‘Charlie Hebdo’ killings are a test for France and all Western Europe
What follows the slaughter of the senior staff of the Parisian satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo will be a test of the depth of Europe’s liberal instincts. The weekly paper, run by journalists with the real courage of their convictions, has done more than its duty for freedom of the press. It falls to Europeans to display their attachment to other pillars of a free society: the rule of law, the observance of democratic norms, the display of tolerance and nondiscrimination.
The script put out by mainline political leaders was essentially the same. This was a heinous and cowardly act. In attacking Charlie Hebdo, the murderers attacked the values of free speech and freedom of the press, fundamental to a democratic society. Our response must be hard and swift, but we must not allow disgust to demonize the many for the actions of the few. French President Francois Hollande, in a brief TV address soon after the murders, set the tone: “nothing must separate us.”
Others — President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron — added their agreement. The common theme — “nothing must separate us,” that is, no witch hunts, no bombings of mosques, no murders or beatings of Muslims, no passing over from centrist democratic politics to a dark side of counter-extremism fueled by the implicit or explicit identification of Muslims and Islam as the enemy within. Radical Islamists are the likely murderers, some of them possibly radicalized — as the main suspects in the case, brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi, may have been — by extremist groups fighting in Syria and Iraq.
The center must hold if the mainline parties are to continue to command the political terrain.
But another pillar of democracy is competition among differing political forces, and even if these forces are distasteful to centrist-liberal opinion, the field must be as level for them as everyone else. The media have been deluged with warnings against falling for the easy fury of the far right — and it will come.
The first signs emerged within hours of the murders. Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Front, released a video on her party’s website in which she struck a presidential pose. She, too, called for national unity and claimed that it was her responsibility to defend France “against the war that has been declared.” Avoiding an obvious and probably unpopular strategy of blaming other politicians at such a time, she said it was a time to end hypocrisy and look facts in the face, to ask who funds the terrorists and which countries supports them. Le Pen did say that she was not speaking of Muslims in France who are “attached to our values.” But among the facts that must be faced is that the action was within the ambit of an ideology “responsible for thousands of deaths in the world,” and that it was designed to produce “submission.”
“Submission” (Soumission) is the name of the new novel by French writer Michel Houellebecq. It is a dystopian fiction that sees France taken over by Islam by 2022, its secular institutions hollowed out and refilled with Islamic teaching and customs, its people, in the main, happy or at least willing to collaborate for the sake of a quiet life that for men offers the advantage of polygamy and submissive women. (“Collaboration” is still a loaded word in a France where wisps of guilt for submission to the Nazis still waft about).
The fact that the murders occurred as accusations of racism and Islamophobia were tossed at the reclusive author is itself like a piece of fiction employing a far-fetched coincidence. Houellebecq, with his customary “I couldn’t care less” attitude toward the media, disclaimed any desire to libel Islam. Instead, he said that it remained a living, expanding religion while enlightenment values were dead.
The far right may hasten that last forecast. For the UK Independence Party, normally a mild version of the far right, its leader Nigel Farage spoke of a “fifth column” in European societies, armed and dangerous. Geert Wilders of the Dutch Party for Freedom, never accused of mildness, blamed Islam itself. For the Italian Lega Nord, now drifting further to the right and gaining mightily in the polls thereby, Edoardo Rixi coupled the murders to the immigrants, many of them Muslim, pouring into Italy from North Africa. The secretary of the new and fast-growing Swedish Democrats, Bjorn Soder agreed, adding sarcastically “the religion of peace shows its true face.”
Germany has been the bulwark against extremism of the right. It had been assumed, including by many Germans, that they had inoculated themselves against its temptations. Brown shirts haven’t — and won’t — appear on the streets of Berlin, but a new group, Pegida, has over the past week (before the murders) organized anti-immigration, anti-Islamist demonstrations that were well attended, though countered by demonstrations that favored social harmony in cities across the country. It put out a statement saying that, though leading German politicians, including Merkel, had all condemned it, it had been proved right.
These are toxic fumes wafting across a frightened continent. The killers chose their targets well, and clearly with some planning. The rights to speak, read and watch freely, the right to mock — all are embedded in the European psyche. Indeed, the struggles to secure these rights were largely carried on the continent. And as a by-product, they have killed police officers, the protectors of citizens.
The test is a civilizational one. How far can the response be a measured one? How far can the majority of Muslims be brought into the fight against extremism as allies, not as suspects? How far will elections — this year, 2015, will see many of them at various democratic levels — reflect the desire of the citizenry to be protected by leaders like Le Pen and Farage? That’s what’s at stake — the depth of civilized society itself.
