The pictures which dominated our front pages this week could not have been more shocking. Three men carrying assault weaponry, dressed as if on a battlefield, firing on the streets of Paris.
Their target was not a military base, politician or symbol of the establishment, but the very opposite, the cartoonists of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical magazine that has made its name poking fun at the political and religious establishment. It is the very essence of anti-establishment satire that France has a famous tradition of.
The cartoons Charlie Hebdo publishes are often crude and not to the taste of many, like Viz in the UK. Yet it is not the nature of its cartoons that saw it targeted, but it submitting Islam to thesame type of satire as it treated all other faiths, including my own Christian faith.
For several years members of its staff had lived under Police protection, including its Editor who lost his life this week. Their premises had been firebombed and death threats were almost routine. The latest attack, executed in military style, proved more deadly as they decided to use battlefield weapons to attack those whose only armament was a pen, a piece of paper and a sharp wit.
We need to be clear what their purpose was. This is not about the War in Iraq, which France opposed, or an attack triggered by recent western action against ISIS. The gunmen were targeting the free speech that is fundamental to our democratic society. They want a state where criticism of their beliefs is not permitted and those who persist in doing so face death for it. Their goal in 2015 is the same as Hitler’s Brownshirts in the 1930’s, to use terror to silence those who would speak against them.
The greatest tribute to those who lost their lives is to reject this attempt to make the pen mightier than the sword and ensure other extremists are not allowed to further their agendas on the back of this attack. The symbol of pens being held up in defiance by crowds gathering to mourn those who gave their lives is the most symbolic. It says simply that terror will not bow us.
Unity must is key in facing this threat. Some will look to use this attack to reinforce their own prejudices and blame the whole Islamic faith for the actions of a small group. Revenge attacks on innocent people, who are equally appalled at what happened, dishonour those who died.
Like those who threatened our freedoms in the past these fanatics believe democratic societies are “weak” and will yield to terror. Yet a brief look at history would show how wrong they are. When under attack our freedom is our unity, no matter what views we choose to express under it.
We may not all agree with the views Charlie Hebdo expressed or how they did it, but we must defend their right to express it. Nous Sommes Tous Charlie.