I do hope that all of the words and gestures of solidarity with France in the wake of the Paris attacks aren’t just empty words and gestures. I hope not to write mere empty words myself here when speaking about the latest attack.
Sitting to write about Paris I am struck by the fact that there is no powerful article left to write about it all, no new take on the situation to be had. Such things were written in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo attacks, of the September 11th attacks, and all of the way back to the Spanish Civil War and beyond into history. Tyranny is tyranny, evil is evil. The arguments have all been made. Arguments relating to terror and tyranny, about murder dressed up as grievance, about fascism dressed up as human rights, about political systems based on freedom who are paralysed when confronted with regimes based on tyranny particularly when thy involve difficult situations thousands of miles away whose effects are felt globally…therefore locally.
In the wake of the Paris terror attacks words have never felt so empty because the words have all been said. On this blog alone time and again the faux justifications for terror and terrorism have been shot full of holes. To little affect I am sad to say. The double standards of politicians who claim to be supporters of human rights but who are so twisted they translate these values into support for hatred, bigotry and murder have been held up for ridicule and shame here many times.
Greater men than I have pointed out the bizarre twists of humanity that leads us to stare into a future dominated by tyrants and their ideologies. I’m reminded of Orwell’s words when he said;
We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men It is not merely that at present the rule of naked force obtains almost everywhere. Probably that has always been the case. Where this age differs from those immediately preceding it is that a liberal intelligentsia is lacking. Bully-worship, under various disguises, has become a universal religion…
. I read these words and I remember Galloway’s salute to Saddam Hussein and I remember Milliband’s insistence that Britain not bomb Islamic State in Syria, David Ward whenever he opens his mouth about Israel and of course the beloved messiah JC.
So with Orwell’s words in mind let’s point out the obvious. It is not the fault of the French government, nor any other Western government, that there are French citizens who became so twisted that they sought nothing more than to die in the act of killing their fellow citizens. Furthermore it is right and proper that the French took the decision to bomb Islamic State, that decision was taken in September 2014. The French have been a part of the effort against Islamic State ever since. It can hardly be coincidence that Paris has been targeted in this way. Twice. France struck Islamic State and Islamic State struck back. Sadly Hollande’s statement that France was targeted in “an act of war” serves to imply that he didn’t realise France was at war already.
In war there are casualties. Britons should keep that in mind when British aircraft start hitting Islamic State in their heartland. Something I hope will soon begin. If they do launch full scale strikes the same kinds of attacks Paris has just suffered will become more likely for UK cities than they are now. Britons should look carefully at Paris and encourage the government to hit Islamic State with everything in its arsenal in spite of the heightened risk.
It is a stain on the morality of all of us that on our watch such evil is allowed to exist. I very much look forward to the UK joining in the fight against Islamic State and I hope to see Parliament vote in favour of military action against them in their Syrian bases. Quite frankly if all that materialises from Great Britain are words and gestures of solidarity with France and no actions then we really will simply be dealing with empty words and “bully worship” that Orwell so despised.
