Intro: In support of Charlie Hebdo, 3.7 million French citizens from every social, political and religious background came on the streets to demonstrate their cohesion against terror.
Will the beginning of the year 2015 be a turning point in the history of modern France? On January 7 at 11:30 am, two terrorists, supported by Al-Qaeda in Yemen, entered the office of the satirical weekly news magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris killing 11 people and a policeman outside the office with assault rifles.
Four days later, on the January 11, two of the terrorists who were involved in the shoot-out were killed by the National Gendarmerie Intervention Group (commonly abbreviated) (GIGN). Soon after the killing France witnessed its greatest march since the Liberation of Paris in August 1944. 3.7 million French citizens from every social, political and religious background came on the streets to demonstrate their cohesion and against this killing. Along with them, around 50 world leaders were present with François Hollande, the French President, to show their support to the country of Voltaire.
Why the attack had such a great impact not only on the French society but also on the world civil society? People showed their support to France, from San Francisco to Beijing and from Helsinki to the scientist sported in Antarctica! Why such a global emotion took place? Who were the victims of those attacks?
Apart from French flags, the main symbol waved during those demonstrations was a pencil, a simple pencil. Indeed, the people that the two terrorists targeted were satirical cartoonist-journalists. Their offense was that they drew the cartoon of Prophet Muhammad in their weekly news magazine.
Charlie Hebdo is a French weekly magazine founded in 1970 featuring irreverent and non-conformist cartoons, polemics and articles about politics, religion and culture. The themes of the polemical ways found their roots in the Left-wing and anti-racist ideas. But most of the time, the Charlie Hebdo provocative journalists were just surfing over the French laws, respecting their rights and the Freedom of Speech but pushing them till their limits.
Indeed, in France, the Freedom of Speech is almost total. Apart from any form of racism, (Gayssot Law of 1972), any critics based on fair arguments can be published. No citizen is above the law.
The media is strong and diversified in France. And that’s how Charlie Hebdo, a tiny but famous magazine exists. The publication of the newspaper is very limited with an average of 45,000 prints per week. But it has its readers.
Also, one should not forget that Charlie Hebdo is not opposed in particular to Islam but is opposed to any religious form. Christians and Jews are also the main target of the magazine since it was founded 45 years ago.
On a greater scale, one has to understand how religions are being considered in France. For that purpose, one has to get back to the 18th century during the time of the enlightened philosophers—Les Lumières—those same philosophers, Fathers of the Revolution, Fathers of our Freedom, Fathers of Democracy, Fathers of the Declaration of the Rights of Men and Citizen. And not only to France, but to the entire world. Many French philosophers wrote in favour of freedom for the next generation.
The fights of the great thinkers led to the French Revolution and to the first separation of the State and the Church in 1794. It has been 221 years that the religion is officially considered as undesired in the French society. No wonder why anyone claiming his/her appurtenance to any religion is being mocked by some.
But coming back to the 21st century, one cannot be killed in a free and democratic country for his opinions, opinions expressed through a fun tiny cartoon drawn to bring a smile on people face. As Gandhiji said in 1928, “If I had no sense of humour, I would long ago have committed suicide”.
RVU (The writer is a Frenchman who teaches European and Indian History)
