This is painted onto the Institut du Monde Arabe (the Institute of the Arab World), which I'm sure has feared backlash attacks due to these terrorists.
This is right near the Centre Georges Pompidou
For those of you reading this blog, I should begin by saying that I was on the other side of the planet when Charlie Hebdo was attacked by terrorists who killed several of their prominent cartoonists. I was in San Francisco with friends, and that trip was interesting, but for drastically different reasons. In any case, echoes of the Paris attacks could be felt even all the way in California, and when I returned to Paris a week later, the city was covered in "Je suis Charlie" banners (two of which are pictured above).
First off, I am not Charlie. And since that statement needs qualification, I will explain. I don't like Charlie Hebdo. It had crossed my path a few times before the attack, but all I knew was that people considered it a French "South Park" (different medium, of course). From what I understood, it was a weekly magazine that aimed to insult everyone. It pictured Mohammed, sure, but also poked fun at the Pope, politicians, and everyone. When I read it, I found a few of the cartoons funny, but it was mostly fart jokes and other vulgar images. I never really "got" that "typical" French humor I suppose.
As someone who barely read and didn't like Charlie Hebdo, I'm not going to say that I am Charlie. That would be silly! Do I agree with what these terrorists did? Of course not. I don't believe that anyone should be murdered for doing their job; I believe that people have the right to write whatever they want without fearing for their lives; I believe that if you aren't happy with something that has been published, there are other ways to make your concerns known, rather than murdering the people responsible.
So, I'm for freedom of the press, or liberté d'expression as everyone defends here. But, I also find that the problem is deeply seeded in the way the French government treats its immigrant population—especially in Paris. The French system, no matter how much they claim it is a meritocracy, democratic, and secular, is still essentially an aristocracy. That's why there is no "diversity" at the ENS; it's why the majority of the people in government jobs are there because they went to the same school, passed the same tests, and are generally from the same socioeconomic background. It's also the reason why most of the Arab population seems to be confined to the suburbs. And while I wasn't thrilled when I was stuck in Aulnay-sous-Bois and someone stole my phone out of my hand, I realize that his situation was the result of a highly archaic and racist French system. Perhaps there was no way out.
The French reaction to the attacks have been exactly wrong. I won't go into it, but here is one example. Apparently a child in an elementary school in the south, when discussing it in class, said that the terrorists were right to kill the cartoonists. They apparently let the police deal with it. How can a country be so hypocritical, proclaiming their right to free speech in Paris but stifling it from anyone who doesn't share the same beliefs as them? In the end, the attack raised a lot of questions that will probably not disappear anytime soon. If nothing else, it made the world largely aware of these political and racial issues that are very prevalent in France, and perhaps now people will be able to recognize it. Perhaps they will even take down the "Au nègre joyeux" sign from the Rue Mouffetard (since it is quite clearly racist). Or perhaps nothing will change and this will be forgotten. The modern day attention span is eerily short, after all. Only time will tell.
No comments:
Post a Comment