je suis charlie | The Missouri Atlas

By Ines Kagubare

Although an international community has rallied around Charlie Hebdo magazine following the attack at its office that left 12 people dead, not all are in solidarity with its satirical methods.

The Charlie Hebdo attack that occured in Paris on January 7, 2015 spurred a wave of international demonstrations that were held in memory of the cartoonists who were killed. Several world leaders went to Paris to give their condolences and support to the French president, François Hollande, and his citizens.

The movement brought about 3.7 million people who gathered in Paris with “Je suis Charlie” (I am Charlie) signs to not only pay their respects to the victims but to also show their support of the magazine. They felt that the attack was a direct threat to their freedom of speech and expression. Still, some have expressed that the satirical magazine is very provocative and offensive, especially to the Muslim community.

Since the attack, there have been heated debates about where the line should be drawn in freedom of speech and who should make that decision. Well, the answer is complicated because it’s not a black or white issue. It requires a deep analysis of both sides of the issue. We have to look at the underlying factors of the issue in order to come to a somewhat fair conclusion.

Some argue that the satirical magazine was within its rights to use its freedom of speech to express its views even if it might be provocative and offensive to some people. They believe that’s the whole premise of freedom of speech. Some people are going to disagree and actually be offended by their views or comments but as long as they express them in a non-violent way it should be fine. On the other hand, others argue that the satirical magazine was portraying Muslims with negative stereotypes, which in the long run could be destructive to the Muslim community living in Europe. Some people even called the magazine islamophobic and disrespectful to the Muslim faith.

Whichever way people choose to interpret this issue, they should always examine all sides of the matter before coming to a conclusion since there’s no easy solution to it.

I’ll leave you with my final thoughts about this issue, which is although I strongly believe in freedom of speech, I also believe that as civil human beings we should be respectful and considerate of other people’s faith and culture.

By Co-Editor-in-Chief Niki Kottmann

Today is a bittersweet day for me.

I’m excited to write my first “Letter from the Editor (Abroad)” editorial, but it isn’t going to be the I’m-About-to-Leave-for-France-and-This-Is-Gonna-Be-Wicked-Awesome post that I was initially anticipating.

For anyone who doesn’t know, Paris and the surrounding region was the location of multiple acts of violence this week. 12 people were shot and killed in the office of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo Wednesday and a police officer in the southern Montrouge area of Paris was killed Thursday.

This morning, American media outlets reported on two hostage situations related to the Wednesday shooting. One situation was just outside of Paris in Dammartin-en-Goele where the two Charlie Hebdo shooting suspects, Said and Cherif Kouachi, were holding a printing press owner hostage in his factory. The other involved the suspect of the Thursday police officer killing, Amedy Coulibaly, who held multiple people hostage in a kosher grocery store on the eastern side of Paris.

It was confirmed late this morning that all three of the aforementioned suspects were killed by French authorities. The hostage at the printing press was freed as well as those at the grocery store, but French president Francois Hollande just announced that four people were killed in the store siege.

French authorities are now searching for Coulibaly’s alleged accomplice, Hayat Boumeddiene, who is the only remaining suspect. Police union spokesman Pascal Disant believes that she may have escaped the scene of the supermarket siege.

Now, back to my main point: On Wednesday, I’m moving to Reims, France to study abroad for the semester. Needless to say, this is a news story that I’ve been following very closely.

“Are you worried about how safe France is now?”

This is one of the many questions I’ve been asked in regards to how I’m feeling about the situation in France, and frankly, I’m not really scared. A natural first reaction to a situation like this is fear, so of course it was incredibly unsettling at first. However, especially after all they’ve done today, I have faith in the French authorities and their ability to control the situation. And honestly, I’m even more excited to get over there now than I was before these attacks happened.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m incredibly saddened by the devastation that these events have brought upon the lives of innocent people. The family and friends of these victims will never get the closure they’re probably craving because, as Jon Stewart said in his opening monologue Wednesday night, “there is no sense to be made of this.” The reason why my fear has been replaced with increased excitement is that I don’t think I’ve ever been more proud to be a journalism student, and now is such a fascinating time to be a journalism student in France.

This graphic is now the most recognizable symbol of support for the magazine post-attack.

Before I go on a passionate rant, I want to make one thing clear: I struggle with voicing my opinion on this topic because my feelings about Charlie Hebdo as a publication are mixed. No, I’m not a fan of the cartoons that they published with satirical renditions of the Prophet Mohammed. As a journalism student, I’m taught to treat all subjects fairly and tastefully, and many of their cartoons go against the values I’ve developed in school, both related to and not related to journalism.

However, my opinion about the content of the magazine doesn’t really matter because I believe in freedom of speech, even speech that I don’t agree with. I was born and raised on this concept, the idea that as I writer, I can record and share my opinions without living in fear of repercussion. I don’t particularly enjoy reading editorials or other pieces of writing that I would consider prejudiced or offensive, but I have to respect them because I believe that everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, and refusing to hear another’s viewpoint is elitist and ignorant.

When I saw pictures of the swarms of French demonstrators standing proud in the streets of Paris (and across the world, for that matter), pens and pencils in the air, I felt more inspired than I ever have throughout my two and a half years in journalism school. I don’t know if I would consider the staff of Charlie Hebdo journalists, but there is no doubt in my mind that they were writers, cartoonists, satirists and just plain human beings whose actions didn’t warrant murder.

What matters right now is that there’s a serious problem with not only terrorist attacks against freedom of speech, but French law that criminalizes certain kinds of speech. As Jonathan Turley wrote in the Washington Post, the French government is more of a threat than terrorists in this regard.

“…if the French want to memorialize those killed at Charlie Hebdo, they could start by rescinding their laws criminalizing speech that insults, defames or incites hatred, discrimination or violence on the basis of religion, race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, sex or sexual orientation,” Turley wrote.

Charlie Hebdo was threatened many times under these laws, and their refusal to give up is what helps me believe that freedom of speech is something worth fighting for. As France continues to impose restrictions on journalists, I’m excited to live and learn in a country that’s going through such a historical period. These attacks were horrific, but the one light at the end of the tunnel is that these events sparked a conversation that is incredibly necessary in France right now.

Just as the protestors’ sign in central Paris read, I’m not afraid. Even though I’ll be 89 miles from the site of these attacks, in the hometown of one of the suspected shooters, I’m excited to be a journalism exchange student living in a culture at a huge turning point in the history of journalism and free speech.