The Massacre at Charlie Hebdo—And Defining Artistic Responsibility

January 12, 2015 by Graham E. Fuller • Blog • http://grahamefuller.com/the-massacre-at-charlie-hebdo-and-defining-artistic-responsibility/
150111- The Massacre at Charlie Hebdo—And Defining Artistic Responsibility
The massacre at Charlie Hebdo in Paris was an unconscionable act of brutal murder, pure and simple, driven by twisted ideological justification where there can be no justification. Yet causes of events always exist that rational beings must grasp—even when they do not provide justification.
So how do we understand such an act? We have all frequently heard recitations of the political factors behind many of the actions by Muslim terrorists—the American invasion of Iraq, its descent into chaos, the humiliations of Abu Ghuraib, Palestine. And the longer history of western political and military interventions in the Middle East. In this case, the Algerian background of the terrorists—although French-born—highlights again the legacy of the savage French repression in Algeria’s struggle for independence; Robert Fisk of The Independent reports one million and a half Algerian Muslims killed by French in that struggle in the mid-1950s. http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/charlie-hebdo-paris-attack-brothers-campaign-of-terror-can-be-traced-back-to-algeria-in-1954-9969184.html None of this justifies the cold-blooded killing of civilians either. But it does supply comprehensible background. Indeed, we have seen previous violent actions by radical Muslims on “cultural grounds” such as the shocking street murder of right-wing activist Theo Van Gogh in Holland in 1954.
But behind all the outrage, there is also a play of power at work here that is largely ignored by westerners. It is easy to mock religious figures in our more secular modern age. But in the “satire” published by the Danish cartoonists, or in Charlie Hebdo, actions are taking place that go well beyond simply amusing secular westerners. Such writings or drawings also humiliate minorities, especially in the West, whose cultural identities are already fragile. Minorities, especially from the Third World, have rarely been welcome there. A Muslim in the West faces major cultural hurdles—yes, in part created by the violent actions of a tiny fraction of other Muslims, but cultural prejudice is also present.http://grahamefuller.com/the-massacre-at-charlie-hebdo-and-defining-artistic-responsibility/