Charlie Hebdo’s stormtroopers
| Natalia MEDEN | 24.01.2015 | 00:00 |
The terror attacks and the subsequent massive demonstration in Paris will pass into the annals of history, but the way the French capital looks these days will truly be something to remember for a long time to come. Starting at noon, Parisians flocked to the Place de la République to hear politicians speak in defense of freedom of speech after the Charlie Hebdo office was attacked and hostages were taken at a kosher deli. Paris had not seen anything like that in a long time. Although the city council was behind the meter-long signs reading «We are Charlie», many others were made by ordinary Parisians. Letter-size sheets of paper printed with the phrase «Je suis Charlie» («I am Charlie») hung from the doors of many stores and cafes. Some flower shops had spelled out these words in blooms. Someone was wearing a «Je suis Charlie» sign around his neck, and many others held homemade posters. The enthusiasm of those taking part in the demonstration, which drew about two million people, was genuine, people sang and waved French flags from their windows ...
...That day Paris was protesting the brutal execution of human beings in broad daylight. During the 13-year occupation of Afghanistan, France has lost 86 people, but here – only a half dozen had died over the course of two days. France was in shock - the sale of sedatives rose by 18% throughout the country. When thousands of people were dying somewhere in the Middle East or Ukraine, the French paid little notice - after all, they say, the people who live there can work it out themselves. But then the killings began in the center of Paris... And it’s true, the French feel responsible for their former colonies - although the immigrants arriving from those colonies are black, if they speak French, and especially if they call themselves Christians, the French accept them as their own. Those migrants are different from the Arabs, who do not renounce their Islamic faith and continue to raise their children in accordance with their own traditions – customs that are entirely alien to Europeans. In Europe this is called an «unwillingness to integrate.»
But generally speaking, integration does not require one to abandon one’s religion. Many mosques have been built in Europe, and there are political parties and organizations that represent the interests of Muslims. After landing at the airport in Berlin, almost always the first person one sees who is clearly not a passenger or airport employee is a Muslim performing his namaz on a mat. No one asks him to leave and pray at the mosque. Everyone «supports tolerance.»
The demonstration in the French capital was called a «March for Tolerance», but politicians began hiding behind this flag to play dubious games. Public opinion was diverted in such a way that the solidarity of people who were protesting terror now looked like blanket approval of the taunts made by the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists. This weekly magazine had a circulation of only 60,000 prior to Jan. 7 (and most of the demonstrators had never read it), but afterward it sold first five million, then seven million copies. And this was a very specialized publication. It specialized in ridiculing all religions, except one - Judaism.
However, not everyone in Europe agrees that licentiousness is necessarily an intrinsic quality of free speech. And even while advocating for the freedom to publish profane, anti-religious images, Charlie Hebdo also obeyed its own invisible censor. One letter on an Austrian internet forum at that time writes, «Insulting Muslims in the style of Shturmovik - because that’s what the Hebdo cartoons were like - seems completely normal to many people. But anti-Jewish cartoons would be considered anti-Semitic and that is something that is entirely taboo.» (1)
Europe is what it is. Some things can be said and written, but others cannot. Here is a recent example from another realm. A few days ago the Slovak conservative paper Dennik N lamented the European media’s mechanical opposition to the Alliance for the Family party’s campaign for a referendum against the expansion of rights for homosexuals and what are known as homosexual families. «I cannot share the views of the Alliance», wrote one journalist from that newspaper, which is seen as closely tied to the Catholic Church. «But they need to be allowed to express their opinion.» But even this timid statement offended an invisible but well-understood European idiosyncrasy - no one may dare to restrict homosexual propaganda, but if Catholics protest against the preaching of sin - that is an assault on freedom of speech!! An article immediately appeared in the same newspaper in which that author proclaimed, «I am Charlie, not the Alliance for the Family»! (2)
Speaking of tolerance, European politicians shamelessly exploit the prevailing atmosphere so they can conduct massive police operations against migrants. Raids have taken place in a number of European countries. And at the same time in France, for example, white people living in suburbs that are inhabited by immigrants have been dubbed «Gauls.» So should we be surprised that some of the «Gauls» are converting to Islam, and at times becoming the most zealous of his followers? Religion is the expression of a human relationship with God, but modern Europe is incapable of meeting man’s natural religious needs. The French Revolution abolished Christianity, proclaiming a «cult of reason», and modified its cathedrals to suit the needs of this atheistic cult, while issuing decrees banning Christian worship services and closing all churches. Europe has reached the point that it has refused to recognize Christianity as part of its own heritage: that article was removed from the final version of the Lisbon Treaty. Europeans are left with only an unwritten set of rules for «political correctness», which includes the right to freely promote homosexuality and the right to publicly ridicule religion.
And to top it all, European officials are restricting the freedom of those who would express their disagreement with the policies that are leading to the Islamization of Europe. So on January 19, citing security concerns, the city of Dresden banned a scheduled demonstration by the PEGIDA movement («Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West»), which is staging events each week. However, no ban was placed on the opponents of this movement, thus ensuring that on the day in question, PEGIDA opponents who gathered under their banners in various German cities would outnumber PEGIDA supporters. Those who have staked their bets on a «clash of civilizations», continue to destroy Europe, hastening her downfall ...
(1) derstandard.at. Shturmovik was a newspaper in Nazi Germany noted for its particularly licentious anti-Semitic propaganda.
(2) Quoted from: http://www.eurotopics.net/de/home/presseschau/aktuell.html
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| Tags: France Middle East |
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