Charlie Hebdo Chooses to Remain Bold and Free
In a bold act of defiance, the remaining staff of the satirical French newspaper Charlie Hebdo plan to publish a million copies of an 8-page edition on Wednesday and will include caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad, according to their lawyer.
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| LASSANA BATHILY "It's nothing. It's life. We are brothers. It's not a question of Jews, of Christians, or of Muslims. We're all in the same boat. We have to help each other get out of this crisis." Police say Bathily helped save the lives of 6 adults and a baby during the Paris hostage crisis" |
UPDATE - 3 Million March to Paris to #ProtectFreeSpeech
Mohammed Shafiq
Chief Executive
Ramadan Foundation
(British Muslim community group from Manchester, UK)
Mohammed Shafiq - Well, as a human being, as a Muslim I totally condemn this barbaric and evil crime. If they think that they have the right to kill innocent people because they disagree with cartoons then they are living in a parallel universe. We Muslims oppose terrorism. We oppose their actions. They don't do it in my name or in the name of my great faith. As somebody who opposes those cartoons, I consistently oppose those cartoons but do that with a political protest, through the media and through peaceful methods. There's no excuse for violence whatsoever and in a democracy people are free to express themselves how they want to. Equally we are free to express our opposition to those cartoons but no violence is ever a solution to any problem.
Mohammed Shafiq - I'm not surprised because we are obviously facing an heightened threat now from ISIS, another terrorist organization who think that the best way to damage relations in our countries is to carry out known attacks as we've seen so brutally today in Paris. We as Muslims and Christians and Jews and people of no faith all need to come together and unify against these threats. The terrorists want to divide us and in that we must make sure that they don't succeed.
Mohammed Shafiq - Well I think if you want to challenge Islam, if you want an engagement, a debate with Islam and Muslims, then we at the Muslim community are open for debates. It's got to be based on tolerance. It's got to be based on evidence and it's got to be based on respect. And these are satirical cartoons that depict the prophet Mohammed are an affront to our faith something which I oppose. But again I go back to this very simple principle. The journalists are free to make, sorry, to draw those cartoons and promote their issues in a free society and we are equally able to challenge that in a peaceful manner. There is no place for violence or terrorism or death threats against anybody.
Mohammed Shafiq - I ask people not to take what I say as the basis of their view of Islam. Talk to the thousands of Muslim scholars from every different strand...who have been very consistent in saying that Terrorism is Unacceptable. It's an affront to our faith and we must not stand by and watch it happen and try to legitimize it. There is no excuse for it.
Mohammed Shafiq - And we've got a huge debate going on within the Muslim community over this issue. There's a huge challenge now to expose this ideology, the sources of its funding where it comes from and above all, to say to young people that if you want to challenge what goes on in Syria, if you want to highlight the issue of Palestine and the Israelis then the way to do that is through the political process. It's through peaceful methods in this country and around the world. Anybody who engages in violence is not just an enemy of the State but is an enemy of Muslims around the world.
Martin George Edmund Rowson
British editorial cartoonist and novelist
Martin George Edmund Rowson - That's what we are licensed to do in a free society. Assassination without the blood. Key words of that phrase are "without the blood." human arguments in a non-violent ways. Responding to being offended. It's this IDEA that is becoming so current for the last fifteen years or so, taking offense is being used as a so people. People are not allowed to do anything in case they offend somebody else. The most offensive thing you can do is to kill somebody.
Martin George Edmund Rowson - That's a barbaric, Medieval despotism. That's the kind of society we, I hope, don't live in. And if these people choose to live in a society like that we have got to try and stop them imposing it on everybody else.
Martin George Edmund Rowson - They believe that everybody should believe what they believe and if anybody disagrees with them, they murder them. That is a ludicrous, preposterous notion and they should be laughed at for it... It's the idea that you can never draw a mocking portrait of anybody at all because there might be a danger that they will take offense and kill you. But if the response is we don't draw anything anymore, then they have won.
700 thousand gather across France to protect Freedom of Speech
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