“The newspapers are wrinkled as always, the conversations still veer toward the abstract, but tempers are riled these days in Europe’s cafes. Artists and influential leftists are warning that the rise of radical Islam is threatening the hallowed tradition of European liberalism. Theater directors, cartoonists and writers say the continent is betraying its identity with self-censorship aimed at appeasing a fundamentalist Islam they believe is determined to impose its will on free speech and provocative creativity.”

Los Angeles Times, 16 October 2006