Below are my favourite pictures surrounding the very necessary Marche Repuplicaine that took place on the 11th of January 2014, following the attacks on Charlie Hebdo magazine and a Kosher shop Porte de Vincennes killing many innocent people, when four millions French people marched together (for a moment at least) to show their disbelief, grievance and unprecedented human solidarity. Unfortunately, I was not there, but two of my friends told me they took me with them at the march. One of them had a nephew who went to school near the kosher shop.
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Let's not forget a Muslim policeman was among those who protected the republic civilians
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Prayers in Synagogues |
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Language variances is also part of freedom of expression
Benyamin Nétanyahou et Mahmoud Abbas défileront tous les deux à Paris
Le Monde.fr avec AFP | • Mis à jour le
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While this infuriated many people, I do think it was a generous move from them both. The most important was to avoid the 'Us versus Them' (West versus East, or Jews vs Muslims) divides at any cost, and this was going to help
This is a post that particularly talked to me. I always like to read two sides of an argument, and I don't think Tariq Ramadan was going to march, but I agreed with what he had to say that particular day.
This is a post that particularly talked to me. I always like to read two sides of an argument, and I don't think Tariq Ramadan was going to march, but I agreed with what he had to say that particular day.
On the Jan 9th, 2015 6:40am, Tariq Ramadan's FaceBook Post
(Oxford Professor of Islamic contemporary studies)
"There is a big difference between asserting a responsible word that, on the one hand, denounces and condemns the heinous acts committed in the name of our religion or our nation, and, on the other hand, cultivating a sense of guilt and self-flagellation. Every conscience must develop a critical loyalty: to have the courage to denounce and condemn those who act in the name of our religion and/or nation whereas they betray its very principles.
This does not mean, however, to have selective emotions and indignation depending on whether the victims are "ours" or not. Any innocent person who is murdered, any being who is tortured, any individual who is treated without dignity must find us standing up, consistent, clear and determined in our denunciation: whether it is a French, an American, an African, an Arab, a Palestinian, a Jew, a Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Hindu, an Asian ...
This does not mean, however, to have selective emotions and indignation depending on whether the victims are "ours" or not. Any innocent person who is murdered, any being who is tortured, any individual who is treated without dignity must find us standing up, consistent, clear and determined in our denunciation: whether it is a French, an American, an African, an Arab, a Palestinian, a Jew, a Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Hindu, an Asian ...
France mourns its dead people, as Syria, Iraq, Congo, Palestine, Afghanistan or Pakistan does. The extremist terror, the indiscriminate violence through drones, the death of so many innocent people, the legalized torture is intolerable, appalling, and unacceptable. What is happening today is not an issue for the Muslims invited, again and again, to apologize ... it is the responsibility of all of us, all human beings, as we are called to stand up and denounce, together, all the horrors, wherever they are in the name of our principles, on behalf of all victims, with the same force, the same determination, the same courage."
In the meanwhile... let's not forget the foot soldiers: while Lebanon and Jordan refugees are fighting on-going snow storms, UNHCR's helpline team in Jordan have received 237,147 calls from refugees seeking help and advice since March 2014.
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#IWasNotCharlie, but #IAmHumain
and I subscribe to Freedom of expression within respect of human dignity and sensitivities
The Cartoon pictures were all the more difficult to absorb by some members of the Muslim community because generally, the relation/closeness to God in Muslim faith (emulation/identification to the prophet himself as an example of a good life to lead, a close figure) is conceptualized differently to Christian relation to God (traditional distant Father figure one must obey to). This identification of the prophet persona means that when you insult Mohammed, you actually insult every Muslim much more directly. Of course, it is hard to know/conceptualize such thing, and what is funny for one person is not for another one. I learned this in the course of my thesis research work at UQ.
Charlie Hebdo was founded in the 60s during the big sexual and cultural revolution in secular France. Today, France is a different society sitting with a less secular audience (globally) where multiculturalism requires more nuances and sophistication in interactions and humour, I believe.
[Update of 17/1 - Today, Gérard Biard, Charlie Hebdo Editor in Chief, responded to the criticisms of the cartoons by Pope François in an NBC (US) interview in which he was trying to explain that God should be an intimate figure, not a political figure:
Source Text: "A chaque fois que nous dessinons Mahomet, à chaque fois que nous dessinons un prophète, à chaque fois que nous dessinons Dieu, nous défendons la liberté de conscience". "Nous disons que Dieu ne doit pas être une personnage politique et ne doit pas être un personnage public. Il doit être un personnage intime. La religion ne doit pas être un discours politique" "Si la foi, si le discours religieux descendent jusqu'à la politique, il devient un discours totalitaire. C'est de ça dont nous préserve la laicité, qui est le garant de la démocratie, qui est garant de la pax. La laicité ça permet à tous les croyants et aux autres de vivre en paix" "C'est cela que nous défendons"
FR Translation (by myself) " Each time we draw Mahomet, each time we draw a prophet, each time we draw God, we defend freedom of conscience*, we say that God should not be a political figure, he should not be a public figure, he should be an intimate figure. Religion should not be a political discourse (…). If faith, if religious discourse ‘goes down’ to politics, it becomes a totalitarian discourse (…) this is what secularism prevents from happening, as a warrant of democracy, a warrant of peace. Secularism allows for all believers and those who don't believe in God to leave in peace. This is what we defend.
In my mind, Gérard Biard has a point with 'not letting religious discourse rule politics', but I want to shout 'Mr Biard, I understand you are a deeply grieving man right now, but if only you knew how much you agree with Muslim people about the intimacy of their relationship with God!' ... yet, this is the very reason why many Muslims got upset, please understand!
*the expression 'liberté de conscience' was wrongly translated 'freedom of religion' in the NBC script, implying there is only a choice between religions, thus leaving out atheists in the process and missing entirely the point about secularity. Please NBC, treat translation respectfully, get quality translators that you pay decently, that would be a first step towards respect of humanity subjects and humanity in general.
At the end, most people will agree that the real problem is extremism, so let's not become freedom of expression extremists, this would defeat the purpose. Freedom of expression should be used as a constructive tool to enable quality conversations to advance peace and knowledge in the world, the arts etc., not as an identity marker of the West against the East.
These are the words of my son (13) in response to the Charlie Hebdo controversy
If all people could JUST SPEAK NICELY to each other, there would not be so many problems everywhere ...
