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Charlie Hebdo is about the most offensive, racist, and malevolent publication one can imagine. France subjugated the nations of Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal, and more recently Mali and Central African Republic to name a few, killed their people like animals, dismantled their institutions of religion, state, trade, education, and culture, and left despotic lunacy in their wake, all without ever apologizing. Those of its former colonies who decided to pursue economic opportunities in France were rewarded by ghettoisation, institutional racism, systemic discrimination in government services, jobs, and social spheres to the point that France actually legislates what a Muslim woman can and cannot wear. On top of that, they selectively enshrine the right of a racist publication to repeatedly desecrate the one who those downtrodden people love more than anyone and anything else, 'alayhissalatu wassalam?
Sound familiar? It is along the lines of what white folk in America did to Black folk, and although even I find some exaggeration in that analogy, I contend that the exaggeration is quantitative, not qualitative, in terms of the master/servant dynamic at play. Imagine if the KKK had a publication the prime directive of which was to degrade, humiliate and dehumanize black folks, Jews, and Catholics (which Charlie Hebdo does quite frequently as well, or at least did till recently); if two black men did to it what happened to Charlie Hebdo, how would black folk respond, even if they didn't agree with the methods used, or the use of lethal force? How would you expect them to respond? How fake would an outpouring of support for freedom of speech by racist parties at such an occasion be?
This is not an exaggeration. In the USA we have a more fair benchmark for freedom of speech and religion. It may not conform to the standards of Islamic law, but it is much more fair. In France, there are laws that ban female Muslims from attending school in Hijab, from wearing the Niqab at all, and mosques are systematically and routinely denied permits to build despite overcrowding and genuine need. It is a state which utterly fails to uphold freedom of religion by American standards. It also has stridently outlawed anti-Semitic (Jewish) speech, which, despite me not objecting to it, means that it also fails the American standard of freedom of speech as well. Period. Charlie Hebdo used to do business with the same staff and a different name until 1970; it was Hara Kiri Hebdo, until it was banned in that year by the French Interior Ministry for its disrespectful material regarding the death of former French President Charles de Gaulle. WAIT! WHAT? Yes, it was actually censored by the French government, and it had to reopen by a different name, Charlie Hebdo (hebdo meaning "weekly"). Now tell me how this frankly racist state (no pun intended), which has actually severely censured and censored this malevolently racist publication in the past for its outbursts against a French hero, can show a straight face when it defends the aforementioned publication as beacon of freedom and free speech? This is nonsense. Anyone who acts like what happened is a purely one-sided instance of hate against an innocent party, is being disingenuous to say the least.
