If We Surrender to Xenophobia, the Terrorists will Win (Sol, Portugal)

 

"The civic response to this wave of tensions risks fading under the influence of a terrorism that aims to attack not only the right to freedom and humor – of which Charlie Hebdo has become a symbol – but the essential values of tolerance and coexistence between communities. … There is a clear convergence of interests between fanatical Islamists and xenophobic and extremist European forces. … Each will tend to radicalize the other in a scenario of 'civil war' that corresponds with the strategic objectives of this international intolerance and barbarity."

 

By Vicente Jorge Silva

                                      http://worldmeets.us/images/Vicente-Jorge-Silva_mug.jpg

 

Translated By Brandi Miller

 

January 23, 2015

 

Portugal - Sol - Original Article (Portuguese)

There is nothing more unbearable to religious fanaticism and political totalitarianism than humor. The living proof of this, if indeed it were necessary, was the attack on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, wherein some of the most notable French humorists and cartoonists, such as Wolinski, Charb and Cabu, were murdered, not to mention the other deaths and serious injuries that occurred later.

 

It was not just a heinous crime against freed expression, it was also conclusive testimony that the right to satire and iconoclast provocation of totems considered untouchable by the various fundamentalisms (particularly the most intransigent of all in our era: Islam) represents a crucial boundary between civilization and barbarity.

 

The capacity to tolerate humor – even that which is unapologetically corrosive, offensive, or tacky – distinguishes the cultural patters of a civilization secure in its heritage from those where caricaturing a religious or political icon, whether it be Mohammed or any dictator propped up on a majestic pedestal, constitutes an aggression punishable by death or imprisonment.

 

Tellingly, Turkish President Erdogan, trapped in a chronic egocentric obsession, decided to relentlessly pursue cartoonists who dared to ridicule his authoritarian arrogance and his pretension of being an enlightened disciple of the Prophet. Despite being a member of NATO and a candidate for E.U. membership, Turkey has been showing an accomplice’s ambiguity in its relationship with the Islamic State, which is responsible for unspeakable atrocities committed in Iraq, Syria and the Kurdish territories.

 

 

Another telling case in the area of freedom of expression, although not in the area of satire: Algerian journalist and novelist Kamel Daoud, author of one of the most amazing novels of 2014, Meursault, Contre-Enquête [Meursault, Counter Investigation], inspired by Camus’ The Stranger, has just been threatened with a fatwa (death sentence) ordered by a fundamentalist religious leader who accuses him of apostasy and heresy. Note that Daoud is not only avowedly secular and foreign to Muslim religious precepts, but is also one of the most widely read and respected critics of the Algerian regime (supposedly also secular). Are we facing a repeat of the famous fatwa launched by Khomeini against Salman Rushdie over his Satanic Verses? But while Rushdie benefitted for many years from British police protection, Daoud does not seem to enjoy the same guarantees from Algerian authorities …

 

The paranoid (and homicidal) susceptibility of Muslim fundamentalists to any depiction of Mohammed, particularly in humor, is well known. After the case of the caricatures in the Danish press, the author's of which were threatened with death, such daring was resumed precisely by Charlie Hebdo, already targeted by a 2011 attack that destroyed part of its facilities.

 

But this precedent didn't intimidate a staff whose editor, Charb, stated that he preferred “to die standing than to live on my knees.” That is what eventually happened. After an illusory time of calm and following the inspiration of the Islamic State, the “Allah crazies” resorted to massacre - the most serious occurrence of this kind in France since 1961 at the time of the now-distant Algerian War

 

Yet the historical context has changed. Now the concern is with French and European capacity to cope with the rising tide of anti-Muslim xenophobia (associating the majority of Muslims with Islamic fanaticism) which is growing little by little everywhere, from the Nordic countries to the United Kingdom and recently, to Germany.

 

The civic response to this wave of tensions risks fading under the influence of a terrorism that aims to attack not only the right to freedom and humor – of which Charlie Hebdo has become a symbol – but the essential values of tolerance and coexistence between communities that, after all, define the civilizational heritage of Europe.

 

Vigilante's armband says: 'Solidarity police'

To see if he supports Charlie Hebdo, vigilante

asks Muslim man: 'You are?? … You are??!!'

Jeop Bertrams, The Netherlands

[Click Here for More Jeop Bertrams Cartoons]

Posted By Worldmeets.US

 

There is a clear convergence of interests between fanatical Islamists and xenophobic and extremist European forces that seek to eliminate this heritage through a society policed by fear and fueled by a hatred of diversity - of differentness. Each will tend to radicalize the other in a scenario of “civil war” that corresponds with the strategic objectives of this international intolerance and barbarity. This we must energetically oppose. “Je suis Charlie” cannot be simply a figure of speech.

 

MORE ON PARIS ATTACKS:
El Nashra, Lebanon:
Charlie Hebdo Black and Bloody  
Le Quotidien d'Oran, Algeria:
Faulting Charlie Hebdo or Being Algerian are not Terrorist Acts!  
Guardian, U.K.:
Pope: Climate Change 'Man Made'; Free Speech Not 'Absolute'  
Rzeczpospolita, Poland:
Europe Unprepared for Next Inevitable Terrorist Strike  
Telegraph, U.K.:
Paris Attacks: Don't Blame these Atrocities on Security Failures  
Sotal Iraq, Iraq:
'Ungrateful' Muslim Migrants Face Post-Paris Fallout  
Guardian, U.K.:
Jihadists Aren't the Only Ideologues
Rzeczpospolita, Poland:
Assimilating Europe's Muslims: 'It May be too Late'  
Publico, Portugal:
After Paris Attacks: Still Pursuing Voltaire's Revolution  
Sol, Portugal:
A Religious War ... or a Political One?  
Le Monde, France:
Dominique de Villepin: Let France 'Resist the Spirit of War'  
Kurier, Austria:
After Paris, Freedom Writ Large is at Stake  
Huanqiu, China:
Condemn Paris Attacks ... and Western Cultural Insensitivity  
Corriere Della Sera, Italy:
'Europe's 9/11': If this is Islam, here's What We'd Like  
Die Zeit, Germany:
Charlie Hebdo: Time to 'Impose the Enlightenment' on Islam  
Le Figaro, France: War has Come to France - and France Must Win it

Corriere Della Sera, Italy: On Pope Francis' Secret Service: Confronting ISIS Threat

 

 

CLICK HERE FOR PORTUGUESE VERSION

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Posted By Worldmeets.US January 23, 2015, 11:46pm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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