The writer is an author, a public policy analyst and teaches at the Suleman Dawood School of Business, LUMS
The savage attacks against the French weekly and the Jewish supermarket, resulting in the loss of so many lives had the obvious jihadist footprints that had links far beyond France. Muslims all over France and in many parts of Europe are in utter shock and disbelief, with lurking fears of being subjected to more profiling, more stereotyping and more social intimidation in times to come. France, as a country with a rich cultural heritage, has readily fallen back on its spiritual foundations — linking its national resolve to the three eternal principles of the French Republic: liberté, égalité, fraternité. It is indeed going back to the philosophic plank of the French Revolution — an event that transformed the course of modern history. The recent brutal attack is being considered as an attack on these key pillars of the Republic. It was liberté which guaranteed free expression, the manifestation of man's individuality. Ever since the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, liberté had been the ultimate end — the excellence to think freely and the freedom to do anything that did not harm others.
The same declaration also underscored the significance of égalité — equality before the law. Liberté was the higher end and required a clear pathway in order to be achieved. Keeping the intent and spirit of the declaration intact, the means to achieve this ideal was only through fraternité — which requires an unflinching bond with the community and fellow beings. While liberté was the end, fraternité was the way forward, which could help achieve it. This mandated meeting the obligations to the community one lived in.
While liberté is both a right and a privilege, fraternité is the obligation and responsibility. In this continuum, one cannot enjoy any right without sharing the commensurate responsibility. Nothing is more relevant today than a correct understanding of this nuance in a complex multicultural society like France. The country, as of today, is a diverse mix of different races, religions and cultures, with each group seeped in its own traditions. For instance, the bodies of the four French Jews, who lost their lives in the shootout in the supermarket, were airlifted to Israel for burial. This is just one glaring example of cultural particularism in France. The country has the largest Muslim population in the European Union of over six million. It has the largest black population, which exceeds two million. It also has the largest Jewish population, mostly Sephardic Jews. Multiculturalism in France, in a way, is deeply rooted in the history of the extractive relationship between the country’s colonial outposts and Metropolitan France. Unlike the ‘economic colonies' of the British Empire, France boasted of 'settlement colonies'. At one stage, nearly a million French men had been living in Algeria even during the civil war. With decolonisation, a process of immigration from the colonies gained pace.
The value of the three abovementioned principles needs to be seen in the ever-evolving multicultural context. The three values are closely inter-connected while opinion-makers in France wish to see the principal of liberté on a standalone basis. In a pluralistic society, liberté and freedom cannot be sustained over time while overlooking the broad overlap of the principal of fraternité. The persistent irreverence of Charlie Hebdo cannot be condoned in the name of free speech, with intense and persistent protests by mainstream Muslims. A line has to be drawn between free speech and hate speech. What if someone comes up with a counter-narrative on the Holocaust? Would the French media and state organs tolerate that narrative? A rare display of fraternité was given by Ahmed Merabet, the Muslim policeman who laid down his life while trying to stop the Charlie Hebdo attackers from escaping. The bravery of yet another Muslim, Lassana Bathily was also an enviable display of fraternité. At the Jewish store where Bathily worked, a scene of hostage-taking on gun-point, he risked his life by whisking away terror-stricken customers to a chiller to save their lives. Fraternité is not what Charlie Hebdo stands for. Fraternité is what Merabet and Bathily did for the Republic.
France needs to take care of its backyard. The Kouachi brothers were the products of a ghetto culture where the ideology of hate and revenge flourished, which is what ultimately fosters violence and militancy. Muslims in France must also mull over the problem of strengthening their compact with their homeland. They have reasons to feel hurt but there are more persuasive ways to bring the state and society to understand their point of view.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 27th, 2015.
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A very good article which should be considered from a French perspective and their values rather than who has written it and from where.
All the wrong-doings and atrocities going on in any Muslim country (and yes Pakistan included) are more of a depiction of a social and cultural system and personal beliefs which people have accepted due to a larger trend of religious manipulation. However, one wrong doesn't justify another ones. As much as publication of these so-called cartoons don't justify people rioting in Pakistan, similarly any religious manipulation don't call for any public forum to broad brush a whole religion or hurt the feelings.