PHOTO: A woman participates in a vigil to pay tribute to the victims of a shooting, by gunmen at the offices of weekly newspaper “Charlie Hebdo,” in downtown Lisbon, Portugal, Jan. 8, 2015. REUTERS/Rafael Marchante
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Another excellent article by John Lloyd which perfectly outlines the problem that western society is facing at present. The freedom of the press is paramount in any civilised democracy as long as western governments do not dictate editorials in line with there foreign policy.
I’m afraid these events were inevitable as too many Muslim immigrants fail to integrate into western society.
I think the governments (French and British) as well as most of our media are partly to blame through being overly cautious about challenging Islamist fundamentalism. One only has to look at how the BBC, Sky and the British newspapers have reported this matter over the last two days. Not one of them has sought to publish the original Danish cartoons – which would have been the strongest way to rebuff this attack on the freedom of speech.
Islamists have sought, very successfully, to place Islam beyond reproach. Accordingly, our politicians and media treat Islam with kid gloves. Christianity and Judaism receive scrutiny and satire on a routine basis, but nobody dares to challenge Islamic philosophy and ideas. Few journalists get this.
Appeasement didn’t work with Nazi Germany and it won’t work with Muslim fundamentalism either. It needs to be tackled head on.
We should all draw cartoons of the prophet and post them on social media and newspapers. Relgion must be a part of society, not separate from it. Once Muslims get used to seeing their views debated, then maybe they will start to integrate because they will see themselves as no different to Christians, Jews, and people of other faiths and none. Currently, many Muslims do regard themselves and their religion as separate / different from mainstream society – and therein lies the problem.
In centuries gone by, people had to fight for their views to be critical of Christianity too. Heretics were murdered in their thousands, just for holding a different view from the mainstream orthodoxy. It seems society has to revisit that struggle now with Islam. It cannot be allowed to stand unchallenged and unscrutinised.
“no passing over from centrist democratic politics to a dark side of counter-extremism fueled by the implicit or explicit identification of Muslims and Islam as the enemy”
Mission Accomplished! Oh wait did i forgot to quote “from within.”.
“Germany has been the bulwark against extremism of the right. It had been assumed, including by many Germans”
Also many germans still and even less americans know that, after WW2, the CIA sposnord a “Stay Behind” Network of Nazis and ultra right wing NAtionalist across europe, which can be seen as the foundation of nowadays well conencted european fashist network. When after teh cold war, the support and financing for those groups stoped, tehy didn’t just fanish, they looked for a new target. GO USA GO
I wonder if in an effort to stop these murderous terrorist attacks, all the governments of the world may have to hunt down any “radical” islamists and deal with them as they would deal with the rest of the world.
These people committing these attacks and using Islam as a justification are “bastardizing” their religion and both muslims and non-muslims need to deal with these “radicalized” murderers – for that is all they are.
Islam needs to self-police better. The radical ugly elements are no longer atypical.
The author is correct about the depth of civilization being at stake; but is completely wrong about the major threat; which is Militant Islam, on one hand, and a general policy of appeasement as practiced by the author and other Politically Correct versions of Harold Chamberlain. Hitler perhaps should have called himself a religion. These appeasement views are the equivalent of HIV. Islam, as practiced by a large percentage of Muslims, is a virulent disease. But what is really the threat is your attitude of appeasement.
In seeking to avoid extremism, Europe (or at least continental Western Europe) seems to have adopted a consensus-oriented politics that can itself be extremely intolerant. Nothing can be done if any established political bloc objects, and, as a result, the only things that can be done are the 2d, 3d, or 4th choices of the established political blocs.
It would be very surprising if center-left political parties in the northwestern part of Europe are not decimated over the next few years, but I suspect center-right Angela Merkel is on a downward trajectory, as well. The reason is that current policies in several areas appear to be inadequate, while, at the same time, a politics that requires consensus on every major decision is unlikely to be nimble enough to adapt in time. As a result, electorates become attracted to less consensus-oriented approaches, and I believe this explains the attraction of right-wing parties in Europe. Even if they are perceived as being wrong or extreme, they are in competition with parties that respond to challenges by burying their heads in the sand.
France has no choice but to accept that their country, now overrun by Muslims they allowed in, must try to stand together. They should know though, that as soon as the Muslims are the majority, like the Mexicans in CA, they will take over and completely ruin the country.
Most of the Islamic countries have an authoritarian regime. At best, a hybrid regime (Turkey) or flawed democracy (Indonesia & Malaysia). Whether these people know about democracy or not, there’s no guarantee they understand it or, more importantly, adhere to it. In fact, most of them settling in western countries carry on with their practices and beliefs, in a non-democratic way. They fail to integrate.
Yet it’s still us, Europeans, which must hold on to this mantra of tolerance and strive not to discriminate and to naively assume that they will observe our democratic norms, too. Are we really in our right minds? How many more deaths, before we understand that “the rule of law, the observance of democratic norms, the display of tolerance and non-discrimination” make a free society only if ALL individuals adhere to these principles.
