Religious Fever vs Free Speech

Mess with someone’s religion, decry their most fundamental beliefs, make fun of their vision of their God, and standby for rage, loud voices screaming and perhaps even ultra-violence and war. And so it was with France’s over-the-top, built-to-offend and self-described “irresponsible” humor magazine, Charlie Hebdo.  The magazine cover reproduced above is among the least offensive of their anti-Muslim jeering covers. Here’s how the Encyclopedia Britannica characterizes the magazine and its proclivity to insult and offend, one not well-received by the Islamic world:

“Charlie Hebdo had earned a reputation for satirizing everyone, and a statistical analysis conducted by the newspaper Le Monde showed that the magazine was far more concerned with French politics than with religion; it had devoted a mere 1.3 percent of its covers to the topic of Islam in the decade prior to the attack [see below]. Nevertheless, problems had arisen earlier. In February 2006 Charlie Hebdo reprinted cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that had originally appeared in the Danish Jyllands-Posten. Such visual depictions of the Prophet were prohibited by Islam, which adheres to the principle of aniconism, the opposition to the use of icons or images to portray living creatures. The Grand Mosque of Paris and the Union of French Islamic Organizations sued under anti-racism laws, accusing the magazine of inciting hatred against Muslims. A French court ruled in favour of Charlie Hebdo’s executive editor, Philippe Val, stating that it was only fundamentalists, not Muslims in general, who were being ridiculed in the cartoons. On November 2, 2011, the editorial offices of Charlie Hebdo were destroyed in a firebomb attack after the magazine announced a special edition under the name of ‘Charia Hebdo’ and named the Prophet Muhammad as editor in chief. Following the attack Charbonnier, who had taken over as editor of Charlie Hebdo in 2009, was placed under police protection.”

Fatwahs flew. “True believers” were called into action, even martyrdom. Britannica: “On January 7[, 2015] the offices of Charlie Hebdo were the target of a terrorist attack. At 11:30 AM Algerian French brothers Chérif and Saïd Kouachi, armed with assault rifles, entered the magazine’s offices and killed caretaker Frédéric Boisseau. They then forced cartoonist Corinne (“Coco”) Rey to enter the security code that granted access to the second floor, where an editorial meeting was being held. The attackers stormed into the newsroom, and police officer Franck Brinsolaro, who had been detailed to protect Charlie Hebdo editor Stéphane (‘Charb’) Charbonnier, was shot before he had the chance to draw his weapon. The attackers then asked for Charbonnier and four other cartoonists—Jean (‘Cabu’) Cabut, Georges (‘Wolin’) Wolinski, Bernard (‘Tignous’) Verlhac, and Philippe (‘Honoré’) Honoré—by name before killing them as well. Their other victims were economist Bernard Maris and psychoanalyst Elsa Cayat, both columnists for Charlie Hebdo, copy editor Mustapha Ourrad, and journalist Michel Renaud, a guest at the meeting.

“A police car arrived at the scene as the attackers were leaving the building, but they opened fire on the officers and were able to drive away in their own vehicle. While fleeing from the scene, the Kouachis stopped to kill their 12th and final victim, police officer Ahmed Merabet, who was on patrol in the area. After the terrorists abandoned their getaway car and hijacked another one, the police were thrown off their track, but an identity card left behind in the abandoned vehicle allowed authorities to identify the attackers. Molotov cocktails and two jihadist flags were also found.” France was outraged, and the French public rallied to support the magazine. Pledging not to be intimidated, a new editorial staff vowed to continue.

France has been at the forefront of banning trappings of religion in governmental buildings – like the traditional hijab worn by local French Muslim women. French President Emmanuel Macron has been viewed as the protector of the French secular value of free expression. Committed to revenge against the unwillingness of the French government to contain such “blasphemous” journalism aimed at the Prophet Muhammad, terrorist revenge has continued into the present. On October 29th, three more fatal stabbing reprisals occurred in a church in the French Mediterranean city of Nice.

