Let Freedom Reign – Paris 2015

By MIKOspace

Freedom Speaks: “I am not Charlie; My name is not Charlie”.

Nearly 2 weeks after the 7 January attack on Charlie Hebdo [or Weekly Charlie], the French satirical magazine, my good friend Freedom finally spoke: “My name is NOT Charlie!” [French: “Mon nom n'est pas Charlie”]

In the aftermath of the terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo office killing 12 people and injuring another 11, a Police Officer was also killed by the same gunmen.

On 11 January, a Paris rally for national unity was attended by about two million people, and 3.7 million people also joined similar demonstrations across France. The phrase “Je suis Charlie” (French for "I am Charlie") was a common slogan of support at the rallies and in social media.

A Clash of Fanatics
Charlie Hebdo is a satirical weekly magazine that features cartoons, reports, polemics, and jokes. The publication is intentionally irreverent to shock and offend, and is strongly secularist, anti-religious and left-wing; and publishes articles that deliberately mock far-right politics, every religion, politician, and social group.

The Truth of the murders in Paris on 7 January and the days following has little to do with the courage of freedom fighters or the fervency of extremist religious defenders. It is about both violence and blasphemy, or more accurately, a violent response to blasphemy. A celebration of Charlie Hebdo is nothing more than a celebration of the clash of fanaticism when freedom fanatics meet extremist religious fanatics.

It is unfortunate that this clash of fanatics is elevated to the high moral ground of freedom and democracy.

The greatest exercise of freedom is the exercise of self-restraint. Self-restraint is not censorship. Self-restraint is wisdom acting out of common human decency and consideration. While free speech is a natural right, self-restraint should be regarded as a virtue.

Forgotten Hero of Paris’ Attacks
In the misdirected frenzy to celebrate free speech, few journalists and newspapers remember French National Police Officer Ahmed Merabet, 42, who was shot in the head in cold blood outside the magazine offices. Ahmed Merabet, a Muslim, was the first police officer at the scene of the Charlie Hebdo attack.

One Twitter [ID@Aboujahjah] said: “I am not Charlie, I am Ahmed the dead cop. Charlie ridiculed my faith and culture and I died defending his right to do so.”

And in celebrating Ahmed Merabet’s sacrifice in the line of duty, killed by gunmen who profess to share his same religion, and in the cause of free speech and democracy, Charlie Hebdo as well as the many Journalists, Newspapers, Politicians and others who should know better decided that the best way to honour Ahmed is to blaspheme his beloved Prophet, again!

Such is the twisted and contorted understanding of freedom, free speech and democracy even as one enters Charlie Hebdo’s warped personality full of resentment, disdain and contempt for French aristocracy, power elites and privileged class, and even its rejection of God.

The Cartoon World of Charlie Hebdo
Charlie Hebdo’s world is its own cartoon world created out of the freedom it enjoys. It has no real world reference. Charlie Hebdo does not have the freedom to insist that others living outside its world must accept its worldview interpretation of the true reality out there where the vast majority of us live, albeit in our own self-constructed worlds. At the very least, our worlds are NOT cartoon worlds. In our worlds, real people live, love, laugh, play, work, get angry with one another and eventually die.

Charlie Hebdo: “… every time that we draw a cartoon of a prophet, every time that we draw a cartoon of God, we defend the freedom of religion” is a good example of its cartoon-world’s convoluted logic.
Charlie Hebdo further added: “We only defend but one thing: Freedom, our freedom, secularism, freedom of conscience and democracy”.

How sad indeed when one defines freedom so narrowly to limit freedom’s boundless imagination by excluding the spiritual and humanistic values and beliefs which have created commonwealths of nations and races based on the rights and freedom bitterly and bloodily won in the French Revolution upon the founding values of “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité” or “Freedom, Equality and Brotherhood (or Community)”.

Fortunately for most of us, but unfortunately for those who died in the attack, we do not live in the narrow Charlie Hebdo’s world of limited Freedom. Outside Charlie Hebdo, ours is a free world that embraces a more holistic freedom to respect and appreciate diversity and differences, exercising restraint to recognize their individual sensitivities and to leverage our cherished freedom rights to build up goodwill and harmonious relationship within and among our communities regardless of race, language and religion.

Ask not what Freedom is.
Freedom is not just a sweet and desirable concept, it is also pure energy. Like the sun, it can give life. It can also be even more destructive than a tidal tsunami or an erupting volcano.

Freedom is what Freedom does. It is not about what Freedom can do. Freedom can do anything and everything! Rather, it is what you can achieve with Freedom. Using Freedom to tear down whatever delightful, endearing, inspiring affection, meaningful, cherishable, or even beguiling, appealing and enchanting without any constructive regard for the sensibility of the beholder is a blatant misuse and abuse of Freedom. One should simply speak or propagate whatever the greater Truths with great Love and Compassion. The impact of Freedom in enlarging the awareness of Truth assures its own longevity. Remember Freedom says: “My name is NOT Charlie!”


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Paris 2015 – Let Freedom Reign