The great terror struck into the mind of the people of Paris and elsewhere, which started with an armed attack on a weekly newspaper on Wednesday, 7 January 2015, has not come to an end. I would like to join all the others who are mourning the death of the victims. I would also like to express my solidarity with those who are making a determined condemnation of the violence.
I would like to make it clear, however, that I am not able to bring myself to support the view that the way the weekly newspaper was publishing under the name of satire should be defended in the name of the freedom of expression. The freedom of expression should be certainly defended. As a matter of fact it has been fought for and won by the efforts of the numerous people. But is it worth the name, the glorious name, of that freedom to publish whatever one wishes to, even if it offends many innocent people? And knowingly?
And it is no ordinary minority of people. There are said to be five to six million Muslims in France alone. Some of them must be devout followers of the faith, many others must be secular. However that may be, is France, meaning the ordinary French people, going to live with them in the many years to come or not? If yes, is it not necessary for the French to come to terms with them by adjusting some of the traditional ideas they have been entertaining? Even if they do so, it would not amount to the repression of the freedom of expression, which is part of the universal values of the mankind. But perhaps they would have to modify their interpretation of it if necessary. What is currently going on is a case in point.
Many French would ask, why there are so many Muslims they have to cope with in their own country? But it is the end-result of their own colonial history in the past, and they are reaping what they have sown for a long time. They would have to take into consideration that many of those immigrants are in a disadvantageous condition. Moreover, they are facing the rapid rise in recent years of the extreme Right in French politics who should not be there in a country of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.
There is one more thing I would like to say here. It is the relationship among the ordinary French, the immigrant Muslims, and the Jewish in France. The terrorists have also attacked a Jewish supermarket. Needless to say this was an unprovoked action, and it is likely to enhance hostility among the Jewish toward the Muslims. It will also damage the position of the Palestinians. What I would add here is that the Muslim immigrants are also facing the strong pro-Jewish and anti-Muslim prejudice in the Jewish-Muslim spectrum. Take, for example, what the French Prime Minister said on the street this time. He said, 'We are all French Jews'. Beautiful words if seen as the expression of solidarity with the victims. But why not some words of solidarity with the ordinary, innocent Muslims at the same time, who must be deeply hurt by the terror and are badly in need of those words?
I would like to make it clear, however, that I am not able to bring myself to support the view that the way the weekly newspaper was publishing under the name of satire should be defended in the name of the freedom of expression. The freedom of expression should be certainly defended. As a matter of fact it has been fought for and won by the efforts of the numerous people. But is it worth the name, the glorious name, of that freedom to publish whatever one wishes to, even if it offends many innocent people? And knowingly?
And it is no ordinary minority of people. There are said to be five to six million Muslims in France alone. Some of them must be devout followers of the faith, many others must be secular. However that may be, is France, meaning the ordinary French people, going to live with them in the many years to come or not? If yes, is it not necessary for the French to come to terms with them by adjusting some of the traditional ideas they have been entertaining? Even if they do so, it would not amount to the repression of the freedom of expression, which is part of the universal values of the mankind. But perhaps they would have to modify their interpretation of it if necessary. What is currently going on is a case in point.
Many French would ask, why there are so many Muslims they have to cope with in their own country? But it is the end-result of their own colonial history in the past, and they are reaping what they have sown for a long time. They would have to take into consideration that many of those immigrants are in a disadvantageous condition. Moreover, they are facing the rapid rise in recent years of the extreme Right in French politics who should not be there in a country of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.
There is one more thing I would like to say here. It is the relationship among the ordinary French, the immigrant Muslims, and the Jewish in France. The terrorists have also attacked a Jewish supermarket. Needless to say this was an unprovoked action, and it is likely to enhance hostility among the Jewish toward the Muslims. It will also damage the position of the Palestinians. What I would add here is that the Muslim immigrants are also facing the strong pro-Jewish and anti-Muslim prejudice in the Jewish-Muslim spectrum. Take, for example, what the French Prime Minister said on the street this time. He said, 'We are all French Jews'. Beautiful words if seen as the expression of solidarity with the victims. But why not some words of solidarity with the ordinary, innocent Muslims at the same time, who must be deeply hurt by the terror and are badly in need of those words?
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