Klaus Stuttman, a German cartoonist was forced to relocate from his home and go into hiding for fear of his life after receiving numerous deaththreats. He published a cartoon comparing the Iranian soccer team to a group of suicide bombers. Apparently he should be punished by death for doing so.

I am about to make a claim that may, at first, strike many as odd: This cartoon crisis is in a sense a greater attack on the west than 9/11.

Whereas 9/11 and other terrorist attacks of the past could be blamed on the United States’ foreign policy, Spain’s involvement in the Iraq war or Britain’s support for Israel, this is a direct and open attack on the basic framework of western society – the freedom of speech. And for the first time, it could actually work.

It could work because this time around there are no bombs in our cities, no mass casualties and collapsing buildings. This time, when you turn on your TV you don’t see a war at your front door, and you might be tempted to think that there’s nothing to worry about. But look again and see that very quietly, the rule of fear is being imported into our civilization. Embassies are burning, cartoonists are forced to relocate from their homes for fear of their lives and death threats are issued like parking tickets. I would probably get one if the circulation of this article was larger.

Dictators rule by fear. To test the freedom of a country Nathan Sharansky suggested the ‘Town Square Test’: "If a person can walk into the middle of the town square and express his or her views without fear of arrest, imprisonment, or physical harm, then that person is living in a free society, not a fear society”. Of course, we don’t live under a dictator or in a fear society, but ask yourself: would you go to the town square and speak any negative views of Islam with the same absolute sense of security as just a few months ago?

Terrorism and fear are sadly not new. But whereas before terrorism was largely aimed at the public domain (is the war in Iraq justified?) it is now aimed at personal freedom – the founding principle of western democracy. It is in this sense that these attacks are of more importance than previous ones.

Our unquestioned sense of security has cracked and doubts have risen. As a result, we - the citizens of the western world - will not get to read and hear some of the things we would have heard or read had this crisis not occurred. We are witnessing a de facto reduction of our rights by violent means and this should be infuriating to any believer in democracy, regardless of his or her opinions on the actual cartoons.

It took us generations to build these freedoms, and they are being eroded in just a few months. The first stone is cast, and in this round we have already lost. The fear is there and this cannot be denied. The question is how we go on from here. Do we apologize, appease and give in to fear or do we stand our ground and reaffirm our freedom knowing that once we stumble the height of the fall is often not in our hands.