Prefering
Frantz Fanon to Charlie Hebdo
We anti-imperialists are not part of the
clash of civilizations
The attack on the satirical magazine
/Charlie Hebdo/ is a further escalation in the unequal confrontation
between the West and the Islamic world, which is increasingly taking the
form of a /kulturkampf/ or clash of civilizations. We condemn the attack
on /Charlie Hebdo/. At the same time, we do not join the ranks of the
united front for the defence of the imperialist West and its “superior
civilization”, which is emerging as a reaction to the attack. In France,
this front ranges from the secularist left all across to the radical
right of Jean-Marie Le Pen.This is not about freedom of speech.
Where were they, when people were
>tortured in Guantánamo for “our
security”? What did they say, when the United States of America
subcontracted torture to “New (EU) Europe” or kidnapped (“rendered”)
European citizens for torture elsewhere? They remained silent about the
“cost of liberty”, just as they were during the Cold
War!
This is not about the defence of democracy, but about
ruthless power politics: western dominance.Given the
total impotence against the rule of this unjust system not only in Gaza,
but also in the French banlieues, is it not understandable that someone
comes up with the idea to “avenge the prophet Muhammad”? How come that
the secularists who fervently criticize religion are unable to see the
social and political context of that slogan? “Religion is the opium of
the people”, wrote Marx, but how come they don’t remember the first part
of that quote: “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature.” It
rather seems they don’t want to remember, because they have become part
of the system. They no longer want to deconstruct the clash of
civilizations, they simply want to win it.
This is meant to
explain, not to justify. For jihadism – especially jihadism of the slums
of Europe – is a paroxysm, the last convulsion in the
(self-)annihilation of the extremely marginalised, a collective rampage.
It is a reaction of the hopeless to a global system of permanent
aggression, with no way out but death, a revenge against that system,
sweeping along into death as many as possible.
Freedom of speech
is a great good, too great a good to leave it to the abuse and demagogy
of the ruling elites. “Freedom is always the freedom of dissenters,”
said Rosa Luxemburg. She was and is right: democratic rights must also
apply to the opponents of democracy, even if we reject their positions –
whether they are Islamic or secular fundamentalists. More importantly:
fighting for rights, we must not ignore the structures of social and
economic power, but fight for the rights of the poor and the
oppressed.
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a
needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God – or is
that fundamentalist hate speech, too?
>Anti-imperialist
Camp
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