Who is fueling hysteria around Charlie Hebdo?

Along with the sweeping hysteria that has engulfed the world after the terrorist shooting at the editorial office of the prophane French magazine Charlie Hebdo, there is also a Nous ne sommes pas Charlie (“We Are Not Charlie”) movement that is now gaining ground in France:

“In truth, who are the real suicide bombers in this story? The very journalists of Charlie Hebdo themselves,” claims the writer Maria Poumier. “That magazine did publish some unusual articles, but its cover was always designed to offend and affront one group or another. Those journalists had lost not only their moral compass, but also the majority of their readers. The magazine teetered on the edge of bankruptcy. In the 1970s, such crudeness seemed avant-guard, or even chic. But now that pornography is practically a bona fide religion and cynicism has gone mainstream, society has lost its need for such provocation.

“Emotions are being deliberately fanned. What is the point of such hysteria? Why are we being treated to millions of demonstrations and watching as the leaders of all the high-ranking countries fly in? This is in order to deter the public from really thinking about these events or from asking themselves this simple question – who benefits from this provocation and who is behind it? Those who want to ignite a civil war in France in order to weaken her. Those who fear that Europe will cease to serve as an obedient American vassal and might begin to act on its own. And those who want France – a country that has vocally defended Palestine – to avert her eyes from Israel’s ethnic cleansing there. This scenario reminds me of that mysterious sniper who fired into the crowd gathered at Maidan in Kiev, after which Ukraine was plunged into an abyss of civil war. In France we see that the troublemakers have the same goal – to sow hatred between Muslims and non-Muslims.”

Prince Charles-Philippe d’Orléans, the Duke of Anjou, published a statement in which he spoke out against the “I Am Charlie Hebdo” movement that has taken root there.

“I will go against the emotional tide and break with the ‘I Am Charlie’ movement. No, I am not Charlie, because I never liked that Manichean newspaper. Charlie Hebdo is a vulgar rag that treats all opinions except its own with contempt, and which, under the guise of freedom of expression, allows everyone to act provocatively. Charlie Hebdo is an aggressive newspaper that uses what is alleged to be humor to spawn hatred between religions. Charlie Hebdo is a reflection of a European atheist society that creates enemies instead of respect and brotherhood among nations and peoples, regardless of their differences, race, skin color, or religion. So I refuse to take part in a “republican sacred alliance” to defend Charlie, because I simply do not understand what it is I should defend. I do not mean to be disrespectful or irreverent and do not wish to insult the memory of the dead cartoonists. Words fail to express the horror of the attack that occurred in the newspaper’s office. I condemn this barbaric act and offer my deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those who died. But I condemn this attempt at national unity, as well as the hypocrisy of those of the public who never read this satirical weekly publication. Honor the memory of the victims, yes. Pay tribute to Charlie Hebdo, no.”

But remarkably, despite these wise observations a vast majority of French society has plunged itself into hysteria, pledging its solidarity with Charlie Hebdo’s profane editorial policy.

By the way, freedom of speech and freedom of information – in the classical sense of those concepts – are in no way synonymous with the freedom of some people to insult others based on religion or ethnicity.

In this sense, Russia can be seen as the more advanced society, because such lapses are not possible in this country. Suffice it to recall the sharply negative reaction of the Russian public to the profane antics of the punk band Pussy Riot in Moscow’s biggest cathedral.

Western society has for too long been submerged in a chasm of fallacious multiculturalism, which has laid the very foundation for chaos in the future. This was done so that the underlying tensions in the policy of multiculturalism between European peoples and immigrant Muslims would at some point erupt into implacable civil strife. The greater the street-level hatred against Muslims that boils in the veins of native-born Europeans, the more antagonistic the radicalized segments will become, resulting in greater numbers of terrorist attacks that will occur every day. This is exactly what the US needs in order to weaken Europe, its geopolitical partner.

Judging by the fact that the majority of the French population feels a misguided solidarity with Charlie Hebdo’s blasphemy as a result of the “Je suis Charlie” movement that has gripped the country, no proper conclusions have been reached, and, therefore, the French people are being led like cattle to the slaughter, i.e., toward a civil confrontation with Muslims, which will inevitably result in a backlash in the form of continued terror attacks.

Thus, the chaos that will be staged in Europe is man-made and is being fabricated solely to foster the need for an iron hand that will bring “order.”

But Europe can still call a halt to all this, return to its Christian roots and reestablish civil peace within its borders, based on a genuine love for one’s neighbor and a mutual respect for peoples of other religious traditions.

Only one example is needed to illustrate the artificiality of the mass hysteria surrounding Charlie Hebdo.

On Jan. 10 Russian television aired a brief story on the tragedy of an ordinary family from Shakhtersk, a small regional town in the Donetsk People’s Republic. Just as 2015 was getting underway, Ukrainian soldiers hit their home with mortar fire in the midst of the “truce.”

In a hospital bed lies all that remains of an eight-year-old child: a body with severed legs, one remaining arm, and a face disfigured by shrapnel. The boy survived, unlike his five-year brother, with whom he was playing in the yard at the time of the devastating explosion, but he will never again see the sun, the grass, or the endless blue sky. In addition to his limbs, he has lost one eye and seriously damaged another. In a weak voice the child asks his parents about his little brother. His father cannot hold back his own sobs. Somehow I am quite confident that even many years from now I will still remember this boy from Shakhtersk having very Russian name Ivan and his dead little brother.

We adults lost our faith in miracles long ago, but deep down we still cling to the hope that each new year be different – better and more auspicious than the past. Waking up in January felt like turning to a clean new page, leaving behind all the miseries of the bloodshed in Ukraine. But that was not to be. And in what promises to be a wintry January, the pristine white of the New Year’s snow has already been stained with the blood of new victims, innocent children who have been sacrificed upon the altar of politicians’ euro-ambitions. This is not even war – this is the extermination of a nation, a blatant genocide that is being waged in order to wrest land away from its inhabitants. Who is behind these gruesome atrocities? We all know. We know, but we do nothing. Are we really Charlie?

We watch as Russians, stunned by recent events, carry flowers to the French embassy in Moscow and hold demonstrations in support of the French people. But sadly we do not see the French bringing flowers to the Russian (or, as a last resort, the Ukrainian) embassy in Paris. And perhaps we aren’t seeing it because it isn’t happening. Or are dead Russian children not worthy of an indignant outcry in Europe?

Because if not, why does the French public not protest when they are killed in the Donbass? Ah yes, and speaking of the callous disregard of the French, we almost forgot that they have yet to abandon their interest in the “Ukrainian Question” and even dispatched a mission to inquire about it, but it was sent to the Russian embassy, not the Ukrainian. And it did not arrive with a show of support, but with a hectoring protest of picketers as well as demands for the “Russian terrorists” to be booted from Ukraine and for an end to “Russian aggression”. Probably those scatterbrained French had gotten something backwards. And it’s no wonder, because their television is nothing but a clone of the BBC and CNN.

So is not it time for us to take to the streets with banners reading “Je suis Donbass”?