Charlie Hebdo: tasteless satire, hypocrisy at play

My first reaction to the murders at the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris last week was not bold defiance. I did not feel like then was the time to stand up tall to reaffirm the principles of free speech. Instead, my first reaction was to grieve for the 17 victims. I mourned that we have created a world in which violence seems to be a daily occurrence, a world in which lives lost in Nigeria, Yemen or Iraq do not attract the same level of world attention. Last week, there were no statements from world leaders when a terrorist group, Boko Haram, launched a deadly assault in north eastern Nigeria and killed over 2,000 people. Equally, there were no statements or defiant slogans when a terrorist attack in Yemen claimed 37 lives on the same day as the Paris shootings. So, yes, I felt sad that not all lives seem to be given the same level of worth. But along with grief came two thoughts of which I felt compelled to share. The first thought centred on examining the nature of Charlie Hebdo’s satire. The second and most difficult one was to assess why attacks in Nigeria and Yemen were not given the same level of attention. The Charlie Hebdo satire In many societies, satire is a powerful art form which uses critique and irony to point out the deficiencies in human behaviour and the social issues which result from them in a way that can be interpreted as hilarious but sometimes absurd. Accordingly, political satire can be used as a tool to invert, disturb and unsettle hierarchies, with which some claim is necessary for education – education of individuals and of communities. But how educating are most of Charlie Hebdo’s cartoons? Taking a few samples out of many of Charlie Hebdo’s cartoons, here, we can begin with the magazine’s 2013 cover - ‘The Qur’an is crap. It does not stop bullets.’ Let us for one minute put aside our differences in how we interpret different literature and focus on one fundamental question with an open mind; was it responsible of the magazine to publish this cover? In my opinion, Charlie Hebdo failed on the account of responsible journalism because as we know or should know, democracy (read free speech) depends on citizens having reliable, accurate facts put in a meaningful and responsible context. Journalism in all its forms does not pursue truth in an absolute or philosophical sense, but it can and must pursue it in a practical sense – a sense which comes with responsibility. If journalists, or cartoonists for that matter, fail to recognise the red line, one cannot rule out other forms of derogatory publications including the publication of Tutsi Crush, an undoubtedly extremely offensive and appalling smartphone video game published by the same magazine. Why ignore Nigeria massacre? The contrast between the coverage of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris and the Boko Haram assault in Nigeria is glaring. One explanation put forward for this disparity is that it is extremely dangerous to report in Nigeria. In fact, The Guardian last week defended this argument that it is notoriously difficult for journalists to report in northern Nigeria because, unlike in Paris, northern Nigeria is extremely dangerous and people on the ground are isolated and struggle with access to the internet and other communications. Agreed! Indeed, it is dangerous and difficult to report in such places, but, if we take this argument as the baseline, what sort of journalism are we curving? Should we only report and highlight events from safe places alone? That attitude from Western media is sadly not new. Equally appalling, however, was the attitude of prominent African media houses that also chose to focus on the events in Paris at the expense of the Nigerian attacks. Why should we neglect Africa’s own tragedies and prioritise western lives over our own? I am also inclined to say that the prioritisation goes all the way to the top. In Paris, several African leaders matched together with Parisians to show solidarity but neither made a mention of the atrocities in Baga, Nigeria. The Nigerian president himself, Goodluck Jonathan was busy campaigning for the upcoming presidential elections. On the whole, as Africans, we should not continue to allow the international media to dictate how and when events in Africa are reported. We must stand up and tackle the clear lack of genuine African representation at senior editorial level. Equally, we must give tolerance a chance. Tolerance is a good cornerstone on which to build human relationships. One can hope that the response to the Paris shootings should consist of not merely a full-throated defence of freedom of speech, but also, a renewed commitment to a robust and pluralistic democracy, one which puts common sense at the centre of reasoning. In order to honour freedom of speech, first and foremost, we need to honour the dignity of human beings. Email: junior.mutabazi@yahoo.co.uk

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Charlie Hebdo: tasteless satire, hypocrisy at play