I read an article on Forget The Box tonight. Ive been reading quite a few articles lately that have really called into question my position on FTB - but, FTB works in that most opinions get published for the purpose of discourse, so my criticisms rest really in the authors. However, this piece which ultimately sought to apologize for racism within CH has moved me to question FTB as a whole. The article I read was about the Charlie Hebdo attacks. The author, Niall Clapham Ricardo, took the position that both sides of the debate (Je suis Charlie et Je ne suis pas Charlie) were in the wrong. The author uses Zizek as a defined reference for anti-racist leftists and branded them liberals, he then insists that Charlie Hebdo was not racist or xenophobic and even went on to say that they used racial stereotypes to transcend racism. He grounds all of this in that Charlie Hebdo drew thousands of cartoons, some that even were anti-austerity and anti-neoliberal - and thus the anti-Islam cartoons within the grander scheme did not constitute the publication as xenophobic or racist. But what the author fails to realize, aside from an amateur mistake in seriously quoting Zizek (we can laugh about this later), is that racist and fascist movements often gain traction through movements against austerity and economic pressures, they breed quickly in times of repression and often find followers in times of resistance - similarly in Greece with the rise of the Golden Dawn and in France with the rise of the National Front. Charlie Hebdo appealed to a demographic that was comfortable in fighting both austerity and neo-liberal agendas for the purpose of right nationalist interests and in blaming immigration, race and religion as a reason for these struggles. But most importantly, what the author fails in most is his conceptualization of racism. You do not need to only utter racial slurs or spread racist principles to qualify as racist, You do not need to only spread xenophobic notions and xenophobic principles to qualify as xenophobic - Racists do not only speak in racist language - Charlie Hebdo publishing cartoons against austerity and then cartoons against Muslims does not make them any better, it makes them exactly what they are: racist and xenophobic. Unlike the author, it takes only one racially violent, xenophobic picture for us to stand against it. It takes one racial slur, one xenophobic text and one violent attack on another religion, another race and another people for us to firmly and confidently take a position against racism, xenophobia and discrimination and to take a position for equality and solidarity. Incredibly disappointed by the apologism published in FTB.
Posted on: Sat, 17 Jan 2015 05:45:37 +0000
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