It was all over in just 5
minutes. Five terrifying, violent, blood-stained minutes.
On Wednesday, 7 January 2015,
at around 11:25 AM, three black clad and masked gunman stormed into the
editorial room of the Paris satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo during a meeting. It was perfect timing because the
key people of the newspaper, many of them prominent cartoonists, were all
gathered together in one place. With calm, military precision, and speaking
perfect unaccented French, they called the various victims by name before
gunning them down in cold-blood.
Unlike botched and amateurish
jihadist operations in the past, like Richard Reid the ‘shoe-bomber’ (2001) or
Omar Farouq Abdul Muttalib, the ‘underwear bomber’ (2009), this one was well-planned.
A former US lieutenant-colonel Tony Shaffer who worked with special forces in
Afghanistan had this to say about the Charlie Hebdo gunman: ‘They were very professional, very organized.
It was well-timed. You can’t pull off something like this without military
training. Whoever they were, they were highly trained in military tactics.’
If murder and mayhem were
their goals, they succeeded. Twelve people lay dead, another 11 wounded,
including two policeman. The victims included:
• Stephane CARBONNIER
(nicknamed ‘Charb’), 47, the editor of Charlie
Hebdo;
• Bernard VERLHAC, 57,
cartoonist;
• Jean Cabut (nicknamed
‘Cabu’), 76, lead cartoonist and legendary cultural figure in France;
• Bernard MARIS (‘Uncle
Bernard’), 68, a kind, cultured left-wing economist;
• George WOLINSKI, 80, a
cartoonist with a colourful life;
• Philippe HONORE, 73, who did
‘literary puzzles.’
• Michel RENAUD, who did not
work at Charlie HEBDO but was at the editorial meeting as a guest editor.
After the carnage inside, the
attackers wounded a police officer on the street. With a hand raised to
indicate a plea for mercy, the officer asked ‘Do you want to kill me?’ to which the attacker replied, ‘Ok, chief’ and callously shot the
officer at point-blank range. The officer, Ahmad Merabet, 42, was a Muslim.
Why was Charlie Hebdo Magazine attacked? It is a French satirical magazine
that regularly lampooned politicians, famous people, and religion. It had no
problem taking ‘sacred cows’ and mincing them into hamburgers. Political
correctness was not even in their vocabulary - no small feat in postmodern
Europe. While they stood on many toes over the years, it was their portrayal of
Islam and its Prophet Muhammad that brought about this attack. In 2006, they
reprinted the notorious cartoons of Muhammad written by the Danish cartoonist
Kurt Westergaard; these cartoons brought (belated) protests and riots across
the Muslim world. In 2011, they published an edition called ‘Sharia Hebdo’
which was, in anyone’s definition, highly irreverent and provocative. The
response to the magazine’s antics included fire-bombing, death threats to
‘Charb’ the editor, rebukes from France’s President Chirac, and lawsuits from
Muslim groups - the magazine won, apparently in the name of free speech).
‘Charb’ even made it on the al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula Inspire Magazine (AQAP) hit-list for
those who affront Islam and its Prophet. The editor remained defiant regarding
the criticism and said the magazine would continue to publish as it saw fit.
His stance caused him to pay the ultimate price and his police guard died with
him in the hail of bullets.
Who are the alleged
attackers. They include two Paris-born brothers of Algerian descent, Cherif
Kouachi 32 and Said Kouachi 34. The 3rd accused is Hamyd Mourad, 18, who turned
himself into authorities after he saw his name in social media. Cherif was
imprisoned for 3 years but released after 18 months for funneling jihadists
into Iraq. It is possible that both he and his brother were ‘jihad-making’ in
Syria only a few months ago. Both men were on US ‘no-fly’ lists and are known
to French police. There is a strong possibility that one or more of them were
trained by AQAP in Yemen. During the assault on Charlie Hebdo, they were
reputed to have said:
‘We have avenged the Prophet Muhammad!’
‘We
have killed Charlie Hebdo’
‘Allah
u Akbar’ (normally
translated ‘God is great’ but more accurately ‘Allah is greater’).
France and the world were in
shock. This was the worst terrorist attack on French soil since 1961, when
France was at war in Algeria. A day of national mourning was held, only the 6th
one in 45 years. Normally, they occur when a former French president dies; they
were also held to commemorate 9-11 in 2001 and the death of the late Pope John
Paul II in 2005. In so many ways, the Charlie Hebdo massacre was ‘France’s
September 11th.’
The gunman did succeed in
fomenting murder and mayhem. But if they thought they ‘killed’ Charlie Hebdo,
destroyed freedom of speech, or caused the French Republic to cower in fear,
they failed. As of this writing, the media reports that the Kouachi brothers
were shot dead by the police, 56 hours after the Charlie Hebdo massacre.
French President François
Hollande called for national unity and it looks like he is getting it.
Thousands of people rallied to show their shock and solidarity with Charlie Hebdo, with rallies in the
streets of Paris, Marseille, Nice, Rennes, and Toulouse. France has been
secular for over 200 years and will continue to be so. Furthermore, expect the
French authorities to act strongly and swiftly.
The world has been greatly
moved by this act of brazen terrorism. Rallies have been held in Brussels,
Moscow, Tunis, Edinburgh, Amsterdam, Rio de Janeiro, Lima, Melbourne, Sydney
and Perth. Many are using the hashtag ‘I am Charlie’ #JeSuisCharlie
or holding up placards saying the same.
The sentiment is that
‘freedom of speech’ must be preserved and terrorism cannot win. British Prime
Minister David Cameron summed it up simply: ‘Freedom will win.’
Our condolences to the
friends and families of the victims of the Charlie
Hebdo massacre. Freedom of speech will get a much needed tonic in the days
ahead. However, the greatest enemies of freedom of speech are not violent
jihadists in Sydney or Paris; instead they are internal within the half-century
year old cultural civil war in the western world. Here is where free speech has been eroded
with alarming intensity.
More in the next blog.
The
Road Ahead is
a blog from the ministry of Teach All Nations that offers insights on world
trends, current events, and victorious living from a Biblical worldview. If you
want to receive regular updates on these topics, register your email at: http://tan.org.au/contact_us/index.asp
Comments
Post a Comment