Each one a person
The names of some of the people killed in Paris are being shared on social media, the BBC reports.
- Djamila Houd, 41, originally from Dreux, west of Paris – “All the mothers of families share Djamila’s mother’s pain,” the local newspaper said (in French)
- Thomas Ayad, 34, from Amiens – he worked for Mercury Records, a division of Universal Music France, and was at the Bataclan with two colleagues. The amateur hockey club he played for said on its Facebook page it would hold a minute’s silence for him on Sunday.
Perhaps from Algerian backgrounds, perhaps Muslims themselves, eating in those haram restaurants or listening to that haram music.
- Universal Music France president Pascal Negre named the other two employees killed as Marie and Manu on Twitter, but did not provide their surnames. The name Marie is reported to refer to Marie Mosser, a communications and digital marketing worker, according to her Twitter profile.
- A man nicknamed “Dado”, 44, from Ceyrat in the central Auvergne region. The man, who worked for the tax office and was unmarried, was at the Bataclan, France 3 reported
- French footballer Lassana Diarra revealed on Twitter that he had lost his cousin, Asta Diakite, in one of the shootings. He said she was like a “big sister” to him. Diarra was playing in the football match against Germany at the Stade de France on Friday night, the scene of one of the attacks. Her father confirmed her death on Twitter, after using the platform to try and find her.
- Cedric Mauduit, a local council official from Calvados in Normandy – he was at the Bataclan with five friends
- Mathieu Hoche, a journalist for the France 24 TV news channel, died at the Bataclan. He was young and had a six-year-old son, a colleague tweeted
- Quentin Boulanger, 29, originally from Rheims but had lived in Paris for several years – he was at the Bataclan
- Guillaume B Decherf, a journalist with Les Inrocks magazine, was at the Bataclan. The father of two had written about the Eagles of Death metal’s latest album, Les Inrocks said
- Lola Salines was at the Bataclan. Her father confirmed her death on Twitter, after using the platform to try and find her.
And that’s only a few of them.
It’s a terrible tragedy, all that unnecessary, violent, and pointless death.
What Europe needs to do now is open our borders, and welcome with open arms and hearts, all our brothers and sisters in suffering. Daesh, and other extremist violent organisations, have been terrorising people in other countries for years now. These people need to know that they are just as valuable to us as those who died in France. I’ve been so frustrated, as I’ve watched far too many Western governments (including my own) egged on by the vocal bigots in their constituencies, do precisely the opposite of that which would dry up the stream of disaffected young men joining such organisations.
Friday’s despicable acts of terrorism weren’t aimed just at secular France and the ‘haram’ West. It was aimed at ordinary Muslims, currently trying to escape from the terrorism in their own countries, sending them a message that they’d better bow down to the extremists and become one with them, because they’ll be found wherever they go anyway.
By making it appallingly difficult for refugees to escape to Europe, and by treating them to sub-human conditions when they finally arrive (for those who survive the journey), we are alienating the very people best placed to stop these acts of terrorism in the first place, and instead providing the very conditions that encourage young men in particular to feel that they have a better future if they become part of the extremist organisations than if they try to become full European (or Canadian, or Australian…) citizens.
You know this…. how, exactly?
@2,
CAIRO (TheBlaze/AP) — The Islamic State group on Saturday reportedly claimed responsibility for a wave of attacks in Paris that killed 127 people and said France would remain at the “top of the list” of its targets.
An online statement said eight militants armed with explosive belts and automatic weapons attacked carefully chosen targets in the “capital of adultery and vice,” including a soccer stadium where France was playing Germany, and the Bataclan concert hall, where an American rock band was playing, and “hundreds of apostates were attending an adulterous party.”
And… http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/03/what-isis-really-wants/384980/
The reality is that the Islamic State is Islamic. Very Islamic. Yes, it has attracted psychopaths and adventure seekers, drawn largely from the disaffected populations of the Middle East and Europe. But the religion preached by its most ardent followers derives from coherent and even learned interpretations of Islam.
…
Following takfiri doctrine, the Islamic State is committed to purifying the world by killing vast numbers of people. The lack of objective reporting from its territory makes the true extent of the slaughter unknowable, but social-media posts from the region suggest that individual executions happen more or less continually, and mass executions every few weeks. Muslim “apostates” are the most common victims. Exempted from automatic execution, it appears, are Christians who do not resist their new government. Baghdadi permits them to live, as long as they pay a special tax, known as the jizya, and acknowledge their subjugation. The Koranic authority for this practice is not in dispute.
Helene, what magazines say about the Islamism of Islamic State is all well and good, but what does it have to do with the topic of this post?
For goodness’ sake! Your hobby-horse is a bit worn out by now.
@John Morales
You might have missed the “@2” at the head of my comment #3. I.e. it was a reply to the query about how Ophelia knows that “… Friday’s despicable acts of terrorism weren’t aimed just at secular France and the ‘haram’ West. It was aimed at ordinary Muslims…”
But thanks for the warning. I’ll be extra careful with my comments whenever they contain something that might offend you.