“President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday's [10/29] stabbings were an ‘Islamist terrorist attack.’ Security is being stepped up throughout France… The 21-year-old Tunisian suspect arrived in the city the night before the attack, his brother told the BBC.

“Meanwhile, France's interior minister said more militant attacks were likely…  ‘We need to understand that there have been and there will be other events such as these terrible attacks,’ said Gerald Darmanin. ‘We're at war against an ideology, Islamist ideology.’.. Security has been increased at places of worship and schools across France following two similar attacks within two weeks. Earlier this month a teacher was beheaded in a Paris suburb after showing controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad to some of his pupils… Mr Macron's subsequent defence of the right to publish the cartoons has stoked anger in several Muslim-majority countries.” BBC.com, October 30th.

Muslim demonstrators the world over, from Berlin to Dubai, rose in protest to Macron’s support of Charlie Ebdo. The October31st Associated Press reported: “Thousands of Muslims, from Pakistan to Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, poured out of prayer services to join protests Friday [10/30] against French President Emmanuel Macron and his vow to protect the right to caricature the prophet Muhammad.

“Demonstrations in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, turned violent as about 2,000 people who tried to march toward the French Embassy were pushed back by police firing tear gas and beating protesters with batons… Crowds of Islamist activists hanged an effigy of Macron from a highway overpass after pounding it furiously with their shoes. Several demonstrators were wounded in clashes with police, and authorities deployed more security forces to protect the embassy.

“In the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, thousands of worshipers celebrating Mawlid, the birthday of Muhammad, took to the streets chanting anti-France slogans, raising banners and clogging major roads en route to a Sufi shrine… In Multan, a city in eastern Punjab province, thousands more burned an effigy of Macron and demanded that Pakistan sever ties with France and boycott French goods.

“In Jerusalem, hundreds of Palestinians protested against Macron outside the Al Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam, chanting: ‘With our souls and with our blood we sacrifice for our prophet, Muhammad.’… Some youths scuffled with Israeli police as they exited the esplanade into the Old City. Israeli police said they successfully dispersed the gathering and detained three people.

“A few hundred demonstrators in Beirut flocked toward the Palais des Pins, the official residence of the French ambassador to Lebanon, but found their way blocked by lines of police officers in riot gear. Carrying black-and-white flags with Islamist insignia, the Sunni Islamist activists cried: ‘At your service, O prophet of God.’ Some slung stones at police, who responded with tear gas.

“Anti-France protests in Lebanon are an embarrassment for Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, who is trying to form a new government that would implement a French plan for reform in Lebanon [as the Hariri begged the French for massive financial aid]. France, Lebanon’s former colonial ruler, has been helping chart a course for the country out of its severe economic crisis.

“A huge crowd of about 50,000 demonstrators also rallied in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka, burning effigies of Macron and holding signs that read, ‘Say no to Islamophobia,’ ‘Stop racism’ and ‘Boycott French products.’ Authorities deployed hundreds of riot police and used barbed wire to cordon off the country’s main mosque.

“And in Afghanistan, members of the Islamist party Hezb-i-Islami set the French flag ablaze. The party’s leader, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, warned Macron that if he doesn’t ‘control the situation, we are going to a third world war, and Europe will be responsible.’” Perhaps the watchword for the beginning of the 21st century has to be “polarization,” so much of that rising level of angry schisms generated by religious fever. The rage between red and blue factions even in the United States is as much a battle between Democratic secular individual rights against a red wave of ultra-conservative evangelicals hell-bent on imposing their interpretation of the Bible on everyone under the mantle of statutory power. Finding middle ground seems to have become the impossible dream.

I’m Peter Dekom, and as if the fault line that streaks across attempts to contain the pandemic were not enough, the eleventh and a half hour confirmation of a religious fundamentalist to stack the US Supreme Court has become yet another blue vs red battle cry.