As a matter of principal, free speech is a free speech. if anyone wants free speech than it means to question, satire or discredit any topic including God, religion, ancestry or holocaust. What troubles me is when people try to set boundaries as how they see fit. if Mullah's and Maulvis are religious fanatics which bend religion to their own will, than these so called liberals are social fanatics who bend the social values to their end.
I do recall reading it somewhere "People believe in things if they want it to be true or if they're afraid it to be true". Where right wingers wants to believe in looking at Islam this way, I can't imagine any space for any reason or anyone else if even half of 1.6 billion people are really the fanatics as this portion believes.
Where I strongly condemn the charlie hebdo attack and justice should be served to all those responsible for planning and carrying out the grave crime within the law, a society should also look into its responsibilities. A policeman can carry a gun and use that if need be, it still needs to be done responsibly. What journalists do is the pretty much the same. They have the power to write on any issue whether it by articles or cartoons but they need to exercise their right by responsibility. After all we live in a society where there are rights and obligations and should be observed in conjunction with common sense by all walks of life including muslim communites, journalists and general public.
"What if someone comes up with a counter-narrative on the Holocaust?"
How is that possible? The Holocaust is a historical fact.
Plink panther
You cannot hide behind the veneer of a panther's skin while you make yourself so obvious . A Pakistani doesn't forfeit the right to show a French or an Indian a mirror whether it is propagation of hate material in the name of freedom of speech to satisfy a racist apetite or burning of a Muslim alive in UP , Bihar or Gujrat .
A masterly analysis of what happened based only on Muslim point of view. There is no mention of important traits of "humour" and "satire", which are the basis of a cartoonist's art. The cartoonist was "irreverent" too, and that was what naturally infuriated some Muslims.
We must accept that even extreme outrage should not result in a planned killing spree. That kind of conduct in the twenty-first century cannot be acceptable. Besides, the only outcome of such a conduct is greater circulation for the magazine and further marginalization of the Muslim community on the world stage, however unexpected or unjustified. We should not expect any positive outcome for the Muslim community or greater reverence for the Muslim faith.
So now the writer (a Pakistani) is trying to teach the French a lesson in liberté, égalité, fraternité. First understand what Faith, Unity, Discipline means and how minorities are beaten and thrown into brick kiln in your country.
The writer has treaded with care and a nuance in evaluating the principles of Republic in a contextual frame work , while the act of violence are most reprehensible but free expression needs an empathetic chord in a highly diverse and complex multi cultural mix . France need to realise that these immigrants have come for ever who have a claim not only on economic but social and cultural space . Likewise , the Muslims in Europe must realise that there is a way and a manner to register their distinctness while they may have so much commonality with the country they are living in . The evolution of an endurable relationship requires deeper under standing .
I would note that nowhere have I read about the conditions in France that lead to the feelings of hopelessness and discrimination that so many middle eastern immigrants (such as the Kouachi brothers) endure! All should understand just how difficult it is for Muslim immigrants to get a job in France because of "protections" in French Labor law that makes it difficult (if not impossible!) to lay off or fire any employee FOR ANY REASON short of murder! As a result, companies are unwilling to hire ANYONE that they do not have a good feeling about since they are usually stuck with them for a long time! Thus unemployment among the Muslim minority community is very high, near three times the average or greater, leaving them with no future for themselves or their family! How many immigrants like the Kouachi brothers are easy pickings for extremists due to their near hopeless job situation in France???
Yes Yes Yes yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes.
It may not be absolute in PAK version, but the rest of the society thinks it is so.
A society without liberty is a society where in human spirit and individual thinking are suffocated. The cartoonist did not wake up one morning and decided to draw it. They saw what is around them and expressed their view. Some wrote, some spoke, and some drew.
Everything we do in this world is either appreciate, ignored or criticized by others. That is the nature of things. France is a society of fraternity. The others decided that they are boing to dorm their own fraternity and decided to crush the fraternity of France. The cartoonist did nit agree with it.