@John Morales
Helene was replying to post #2, hence the sections in bold about Daesh targeting Muslims.
tiggerthewing:
Yeah, sure. Here are some characteristic quotes from our current Minister of Science and Higher Education:
And the second one:
Have the terrorists already won?
(By the way: as usual, discussions on this blog are very interesting and I’m reading them all. Unfortunately, a couple of days ago I twisted my wrist and in the weeks to come I won’t be an active commenter, neither here nor anywhere else. All the best to everybody.)
@7 There are reports that two of the jihadists came in with the migrants. One of the is said to have actually been rescued by Greece’s coastguard after his boat had sunk. That was only back in early October.
Hope your wrist improves soon!
Blaming ‘multi-cultis’ and racist nativists is just another way of avoiding facing the core evil: religion, the Abrahamic cohort in particular.
If we don’t respond to Ben Carson and ISIS with the same moral and rational tools. We are missing the point.
Blaming ‘multi-cultis’ and racist nativists is just another way of avoiding facing the core evil: religion, the Abrahamic cohort in particular.
So ISIS has Buddhist, Jewish, Hindu, Catholic, Wiccan and Jain divisions?
By spreading this out to the point where it’s problem of the generic “religion” can also be another way of avoiding the core evil.
What would be the point of France’s security services wasting resources keeping tabs on Reform synagogues, Catholic churches, Buddist and Hindu temples?
@9,
I generally agree with you, Jean l’ivrogne, and you’re entirely right that religion is the culprit, but I’m with John (#10) on this; Buddhists and Reform Jews are not the villains here. Nor, for that matter, are progressive Muslims (they exist, e.g.Maajid Nawaz). By empowering them, we may show other Muslims that they need not be hostage to the imams and ayatollahs, let alone ISIS.
PD @6, I knew to what Helene was replying.
Helene @5, you weren’t responding to Ophelia, you were responding to BarbsWire responding to tiggerthewing, and neither of your purported reasons supports the proposition that this particular event was “aimed at ordinary Muslims, currently trying to escape from the terrorism in their own countries”.
Whatever makes you imagine I was offended?
John Morales, What makes you think ISIS has suddenly changed their strategy and desired outcome for this one single instance?
Rob, nothing, since I neither think that nor did I express that I thought that.
John, sometimes I think your pedantry has a point and serves a useful purpose. Sometimes it’s just pedantry for its own sake. Another commentator has expressed an opinion based on their interpretation of reported statements and events. It may be wrong, or at least not entirely correct, but it is defensible and consistent with known facts. In light of your comment at 14, your comment at 12 adds nothing to the discussion.
None of us sit in on ISIS planning meetings. Helene might be right. My view is that she is right, but not in the primary sense. I’m sure the main purpose of this attack was to send a message to France and the west in general. The fact it also serves to send a message of terror to any home grown opposition is just a nice coherent secondary. That is the effectiveness of ISIS. They are entirely consistently on message all the time with each action sending the same set of messages to both supporters and opponents. Only the emphasis on receiver varies.
Of course, I might be wrong. It may all be a a viral marketing campaign to buy fluffy toys that’s gone horribly wrong. Who would know apparently…
Hmm, let’s see…
John Morales (#12): Helene @5, you weren’t responding to Ophelia, you were responding to BarbsWire
Me (#5): it was a reply to the query about how Ophelia knows that (etc.)
Yup. Just as I said.
John Morales (#4): For goodness’ sake! Your hobby-horse is a bit worn out by now.
John Morales (#12): Whatever makes you imagine I was offended?
Ok, peeved, annoyed, irritated? Upset, bothered, aggravated?
I think, John Morales, that I prefer my hobby horse to your high one.
Helena, I was responding to Triggerthewing.. how that person knows whst he/she wrote was a fact, not Ophelia.
Yes, BarbsWire. I should have been clearer. The query was yours and it was directed at Triggerthewing. But Tiggerthewing was following up (in part) to what Ophelia indicated about the victims. “Perhaps from Algerian backgrounds, perhaps Muslims themselves, eating in those haram restaurants or listening to that haram music.” These “apostates” are a prime target for ISIS. Considering my own family, I could be one of them.
I am not, however, in agreement with Tiggerthewing’s last paragraph. The “West” is not to blame for the disaffection of young Muslim men in the banlieues. It is 1) Islam itself, and 2) the radicalisation and religious grievance-mongering (how can Islamic states be so backward compared to the countries run by the sons of apes and pigs? it must be a conspiracy!) ) that is stoked by mosques and imams. All supported and stirred up from the Middle East.
Waves of other immigrants successfully settled in the west, in particular the US and Canada. But they came (largely) without a sense of superiority/grievance in their baggage. Even those from “Muslim” countries. But now the latter are being told that the West is Dar al-Harab or Dar al-Kufr and that it (and, well, the whole wotrld) rightfully belongs in Dar al-Islam. So the young “apostates” listening to rock music in Bataclan are a particular impediment to this project.