Satirical Journalism

"Today, I think it is important to choose what we want.  It is out of the question that our colleagues died for nothing, that they be censored after their death, that we not continue to produce satirical journalism as we always have, or that we submit to those who make deals with crime and terrorism to silence us."
"If we start to accept that those who share the same country with us, who have the same citizenship, if we accept that they will not be ruled by the same things as us, but we will abandon them to their traditions ... it is the beginning of the end."
"I think it is a debate that is necessary today, including in Quebec, because free and democratic countries have always thought they were not subject to religion, but in reality, we are realizing today that it is important to adopt laws that protect our freedom. That is the issue."
"Zineb El-Rhazoui, journalist, Charlie Hebdo

Ryan Remiorz / THE CANADIAN PRESS    Zineb El-Rhazoui, a journalist with Charlie Hebdo, says all western nations must choose a side in the fight against religious fundamentalism. “When we find ourselves in such an emergency situation, we have to choose our camp. Are we for freedom or for something else?" she asked.

Any religious tradition, points out Ms. El-Rhazoui, that maintains a female "doesn't have the same rights, [that] it is shocking in her community if she wears that [the hijab], or if she says certain opinions, or if she drinks a glass or wine, or if she has a boyfriend" represents an affront to humanity and basic human rights. The Quebec discourse she briefly mentions was an attempt by the-then ruling provincial political party to remove any religious symbols from public view; that no individual employed by any government agency would be permitted to wear a religion-distinguishing symbol.

Visiting Quebec, invited by a pro-secularist group, the Collectif citoyen pour l'egalite et la laicite, she asked rhetorically: "Are we for freedom or for something else." She had missed the January 7 terrorist attacks that left 12 of her colleagues at Charlie Hebdo, two French police, and five other Parisians of Jewish extraction dead. She had been visiting her native country, Morocco at the time.

Muslims, she stated, must learn that satire spares no one, no movement, no ideology, no religion. They must learn to take criticism in their stride, no less than the bitterly wry humour of a caricature highlighting what Islam now represents in the minds of many who see Islamists citing their pious reverence of the Prophet Mohammad, using bombs to convince and persuade non-believing kuffars that Islam is the religion of peace and brotherhood.

In view of what she has experienced, in the company she has kept, viewing the crass hypocrisy of Muslims in repeating ad infinitum that Islam is a 'religion of peace' in the face of ongoing and repeated atrocities committed by Muslims in the name of Islam, Ms. El-Rhazoui finds herself in complete harmony with Quebec's proposed 'charter of values' barring public-sector workers like teachers, health-care workers, police, lawyers from wearing a Muslim head scarf or Jewish kippa.

The hijab, she pointed out from her perspective, is a symbol of the subjugation of women, and as such should be banned for wear by government employees. As for the "useful idiots" that abound in Western societies whose forgiving position on Islamist atrocities, citing presumed provocations on the part of the West as arguable reasons for inciting pay-back, their unintentional aid to the fundamentalists through their tolerant views are despicable.

That tolerance could lead to a threat to Western freedoms. "Civilization", she said, "will be finished". She pointed out with more than a hint of irony how it was that Charlie Hebdo struggled financially to continue its existence, even requesting of French President Francois Hollande, a subsidy to maintain itself. Now, she points out, millions of euros have been pouring in; assistance of a financial nature that bore too dear a price.