The world outpouring of sympathy after the deadly “Charlie Hebdo” attack has touched many in France but some detect a note of hypocrisy or feel squeamish about supporting a satirical weekly that antagonized many.
President Francois Hollande’s government insists freedom of expression must not be curtailed out of fear of further attacks, and authorities have got fully behind a spontaneous “Je suis Charlie” (“I am Charlie”) social media campaign of solidarity, Reuters wrote in a report.
But scepticism has emerged on the one hand from surviving Charlie Hebdo workers who reject some of the support for them as insincere; from others who found the weekly plain offensive; and others who question the human rights records of the 40-plus world leaders taking part in Sunday’s unity march in Paris.
“There are so many big words being said about freedom of expression and democracy. But where was the support (for it) before? There wasn’t that much proof,” 26-year-old math student Nalo Magalhou said of some of the political and media reaction.
While far less popular than #JeSuisCharlie (“#IamCharlie”), the #IamNotCharlie hashtag has also appeared on Twitter.
To be sure, there is a fringe minority on the Internet who have praised the attacks that killed 17 in three separate attacks over three days and culminated in the siege of a kosher deli in eastern Paris.
But more significant is the body of people who say that while they outright condemn the attacks, they still cannot bring themselves to support a newspaper that mocked religions.
“It would be too easy (to say) I am Charlie,” Belgian blogger Marcel Sel wrote on his website.
Horrified by the attacks he unreservedly condemns, he said it would be “cowardly” to pretend he is “Charlie” while he had harshly criticized some of its cartoons on Islam in the past.
Zakaria Moumni, a 34-year-old Franco-Moroccan draped in the French flag at the Place de la Republique rally point for Sunday’s march has a very different reason to think there are cracks in the facade of unity.
“Some heads of state and government simply should not be there when they crack down on freedom of expression in their own country. It’s hypocritical,” said the former Thai box champion, who says he had been tortured in Morocco and had received support from NGOs such as Human Rights Watch when jailed there.
Morocco has rejected accusations of torture and last March filed a legal complaint inFrance against them.
Hollow Claims
For veteran Charlie Hebdo cartoonist Bernard Holtrop, the problem is with some of the paper’s new “friends.”
Holtrop, famous in France under the name of Willem, said he was happy if people worldwide marched to defend freedom of speech. But asked about support from Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders, he said, “We are against all those people who are suddenly saying they are our friends.”
“We’ve got a lot of new friends – the pope, Queen Elizabeth, Putin. I’ve got to laugh about that,” he said. Willem says he is alive only because he does not like going to weekly staff meetings and was not in the Paris office when two gunmen erupted and killed his colleagues and two policemen.
I am Not Charlie
Former head of far-right Front National (FN) party Jean-Marie Le Pen slammed Charlie Hebdo memorial, although he said he is “touched by deaths of 12 French compatriots.”
Le Pen lamented the deaths of 12 “compatriots” that took place during the attack on Wednesday, but slammed a rally slated to be held in memory of its victims on Sunday as being “orchestrated by the media”, Le Figaro news site reported. The FN was not invited to the rally, which a number of world leaders attended.
“Today, everyone is saying: ‘We are all Charlie, I am Charlie.’ Well, I’m sorry, but I’m not Charlie,” Le Pen said. “I am touched by the deaths of 12 French compatriots whose political identity I don’t even want to know – although I know it well enough already. These were the enemies of the FN who only recently demanded the party’s dissolution.”
The FN was not invited to the Charlie Hebdo solidarity march in Paris, which was organized by French President Francois Hollande and opposition leader Nicolas Sarkozy. Current FN leader said she “regretted” not being invited to the “Republican march” and said she would have been happy to attend. “I will not go where I am not wanted,” she said.
