And the poignant story of one of those killed in the massacre in Paris on Wednesday gives more hope that France can avoid the most negative kind of fallout from the attack. A widely viewed video showed a policeman, wounded and helpless, executed by the black-clad murderers as he lay in the street outside the magazine’s office by one of the gunmen. The slain officer, it turned out, was Ahmed Merabet, assigned to protect one of the Charlie Hebdo editors. Born and brought up in France, he was of Algerian descent and presumably a Muslim himself — assigned as bodyguard for a man who did not hesitate to outrage Muslim sensibilities. The way in which he met his end inevitably brought to mind the famous dictum attributed to Voltaire: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” After Merabet’s fate became known, many Parisians adopted the slogan “Je suis Ahmed” to go alongside “Je suis Charlie.” It’s a way of refusing to scapegoat Muslims for the crimes of radical Islamists, as well as a reminder that most victims of the extremists are in fact Muslims, not westerners.
Posted on: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 23:59:15 +0000