I have thought from the very
beginning that the Je Suis Charlie movement, meme etc. was complete and utter
nonsense. This is partly due to Charlie
Hebdo magazine being the worst sort of neoliberal rag churning out deeply racist
cartoons of hook nosed Arabs and pregnant “welfare queen” black teenagers while
advancing anti-immigrant positions more commonly associated with European fascist
groups. It’s true they made fun of
other groups like Catholics in the distant past but that seemed to change after
09/11 when they switched to anti-Islam all the time and backed
neoconservative/neoliberal causes such as the Iraq War.
But the bigger reason I think
Je Suis Charlie is complete and utter garbage is France’s hypocritical, selective
double standard application of hate crime laws specifically hate speech
laws. The prosecution of Dieudonne in 2003 whose
troubles all originally stem from a sketch he did where he compared Israeli
settlers to Nazis (Well within the scope of civilized debate and which I agree
with) is just wrong. It is also
troubling when you consider France treats its Jewish citizens in a much
different more privileged way than it does those who belong to other faiths.
There have been numerous
other examples - Banning the Burka (but
not banning dress associated with other religions), not investigating hate
crimes against Muslims (The murder of Said Bourarach for example) but sending
in the SWAT team every time someone spraypaints a swastika on a wall, running
cartoons that mock Islam but cancelling those that make fun of the Last Supper
and Catholicism in general as well as anything mimicking the Jewish faith.
Personally I don’t believe in hate speech laws as I think they endanger real
free speech but if you are going to have them they must be enforced on behalf
of every group otherwise it creates resentments and things like Anti-Semitism.
In particular, laws that
criminalize Holocaust denial are part of this inconsistency. I believe it should be legal to question any
historical event (and for the record I am NOT a Holocaust denier). However, laws like this are often used to
muffle those who stick up for Palestinian causes. France remains the only country in Europe to
actually cancel pro Palestinian protests after Israel’s genocidal spree in Gaza
last spring.
And there you have it – Neoliberalism
is defined as western imperialism and empire building and tainted with the racist
supremist philosophy of Zionism while trying to pass itself off as a free
society. What people in America perhaps
might not get is the liberal xenophobe, the cultural neoliberal. In America if one hates foreigners, he is also likely to embrace other beliefs perhaps
he or she would be homophobic, against government spending on social programs,
pro life etc. In Europe, this is not the case (and I speak from experience having
met Europeans who think this way). One
can meet a European with very liberal social beliefs about abortion, women,
taxes and social programs, homosexuality but who will turn around and talk
about “smelly” “uncivilized” foreigners and clamping down on immigration and
invading and bombing countries. They
often couch such statements in rejection of Islam but scratch an anti-Islam
proponent a lot of the time and you’ll often find not just an Islamophobe but a
racist and xenophobe as well. Unfortunately,
I think there is a strain of this thinking growing in America (See Bill Maher
or Sam Harris) which has its roots in Clinton neoliberalism which is one of the
main reasons why I’m not a Democrat and remain an independent.
Feeding these beliefs is the conspiracy
theory of Eurabia in Europe or Creeping Sharia which has been pushed by right wing Christian
groups in the USA which is that Muslims are going to take over their
countries. Ridiculous McCarthyism with
no basis in reality other than population demographics which could be
interpreted in many different ways based on individual prejudices – By itself
it’s just data. My advice to those
non-Muslims in Europe worried about too many Muslims? Have more babies!
So je ne suis pas Charlie, Je
suis Deudione! Yes, I am picking
sides. Real free speech not that which
is pre-approved by imperialist neoliberal tyrants!
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