This is a cross-post by John Sargeant at homo economicus
A 16 year old for posting via Facebook the cartoon on the left (a parody of the one on the right that was by Charlie Hebdo) is to be placed on probation and to be indicted. The call is for judicial “extreme reactivity” to such things.
The Charlie Hebdo cartoonists would be turning in their graves. The Muslim Brotherhood protestors, even with faith on their side, could not withstand the bullets of the army crushing any dissent to the Egyptian coup. The islamist democratic idea in Egypt was literally killed.
So much for religion, it does not make you bullet proof in your defiance. You die, and can be suppressed as any other mortal. Which is where the mock cover makes the point. The defiance of Charlie Hebdo in printing the cartoons they wanted was not going to save them. Maybe they never thought it would really come to this, that their lives would be taken.
Putting school children before the courts for what they say is a right French farce. This should not surprise you though:
In 2008, when Nicolas Sarkozy was President, a man in a crowd refused to shake his hand. Sarkozy said angrily, “Casse-toi, pauv’con!,” which means something like “Get lost, stupid jerk.” But when a protester later brought a sign reading “Casse-toi, pauv’con!” to a public meeting attended by Sarkozy, the man was arrested and brought up on charges. According to French law, the President of the Republic can insult you, but you can’t insult him—even with his own words. [The New Yorker]
How the criminalisation of school children is supposed to make the streets of Paris safe is anyone’s guess. Rather, it smacks of inequality of citizens. No Republic deserves to stand if it cannot grasp that.
Live up to égalité if you also truly want to mean it when you say “Je suis Charlie.” Or fail the Republic as the hypocrites you are. Sycophants to Liberty, whom you speak against behind her back, while claiming to be right behind her.
