January 9, 2015

Charlie Hebdo: A Clash of Extremisms, not of Civilizations

Source: Informed Comment

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What is absent from our mainstream media and politics is a careful analysis of what Islam is in France today. This would show once and for all that the Muslim “community” is not the monolith Le Pen would like us to believe. The terrorists who massacred 12 people on 7 January are apparently Muslim but so was the policeman who lost his life trying to stop them. Mustapha Ourrad, Charlie Hebdo’s copy-editor killed in the attack, was born in Algeria.
This is not a clash of civilisations, this is not a war between the West and Islam, but a fight waged by some very few, marginalised yet extremely dangerous people, for whom division is key. Ultimately, condemning Islam and Muslims indiscriminately would play in the hands of those seeking to terrorise and divide us, as well as fuel the kind of nationalism that Charlie Hebdo has always fought.


Read more: http://www.juancole.com/2015/01/charlie-extremisms-civilizations.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

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This article is well worth reading, especially since so much of Western media reporting continues to represent horrific acts of terrorism, especially those of Muslims, as a clash of civilizations.