Aletho News

France, Islam and Violence: Who Planted the Seeds?

By Robert Fantina | Aletho News | January 8, 2015

This week, France experienced a horrific incident when twelve people, staff members and visitors of a magazine were shot and killed. The world naturally condemns this violent act, mourns the loss of the dead and offers condolences to their loved ones.

That said, it is necessary to put this situation in its proper perspective. The targeted magazine, Charlie Hebdo, has a record of publishing satirical pieces about Islam that Muslims find extremely offensive. This does not, of course, mean that any magazine shouldn’t publish articles that someone might find offensive; doing so would put all magazines out of business. Yet those offended can take legal action against such occurrences. For example, in 2006 the Union of French Islamic Organizations sued Charlie Hebdo, charging racism. Although the executive editor was acquitted of the charge, the lawsuit itself was a reasonable response by the Islamic community.

In 2012, another series of derogatory cartoons appeared in the magazine, shortly after a company in the United States produced an anti-Islam film called ‘Innocence of Muslims’. This movie was met with several protest demonstrations in France, another viable, legal and peaceful response by the Muslim community. Such demonstrations against a variety of movies and issues are commonplace, but France took an unusual turn in response to these; it banned them. “I have issued instructions so that this does not happen again. These protests are forbidden.” So said French Interior Minister Manuel Valls in an interview with France 2 television network.

So Muslims who only want their religion and lifestyle to be accurately portrayed in the media, and who want to protest the twisted lies that are sometimes presented in books, magazines or movies, are denied any public way of doing so. Oh, they can still write letters to the editors of magazines and newspapers, but in any real democracy, they would be able to protest in a manner that would at least begin to approach the level of publicity that the offending item had garnered. Letters to the editor are not the same as movies in theaters.

Let us look a little deeper at the most recent unspeakable act of violence. By all accounts, the men who invaded the offices of Charlie Hebdo were well-trained and well-armed. This was, apparently, not some ragtag group that stole a few guns and shot their way into the office. Evidence suggests that the three men responsible for the shooting recently returned from Syria, where they were fighting with rebel groups there. So where might they have been trained, and who might have financed their training?

It has been widely reported that Syrian rebels have been trained by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. This is not without historical precedent, and one need look no farther than the U.S. for some examples. During the Russian war against Afghanistan, the U.S. armed and trained the Taliban, looking for some group that could successfully oppose the Soviets. Fast forward two decades, the Taliban is in power in Afghanistan, and this resulted in the longest war in U.S. history, as the U.S. moved to remove the Taliban from power.

Has France been guilty of the same thing? By arming and training fighters, then preventing Muslims from exercising their democratic right to protest, France, perhaps, paved the way for the recent attack on Charlie Hebdo. It provided known radicals with the skills required to kill, and the tools to do so. It fanned the flame of anger by condoning the criticism and mocking of Islam, certainly allowed in any democratic nation, but then prevented Muslims from exercising their democratic right to protest.
None of this justifies the violence that was perpetrated on January 7. But for anyone to imply that this represents Islam, or to consider that France was an innocent bystander, minding its own business when terrorists suddenly invaded, is simply so shortsighted as to be ridiculous.

During the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign, Representative Ron Paul (R- Texas) said that terrorism resulted at least in part from U.S. policies in the Middle East. Former New York City mayor and Republican presidential candidate wannabe Rudy Giuliani was greatly angered by this statement, and said, in response: “They hate us for our freedoms”. According to Mr. Giuliani, repeated bombing of cities, support for the vicious, apartheid regime of Israel, financing the unspeakable suffering of the Palestinians, invading Iraq, sanctioning Iran, etc., all do nothing to spark hatred for the U.S. No, said he, ‘they hate us for our freedoms’.

Might France now have fallen into the same self-created trap? Does France not recognize any part it might have played in this act of terrorism? Does it consider itself at all culpable? Or, in true, U.S. fashion, does it simply say that Muslims are evil people who hate all that is good and just in the world, as represented, of course, by France? So what if Muslims aren’t allowed to protest insults to their religion? What does that have to do with anything?

Terrorism anywhere in the world must be stopped, whether perpetrated by radicals in a magazine office in France, by IDF (Israel Defense Forces) terrorists in Palestine, or U.S. terrorists in Yemen. Yet when terrorism is met by terrorism, looking for any different motivation is counterproductive. When Israel says that it is merely defending itself from rocket fire from Gaza, the constant terrorism that Gazans experience on a daily basis from Israel must not be ignored. When the U.S. is the target of any attack, the indiscriminate killing of men, women and children by bombs dropped by drones must be considered in the motivation. And France, too, is not exempt; its policies may stimulate hatred and hostility, which results in acts of violence.

Goliath can only assault David for so long, before he falls to the inevitable. Any nation, France, the U.S. , Israel or any other, can only discriminate against, assault, torture and kill people for so long before their victims and their victims’ sympathizers say ‘enough’, and take action. The better course would be for these world powers to show genuine, unconditional concern for the basic human rights of everyone on the planet, and act accordingly. Until that happens, such actions as those perpetrated in Paris this week, must be expected.

January 8, 2015 - Posted by aletho | Civil Liberties, Militarism | France, Syria, United States