Charlie Hebdo: An open letter to the free world from a freethinker

The phrase ‘Je suis Charlie’ (‘I am Charlie’) came to symbolise support for free speech and the free press, as well as to show solidarity with the victims of Islamist terrorism, in the wake of the Islamist attack on Charlie Hebdo on 7 January 2015. With cries of ‘Je suis Charlie’, even those who might despise the magazine or disagree with its content stood behind the victims while categorically denouncing Islamist terrorism. I always feel proud to have joined the roars of those freethinkers who refused to submit to the pharaohs of our day.

As a journalist and an apostate of Islam, I can’t fathom leading a dignified life in a Muslim-majority country where dissent is persecuted with impunity. Ironically, I have experienced intimidation, harassment, and death threats even in the free, democratic, Western society that is my home. In addition, I’ve often been ‘advised’ that for my own ‘safety’ I should avoid offending religious fanatics—‘advice’ which is utterly disheartening.

By taking advantage of the humane laws and values pertaining to religious freedom, the Muslim fundamentalists who have long used religion as a tool to radicalise vulnerable Muslim youth have now succeeded in bringing liberals to their knees. Hence, the misguided liberal fringe appears willing to sacrifice the principles of equality, justice, free speech, and secularism on the altar of political correctness.

The Islamist apologists in our midst have made it evident to the world that they have never felt sympathy for the people who have been brutally murdered for merely criticizing, rejecting, or mocking Islam. Reckless justifications for horrific terrorist attacks in the name of protecting religious sensibilities appear to go on forever, even today.

The apologia offered to justify terrorist attacks is utterly ridiculous. It essentially says, ‘Charlie Hebdo‘s employees shouldn’t be killed, but what else did they expect by offending Muslims’ religious beliefs?’ (This weaselly nonsense is exactly the same sort of thing once said about Salman Rushdie.)

To suggest that cartoonists and journalists were ultimately responsible for inciting some Muslims to violence is nothing more than victim-blaming contempt for the slain.

Any attempt to rationalise violence against people for mocking, scrutinising, debunking, or rejecting religious beliefs only emboldens Islamists and validates Islamist beliefs, which forbid any depiction of Muhammad but condone the instigation of deadly riots and the murder of innocents to defend the prophet’s honour.

Religious extremists are violently opposed to free speech and the other progressive, humane, and secular values which are relied upon and championed by the very people they oppress.

Muslim and non-Muslim dissenters, writers, and cartoonists are arbitrarily persecuted and attacked for simply expressing their opinions. Freethinkers are viewed as a threat to religious beliefs and dissent is seen as blasphemy, which can only be met with murder.

Across the Muslim world, religious fanatics are determined to persecute dissidents for challenging their sacred beliefs. And in the West, baseless accusations of ‘Islamophobia’ have been weaponised to smear and silence any and all critics of Islam.

The meaning of the slogan ‘Je suis Charlie’ is, therefore, loud and clear to me. Every time I repeat it, it reaffirms my conviction that Charlie Hebdo‘s decision to print blasphemous cartoons was a brave and defiant act, one that freethinkers of the world should continue to defend. If you deny the right of Charlie Hebdo to mock religion, you deny the dissidents of the Muslim world the liberty they have so long fought for. Their long-standing struggle for freedom, the foundation of which is free speech, is one you should, rather, be fighting for.

I implore the free world to see the threat posed by religious fundamentalism to the humane values it claims to uphold. Supporting the courageous people defending the precarious right to freedom of speech against unrelenting challenges and the rise of religious fundamentalism is the only way to reassert the core principles of freedom, liberty, secularism, and free speech.

In short: Je suis Charlie!