You don’t scare us
Thousands have attended rallies across France in support of Samuel Paty, the teacher beheaded after showing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad to his pupils.
People in the Place de la République in Paris carried the slogan “Je suis enseignant” (I am a teacher), with PM Jean Castex saying: “We are France!”
The Place de la République in Paris filled with people rallying in support of Mr Paty, 47. Mr Castex and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo joined them.
The square was the scene of a huge demonstration in which 1.5 million people showed solidarity with Charlie Hebdo following the deadly attack of January 2015.
Nathalie, a teacher from Chelles who was at the Paris rally, told Le Monde she was there because she had “realised you can die of teaching”.
In Lille, people carried banners and placards with the simple words “I am Samuel”.
Thousands of people also gathered in Place Bellecour in Lyon to pay their respects, with another large turnout in Nantes.
Demonstrations are also being held in Toulouse, Strasbourg, Marseille, Bordeaux and elsewhere.
More bad PR for Mo.
Oh to be in Pakistan, with all that Islam there.
But I digress. Strangely, there is considerable desire in the Islamic world to emigrate to the liberal West, (eg to France) and very little the other way. Could be something in the Islam.
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https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/hangasia
Unfortunately I’m growing too old to go on marches — I can’t walk very far without becoming exhausted. I went on the Charlie Hebdo march in Marseilles, but I was five years younger then, I still had to pull out three-quarters of the way, next to a Metro station, where I had to hold tightly on the handrail to get down the stairs to the platform.
I’m impressed by the French and their attitude of standing up to be counted. In the UK atrocities are met with candle lighting and mourning, not Fuck Them or Encoulez-les (pardon my French). The angry response here is usually from the right wing and respectable politicians don’t turn up. Commenters shuffle about offence – though I don’t think there was nearly so much anti-Hebdo stuff as there was after the first lot of murders.
There’s a great clarity in France on anti-clericalism and integration. We’re more foggy in the UK. I think the French were wrong about banning the burqa – hardly anyone wears one – but right to be absolutely clear that they will not alter their ways or compromise with a load of religious head-bangers. I cannot imagine any teacher in the UK showing such cartoons to pupils, even with the proviso that they didn’t have to stay for the class.
I liked this article on it.
https://tendancecoatesy.wordpress.com/2020/10/18/homages-across-france-to-samuel-paty-in-defence-of-freedom-of-speech/
Also giving the teacher the Legion d’Honneur.
Article here about French ways of dealing with Islamism vs English speaking countries.
“THE DIFFERENT approach between France and the English-speaking or northern European countries appears to be more linked to a view of how to manage society: whether the goal is treating society as a whole with certain values, or whether most issues boil down to the individual. France, for instance, is preparing to expel some 231 extremists in the wake of the attack.”
https://www.jpost.com/international/islamic-terrorism/france-uncovered-radicalization-network-that-led-to-murder-of-teacher-646410?fbclid=IwAR0uJpJBqHae65UjL_qlV0eWI53RhY28nKzokkIA_dd3djHhnKNEcSfom2Y
Algerian feminist take on it:-
“Marieme Helie Lucas, an Algerian sociologist and freedom fighter, founder of the solidarity networks Women Living Under Muslim Laws, and Secularism is a Women’s Issue argues that the roots of the murder of Samuel Paty go back to the 1990s and the experience of Algerians in the ‘war against civilians’. She argues that we should ‘Stand and Be Counted’.”
..
“Interestingly, progressive people and human rights organisations in Europe explain the crimes and violations committed by the Muslim extreme right by the racism they face in Europe. (In the case of Charlie Hebdo’s journalists and cartoonists, many on the left and within human rights circles actually justify the killings, shamelessly declaring that they deserved their fate for insulting ‘Muslims’.)” – I do remember that reaction.
I haven’t seen the great tide of foot-shuffling this time.
https://feministdissent.org/blog-posts/stand-and-be-counted/?fbclid=IwAR0d7jgCMC5-Vghh1XQXBiklJNJ1JoVKavoWR74vQ2AZswRMuSEWF8g_1bk