The South African Civil Society Information Service

Tariq Ali on the Charlie Hebdo Shooting

8 Jan 2015

At least 12 people have been killed in a shooting attack on a French satirical magazine in Paris. Witnesses say masked gunmen entered the offices of the magazine, Charlie Hebdo, and opened fire. The dead include four cartoonists and two police officers. The magazine Charlie Hebdo has drawn multiple threats for its caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. In 2012, the magazine’s cartoon depicting Muhammad in pornographic poses helped spark protests across the Middle East. Democracy Now! interviews Tariq Ali, a British-Pakistani political commentator, historian, activist, filmmaker, novelist and an editor of the New Left Review for his views on the shooting.

Democracy Now! also conducted an interview with Muslim scholar, Tariq Ramadan, a professor of contemporary Islamic studies at Oxford University who is considered one of the most prominent Muslim intellectuals in Europe. Democracy Now! went on to host debates between Ramadan and Haper Magazine's Rick MacArhtur as well as between Ramadan and cartoonist Art Spiegelman.

© Democracy Now!

Editor’s Note: You might also be intersted in this Real News Network interview with author Richard Seymour who argues that "the free speech argument is being used to obscure the reality of Islamophobia in Europe."

Writing for Asia Times Online, Pepe Escobar questions who profits from this terrible tragedy, while over at Counterpunch, Diana Johnstone contends that Charlie Hebdo was not a model for freedom of expression.

Update on this Story: The two brothers suspected of the attack on Charlie Hebdo were killed in the early hours of the evening on January 9, 2015.

Read more articles filed under Videos.

Read more articles tagged with: freedom of expression, islamophobia, Charlie Hebdo, France.

You can find this page online at http://sacsis.org.za/site/article/2239.