Pere Lachaise Cemetary, Paris. Image: Tawnywolf 57, deviantart
Liberty. Equality. Fraternity. This is the motto of the French Republic, a nation reeling from the effects of an attack on these very values.
The satirists of Charlie Hebdo, by the very nature of their work, may well have offended a good many people. They did not deserve to die for it. Nor did the police officers defending them and indirectly the right to freedom of thought and speech.
Many of us know the fear of saying the wrong thing, of speaking out of turn and treading on toes…of offending. While we may choose to remain silent for many things, there are times when silence itself may be culpable and condemnation seems the only response we may have.
Sometimes we simply do not know what to say, or how to act… or whether anything we do or say can make any difference. Perhaps the intent is more important than how much of an effect we may have and what is in our hearts matters more than any words we may voice.
The news is full of the atrocities perpetrated in Paris this week. As I write the situation there continues to unfold. Many are dead, families grieve, a nation mourns and my heart goes out to all those whose lives have been scarred by these events. It goes out to those who will walk in fear because of them. It goes out too to the families of all those touched by terror across the world.
I abhor the despicable actions of those who take up the gun in response to the pen. I abhor the violence that would deny any man the right to quietly and peaceably think, feel or speak his own inner truth. Have we not yet learned from our own history that to live in freedom and peace can be the only way forward… and that the two need not be mutually exclusive? Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité. It would not a bad motto for the aspirations of humanity.
Can terror ever make the world sympathetic to any cause? To believe that this is the goal of the criminals who perpetrate such acts would be ludicrous. What was the real target here? Is it yet another subversive attempt to drive the wedge of prejudice and fear deeper into the heart of man?
Those who employ these methods of senseless violence do not care who they hurt. The cost in family and personal tragedy, the cost in human life is no more than collateral damage to those who seek to turn man against his neighbour, to sow distrust and dissent… to divide nations and communities into a ‘them’ and ‘us’ where no middle ground survives across which the hand of friendship can reach.
Across many cities crowds have gathered, thousands have stood to protest these killings. After the tragedy of the Australian hostages, #I’llridewithyou showed that acts of humanity were perhaps a better response than either silence or rhetoric. Perhaps we just need to act, to assert our faith in humanity in face of such criminal acts of violence… by choosing not to be swayed by terror into suspicion of our brothers and sisters, simply because we come from different lands, to fear because we pray in different ways or hate because we speak of God by different names. Instead of condemning whole sections of our own communities because of the actions of a rabid minority, perhaps we could judge only by what is in the heart of each individual.
The victims are not just those who die. The victims are all those whose lives are blighted by a fear that colours thoughts and actions. Extremism begets extremism… and if our response to terror is fear and blind prejudice, or a hatred for anything other than the crime, its perpetrators and that fanaticism that engenders them, then the terrorists will have won.
Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 
It’s particularly appalling because it was journalists who were targeted. Garry was a working reporter for more than 40 years. He never shared with me all the death threats he got over the years — he didn’t want to worry me. Today, we were talking about It. He said there were *so* many threats, it numbered in the thousands. All the reporters got them. On paper, in email, on the phone and occasionally, in person. TV stations, magazines, radio station aren’t heavy on security. They usually have a guard at the door and a lock on the door. That’s pretty much it. Accessibility is part of being in the business. You want to be reachable. Anybody in media is automatically a target. Usually, the crazies make threats, but don’t actually do anything. This is going to change things in a bad way. I hate to admit it, but I’m glad my guy is no longer in front of the camera. I’d be scared for him all the time.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I can imagine your feeling there, Marilyn. I worked going in and out of the BBC publications department once upon a time… security was paramount there too.
LikeLike
Try as I might, I cannot understand what happened in France yesterday. (or anywhere else for that matter) Violence will never solve anything, and there is no place for any of it in our supposedly civilised world…
LikeLike
It seems inevitable that violence be met with violence too.
LikeLike
Reblogged this on Anita & Jaye Dawes.
LikeLike
It’s beoming a war zone. Free speech and any writers and/or cartoonists connected with it are the targets. There’s also collateral camage. We’ll all be the poorer for it.
LikeLike
And there is the sadness of it. It affects us all.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I cannot deny that I crave revenge
LikeLike
I can understand that, Paul, but cannot think that further violence will heal anything except that craving.
LikeLike
mille merci, chère amie! ❤
FREEDOM is the engine of DEMOCRACY, it does have a heavy price and we should NEVER forget that it’s not just an outdated word. We need to protect civil peace at all costs, to accept our differences, to live together in France and all over the world… I was living in the US when the “9/11″ tragedy occurred and I did feel American, today je suis Charlie – to life and death, like millions of people in solidarity with my fellow countrymen. PLEASE-SVP sign and forward this petition to show the extremists that France and the free world (will) remain united against barbarism: https://secure.avaaz.org/fr/avec_charlie_4/?kkKkSib
* * *
respectful regards, Mélanie NB
LikeLike
Merci, Mélanie.
I spent some of the happiest years of my life in France… in Paris… and my employers were journalists.Moi, aussi, je suis Charlie.
Signé.
LikeLike
Well put, Sue. It is senseless violence and one wonders if it will ever end. Is this planet past all hope? I certainly hope not.
LikeLike
I don’t think anything is ever past hope, somehow.
LikeLike