France 24 reported on Friday that resources were being showered on Charlie Hebdo to enable it to continue.
“Stupidity is not going to win,” said Patrick Pelloux, one of the magazine’s columnists as well as a practising doctor who delivered first aid in the aftermath of the attack, which left 12 dead.
That’s important. The murderers were striking a blow for stupidity in what they did, in addition to all the rest of it. Stupidity mustn’t win. [Read more…]
And another French informant speaks up:
I would like to explain a few things, about charlie Hebdo and about how things work in my country. It might feel insulting, but unless you are fascinated with french culture, have especially studied it or lived some time in France, you don’t know us. You don’t know our history, our politics, even our geography. That’s fine, I myself have a pretty sketchy knowledge of all these stuffs for many countries in the world.
Not knowing is fine. Spreading false informations, or giving your opinion about things you don’t know, is not.
It’s important to try to notice when you don’t know enough. Really.
You have no idea how much the french community on tumblr is feeling betrayed. [Read more…]
Dan Fincke shared Salty Current’s guest post on Facebook and there are some comments on his post that should have been made here (kidding, kidding) so Ima quote a few.
I’ve been tirelessly pointing this out over and over again. I can’t imagine how it would feel to have fought rightwing xenophobia and racism all your life and then to be maligned by your “own side” in another part of the world. Not to mention a lot of imposition of America-centric cultural/political mores on a completely different political landscape. That in itself is a form of American cultural imperialism a lot of these people decry.
Olivier Tonneau attempts to explain to his Anglophone friends that it doesn’t work to just read all the French things through Anglophone lenses, any more than it would the other way around. Hell, many Americans are baffled by Monty Python and that’s not even a different language (mostly).
Three days ago, a horrid assault was perpetrated against the French weekly Charlie Hebdo, who had published caricatures of Mohamed, by men who screamed that they had “avenged the prophet”. A wave of compassion followed but apparently died shortly afterward and all sorts of criticism started pouring down the web against Charlie Hebdo, who was described as islamophobic, racist and even sexist. Countless other comments stated that Muslims were being ostracized and finger-pointed.
…
As a Frenchman and a radical left militant at home and here in UK, I was puzzled and even shocked by these comments and would like, therefore, to give you a clear exposition of what my left-wing French position is on these matters. [Read more…]
Kaveh Mousavi alerted me to this explanation of the context of Charlie Hebdo’s cartoon depicting Boko Haram sex slaves as welfare queens.
Jean-Baptiste Froment, toulousain
This cover is mixing two unrelated elements which made the news at about the same time:
– Boko Haram victims likely to end up sex slaves in Nigeria
– Decrease of French welfare allocations [Read more…]
HuffPost UK @HuffPostUK
BREAKING NEWS: Officially the largest demo in French history http://huff.to/1C4dGeR #ParisMarch #JeSuisCharlie
Via Natasha Fatah on Twitter –
Natasha Fatah @NatashaFatah
The largest of rally in the history of France. #JeSuisCharlie #CharlieHebdo #ParisMarch
Nadine @sooojune 37 minutes ago
“They wanted to bring France to its knees. They brought Europe to its feet.” #JeSuisCharlie
Reporters Without Borders has a different take on the question of unity.
Reporters Without Borders welcomes the participation of many foreign leaders in today’s march in Paris in homage to the victims of last week’s terror attacks and in defence of the French republic’s values, but is outraged by the presence of officials from countries that restrict freedom of information.
On what grounds are representatives of regimes that are predators of press freedom coming to Paris to pay tribute to Charlie Hebdo, a publication that has always defended the most radical concept of freedom of expression?
The Beeb also has a live report on the Paris march, so we can see commentary and news as it rolls in.
17:49
Peter Miller emails: It feels as if all of Paris is in the streets. We are still 1km away from Place de la Republique but the street is full of people. It is important the whole of society unites together now in solidarity for the freedom of speech and against hatred that wants to divide us.
I think that uniting bit is what the murderers don’t want. [Read more…]
