Each week we ask a panel of experts, and our readers, to come up with answers to the questions dominating the headlines.
On 7th January, a tragic shooting at the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo killed 12 people—10 journalists and two police officers. The attack, carried out by two men who claimed to be from al Qaeda in Yemen, sparked a chain of tragic events. The magazine has regularly courted controversy for its sometimes obscene and scatalogical images mocking religious figures of all faiths including the Prophet Muhammad.
Every time one of these attacks takes place, questions are raised about what was done to provoke it: should we have pursued that foreign policy or, in this case, published those cartoons? Or are such questions beside the point when the human right to freedom of expression is at stake?
(This quote was adapted at the writer's request from a longer piece in The Times)
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This week's Big Question is edited by Josh Lowe
On 7th January, a tragic shooting at the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo killed 12 people—10 journalists and two police officers. The attack, carried out by two men who claimed to be from al Qaeda in Yemen, sparked a chain of tragic events. The magazine has regularly courted controversy for its sometimes obscene and scatalogical images mocking religious figures of all faiths including the Prophet Muhammad.
Every time one of these attacks takes place, questions are raised about what was done to provoke it: should we have pursued that foreign policy or, in this case, published those cartoons? Or are such questions beside the point when the human right to freedom of expression is at stake?
Stop being cowards
A reason why Charlie Hebdo could be singled out for attack is because the rest of us have been cowards. There should, of course, be satires on Islam as on Christianity as on capitalism as on Russell Brand. But there aren’t. Part of this is because of a misplaced decency but most of it is fear. We who don’t publish what may offend Muslims but would offend no one else, act in in effect to abnormalise what should be normal—we help to make peculiar that which should be banal. David Aaronovitch, Columnist for The Times(This quote was adapted at the writer's request from a longer piece in The Times)
Don't blame victims
Blaming victims for terrorist attacks is offensive. The grievances set out by Islamist extremists to justify their barbaric actions are not to be taken at face value. It is a series of line drawings this week; it was international relations decisions taken by democratically elected officials before; it may well be gender equality or habeus corpus tomorrow. Grievances, whatever they are, are manipulated to fit Islamist extremist narratives, underpinned by cherry-picked and often violent excerpts from religious scripture, and used to push a notion that an Islamic State is the answer to all of the world’s problems. And of course, this is such a hard sell that its salesmen use the most violent of means to build support for it. It is their fault, not Charlie Hebdo’s. Maajid Nawaz, Director of the Quilliam think tankSatire is essential
Freedom of expression is a fundamental necessity for social satire. Political cartoons can only work in an open society where anything and everything can be ridiculed. Sometimes this will insult a certain part of society. But it is through ridicule that cartoons help to create an open society, exposing wrongdoings, injustice, corruption and abuse. Religion in general, and Islam in particular, should be no exception to this. To do that would create a taboo, and cartoons are meant to break taboos, not maintain them. To blame ourselves for this attack would be to equate satire with violence. Social satire has a place in a free democracy, violence does not. Tjeerd Royaards, Editor-in-Chief, CartoonMovement.comQuestions for France
First, I'd take issue with the notion of a monolithic West. Across different countries there is a huge diversity in social, political and economic contexts. But in this specific case, we're talking about two French nationals. They are not immigrants. They are the product of marginalised suburbs who their entire life may have felt excluded. That doesn't make attacking and killing people acceptable. But it gives you an idea of where social policies fail, leaving people open to messages which can have a devastating impact on society. When French nationals commit acts of terror in France, we have to ask “what is it that is happening in France which is contributing to individuals taking up arms against their fellow citizens?” Myriam Francois-Cerrah, columnist at the New StatesmanFuel to the fire
Islamist extremists opposed to Western values, culture and democracy will launch attacks like the horror this week in Paris with or without provocation. The provocation—and that in itself is subjective—simply adds fuel to a fire that was already burning and helps to create more obvious targets from Charlie Hebdo to the London Underground. In the case of the French cartoonists, it was their democratic decision to draw pictures of the Prophet Mohammed. For London’s transport network, it was the government’s foreign policy in Iraq and Afghanistan. As long as a twisted interpretation of Islam exists there will always be violence. The provocation is just the excuse. Deborah Haynes, Defence Editor at The Times[gallery ids="28144,28145,28146,28147,28148"]
This week's Big Question is edited by Josh Lowe
Reader responses:
@prospect_uk West mainly unaware of extent of hate propaganda in Middle East. See e.g. "Freedom To Broadcast Hate": https://t.co/HoocvlnqZL
— Alcofribas Nasier (@RabelaisA11y) January 9, 2015
@prospect_uk I blame all religions for giving rise to fanatics that answer to a "higher power" instead of their fellow humans. — Pat McCann (@pjmccann3) January 9, 2015
@prospect_uk No.
— Ralph Jones (@OhHiRalphJones) January 9, 2015
@prospect_uk It lies with a disrespect of a religion. If it were blacks you were insulting it would be racist. Its acceptable about Muslims. — Davewaybe (@Davewaybe) January 9, 2015
