Harsha Walia: In condemning the killings at Charlie Hebdo, can we please not forget that it’s a racist publication, that attacks on certain religions are racialized (and hence are racist attacks), that free speech/satire is not a sacred cow (especially when it becomes violent, hate speech), and that the backlash that will ensue will disproportionately target certain communities for scrutiny and surveillance (in the context of ever-rising anti-Muslim backlash in Europe under the guise of state/racialized secularism and anti-migrant sentiment). This is not to justify the murders (obviously), but this publication should continue to be condemned and not suddenly be let off the hook (like how the hell is there suddenly social license to reproduce their racist images as some kind of gesture of ‘solidarity’?), and to be vigilant about the rationale that the state will deploy for further enacting violence.
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my comments based on FB discussions:
1) i would like to start by saying that i don’t support violent defenders of anything (including islam, democracy, western values, oil, ethnic or cultural purity, or any kind of nationalism)
2) i am against killing people (including CH cartoonists, journalists in yemen, gaza and iraq, people living in pakistan’s northern areas, people bombed, tortured or assassinated all over the world)
3) now as far as CH and what kind of rag it is, which is a different discussion: it is well-known for being racist, especially islamophobic. here is a sampling of their cartoons which were meant to bully marginalized french muslims for the most part.
4) on the idea of equal opportunity offending, this article proves to be invaluable:
Charlie Hebdo was not in reality a model of freedom of speech. It has ended up, like so much of the “human rights left”, defending U.S.-led wars against “dictators”.
In 2002, Philippe Val, who was editor in chief at the time, denounced Noam Chomsky for anti-Americanism and excessive criticism of Israel and of mainstream media. In 2008, another of Charlie Hebdo’s famous cartoonists, Siné, wrote a short note citing a news item that President Sarkozy’s son Jean was going to convert to Judaism to marry the heiress of a prosperous appliance chain. Siné added the comment, “He’ll go far, this lad.” For that, Siné was fired by Philippe Val on grounds of “anti-Semitism”. Siné promptly founded a rival paper which stole a number of Charlie Hebdo readers, revolted by CH’s double standards. More here.
5) the word “satire” is being thrown around quite a bit. here is a good take on satire:
Satire is traditionally the weapon of the powerless against the powerful. I only aim at the powerful. When satire is aimed at the powerless, it is not only cruel – it’s vulgar. (Molly Ivins)
anyone with any basic understanding of french society, will agree that french muslims are hardly the “powerful” in france (or in any other western country). this happened just a few days ago in germany.