially since none of the justices of the Supreme Court of the United States are Muslims.
Some online people accused Le temps of utilizing Islamophobia to express opposition to the new rule while normalizing offending Muslim-majority nations.
Orientalism always tries to externalize the misanthropy of "Western" values: it can only be "the others" who are misogynistic, homophobic, etc. https://t.co/k9rhEHbegt
— Mina Jawad | مینا جوادی (@mirzaqalam1) June 26, 2022
Moreover, some Pashtun (natives in parts of Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan) commentators expressed their shock that their traditional clothes were portrayed in an artwork meant to condemn growing conservative policies talent mostly by white American men, who make up the majority of the Supreme Court the United States' justices.
Le rapport, c’est que ce sont des vieux bigots qui légifèrent sur la liberté des femmes de disposer de leur corps, sans leur demander leur avis.
— Zet ?? (@alxcola) June 27, 2022
Tout comme… les talibans.
Translation: "The link is that it is old bigots are making the rules when it comes to women's freedoms and what they choose to do with their bodies with no regard to women's opinions. Just like the Taliban".
While some social media suggested that the link was meant to associate the decision with the Taliban and their misogynistic policies, others argued that limiting examples of ideologies that repress women's rights in the "Oriental world" and Muslim-majority countries "seeks to present a perfectionist representation of Western societies".