The amount of cries from the media and politicians calling our societies to stay united is frankly sickening and it shows the level of ignorance of western leaders and population which fail to understand that these people are fundamentally different and while multiculturalism is a wonderful thing, law and democracy must prevail in a democratic country, over certain sentiments of tolerance.
The US press has successfully suppressed the images that so riled the shooters. I am one of a few people that have seen the pictures, but without them the story becomes one sided, which is the aim of the US press thereby enraging the public and further fanning hatred and massive reprisals. The US already has been on a 13 year killing spree that will continue. The US has killed more people in this century than all other countries combined and these crude pictures have been suppressed skewing the story and making their anger seem irrational. Look at the pictures before you make up your mind.
Very nice words. But it still doesn’t address the question: Why are Muslims at the epicenter of much of the world’s violence, be it internecine terrorism or terrorism against others? Although the vast majority of Muslims are not terrorists, it seems that the vast majority of terrorists are Muslim. The Muslim community needs to do some serious introspection as this problem cannot be solved by outsiders.
It is the responsibility of a free press to tell the whole story and by not showing your readers the offensive pictures that enraged these Muslims you have misled your readers. It is fascinating that no US news source has printed the pictures in question so the censorship has been complete. The pictures are horrible and are calculated to incite which they did.
One of al Qaeda’s primary goals in committing atrocities is to drive a hard wedge between Muslims generally and the rest of the world. Their intention is to promote such an intense backlash and oppression of Muslims that more and more Muslims will become embittered and radicalized. In that light, an intense worldwide campaign to publish cartoons that degrade the Prophet Mohammed is exactly what al Qaeda hopes we will do.
The same strategy was behind the 9/11 attacks, and with the GW Bush government in power, the attacks succeeded beyond the terrorists’ wildest dreams.
It’s time we began responding intelligently, and avoiding inflaming anti-Muslim resentment any further. It may seem counter-intuitive, but that’s how to defeat the terrorists’ game.
I am sure the leaders of the west would like to thank the terrorists for giving them the justification for decreasing the freedoms of all and for justifying their useless existence. There is nothing better for an inept leader under the control of corporate influence than a frightened and less powerful electorate. Combine these events and their affect on the general populous (at least the willing slaves) and the propensity for leaders to covet power and we have the perfect situation for allowing them to drive us deeper into a government controlled existence. The few voices that say we need more freedom, not less, will be drowned out by the cries of “save us oh great wonderful leaders from the enemy at the gate” , screamed by those that cannot think rationally about risk and whether these incidences really pose an existential threat. The US media on these topics has been at best silent and most often complicit in allowing for the “fearing” of the people. Perhaps now, with this event, some of them may see or understand the consequences of their silence and complicity. But, probably not most unfortunately. On the other hand, FOX, CNN, MSNBC etc. (it’s a long list) are not really about “NEWS” as much as manipulation for the corporate masters, so maybe my hope is a stupid one. I am sure they will hate on the muslims more, and estimate that we must be strong and give more power to the executive branch, and they will advise massive military operations that also happen to be very profitable for the weapons manufacturers, and they will do all this in the guise of preserving our freedoms even as they work to support the politicians who destroy them. But they will never admit that we are less free because we have been convinced by them that we are under a true existential threat by what I would describe as a gorilla operation, and have given essential totalitarian power to the leaders and have abdicated our responsibility as citizens in electing politicians as we demonstrate by our continued support of the demagogues on both sides of the aisle in Washington. So, a free press is good, and wouldn’t it be nice if we had one. I guess they let the cartoons tell the truth but never what is presented as real news, that has to be corporate fascist message.
Gilada, I have to say that yours is one of the most astute and eloquent statement of the main issues surrounding the Charlie Hebdo massacre that I’ve read anywhere. In many ways you state the problem far more accurately and persuasively than John Lloyd and other journalists. I wish the editors at the BBC, CNN, SKY, Al Jazeera, and other news networks could read your letter!
the hard lesson to the west is:speech is not free.
It has been a very long time since human sacrifice was required in Judaism or Christianity or any other political faction when religion ruled lands. Some ultra-conservatives in Israel want to return to the “old ways” but those people need to be put out of our misery. Islam needs to be red-inked for all the stupid stuff that has been attached to it, red-inked for mayhem and murder in such pathetically stupid nonsense as this thing about how Muslims think Mohammed is God and Mohammed cannot be portrayed because Mohammed is God; if they had brains they need to be removed. There just isn’t any honesty about the stupidity of Islam, “Murder your daughter because she was fondled by someone else, it is an act of honor.” “Murder your Christian neighbor by burning them to death because they used one of your water glasses.” Come on people this nonsense is not religion it is a bigger lie to enhance personal ego that has absolutely no value to the world. Arabs are fine, they are Arabs they are not Muslim but like the Thuggee, Islam needs to be outlawed from the face of the earth.