On November 13, 129 people were killed and 350 injured in multiple terrorist attacks in Paris. The French have not seen such degree of violence in recent times. The last instance was during the colonial war in Algeria in the 60s.
The attacks in January that targetted the satirical newspaper, Charlie Hebdo, killed 17 people. A Jewish supermarket was also targetted. The latest attacks were directed at all French citizens, and now everyone feels at risk.
Terrorists like symbols. This time they attacked cafés, a very typical symbol of French and Parisian conviviality, ‘a joie de vivre (pleasure to live), and a concert hall. They attacked the very symbol of Friday night - young people letting their hair down after a long week, enjoying life with music, food and alcohol.
Manipulated, They Sought Revenge
Terrorists don’t like life. They don’t like conviviality. They don’t like music. They don’t like parties. They hate life and want to prevent others from enjoying it.
They shot blindly at young people - men and women, white, black, Asian, French and foreigners - irrespective of their culture, mother tongue or religion.
But we must remember that most of these terrorists were
French, and most of them as young as the victims. They shot their fellow
citizens, their brothers and sisters. Their hate was probably so huge that they
just forgot that fact.
The attacks crystallise the problems of France today. They were committed by people from immigrant descent (mostly from Maghreb and Black Africa), who may have been born in France but don’t feel French.
They don’t feel socially and ethnically integrated. They consider themselves the victims. They want to make war against their own country because they want revenge.
They found refuge in Islam, in an extremist and rigorist interpretation of the Quran. But they were also probably brainwashed and manipulated in the context of international conflicts - in this case, the Syrian civil war.
The Problem is Radical Interpretation of Islam
Religion was just a pretext. Islam is not a religion of hate,
but its radical interpretation by some is terrible. France, an old democracy,
cannot accept such nihilism.
This country has a lot of issues - social, economic, cultural, ethical. She finds it difficult to adapt to globalisation. She finds it difficult to be downgraded to a normal country on the international scene after having led an empire for so long.
The expansion of the Front National, a right extremist movement, gives France the image of a country of intolerance, wrapped in its former glory.
The vast majority of Frenchmen are tolerant. France is the country of the Lumières (Age of Enlightenment), and is said to be the birthplace of human rights. It is a secular country, prizing the laïcité (neutrality of the state towards religious beliefs) the terrorists want to destroy.
Beyond its predicaments, however, everyone should be able to find a home in it. Its motto is Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité (Freedom, Equality, Fraternity). You can read it on the town halls of all 36,000 cities and villages.
We must show that our motto rings true today and that it will ring true tomorrow.
(The author is a senior journalist working in with France Télévisions)
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