France, Charlie Hebdo and the meaning of Mohammed

2 Nov 2011 | News and features

The Charlie Hebdo bombing exposes a gulf in understanding between the secular French establishments and Muslim immigrants, says Myriam Francois-Cerrah

The firebombing of Charlie Hebdo offices following its decision to run an edition featuring the prophet Mohammed as “guest editor”, is a sad reflection of France’s uneasy relationship to Islam and religion more generally.Sadly, there are some who do not believe that Charlie Hebdo should have the right to publish a satirical issue, in which it presents Prophet Mohamed as the inspiration of the Arab revolutions and subsequent rise of islamist parties in the region (regardless of the accuracy of this link!). They are no doubt in a minority, just as those who committed this crime will no doubt be revealed to be a fringe group or renegade individuals.

But there is no denying the fact many Muslims are offended by the decision to run an issue entitled “Charia Hebdo”, with reference to “100 lashings if you don’t die of laughter” (chuckle) and a “halal aperitif” (ha!) and perhaps more pertinently, to run images of Prophet Mohammed.

Charlie Hebdo is renowned for being a highly satirical outlet which pushes the limits of public discourse on any given issue through its provocative illustrations and irreverent style. It has in its time, been accused of being anti-Semitic, anti-Catholic and now Islamophobic to boot and would no doubt parade these accusations as badges of honour.

However the recent issue comes at a complex time in France’s political life. The far right has made large advances, gaining 15 per cent of the vote in recent regional elections and they have maintained the “immigration question” near the top of the political agenda, drawing parallels between Muslims praying in the street and the Nazi occupation. Meanwhile, recent stats suggest that amongst the descendants of immigrants, 70 per cent, compared with 35 per cent amongst recent immigrants, consider that the French government does not respect them, including amongst those possessing university degrees and thus in theory, more “integrated” into the social fabric.

French Arabs face unemployment at a rate of 14 per cent compared with 9.2 per cent amongst people of French origin — even after adjusting for educational qualifications and are poorly represented at every level. Charlie Hebdo’s decision to poke fun at Islam, although completely inline with its treatment of other issues, comes at a time of intense polemics over the place of Islam within France, as debates over “laicite” galvanise the political spectrum.

Many Muslims appear to feel under siege in a political climate which continues to view Islam as an impediment to full adhesion to French national identity and where religious practise is associated with a social malaise. Indeed, a recent report by the French academic Gilles Kepel has reignited debate over the role Islam plays in the perpetuation of disenfranchisement in the suburbs, where Muslims are over-represented.

Some in France have sought to blame Islam for the high levels of unemployment, underachievement, violence and marginalisation in France’s ghettoised suburbs, while others have protested the Islamification of the discourse on the suburbs, decrying the use of confused and loaded terminology to overlook substantial economic and social problems in these areas. In France, with or without the caricatures, Islam is a sore topic with many recent polemics related to Islamic practises, whether the face veil debate, street prayers or the building of new mosques.

French Muslims are regularly told — even by the President — that you either “love France or you leave her”, reinforcing their status as outsiders, and a right-wing discourse which promotes ridiculous predictions of a Muslim take over of Europe through high birth rates and proselytising, is gaining ground. Christopher Caldwell, a contributor to the Financial Times recently published an inflammatory book Reflections on the Revolution In Europe: Immigration, Islam, and the West which has gained widespread media coverage, including on mainstream French TV, with its thesis that Europe is doomed in the face of a Islamic cultural invasion. In this context, marked by fear of Islam’s alleged resurgence, intractability and incompatibility with “French culture”, as well as the inability of many French Muslims to present an alternative perspective on an equal platform, are the seeds of profound social malaise.

Satire of religion has a long history in France and Christians are not exempt from what some groups have deemed insensitive and injurious portrayals of sacred persons or ideas. Since its launch on 20 October, Christian groups have regularly interrupted the Paris based theatrical production of “On the concept of the face of the son of God” (Sur le concept du visage du fils de Dieu) for its perceived blasphemy and “Christianophobia”.

The play features an elderly man defecating on stage and his son coming to clean his back side, using the portrait of Jesus. The excrement collected is then used at the end of the play by children as missiles to be thrown at the portrait of Christ, whilst at the end of the production, a black veil of excrement glides down the portrait of Jesus. In April this year, an art exhibit entitled Piss Christ, featuring a crucifix immersed in a glass containing blood and urine was vandalised by Christians outraged by the piece. Some religious groups have accused the arts and the media to resorting to crass provocations to raise the profile of otherwise mediocre artistic endeavours which might not have garnered public attention without the controversy.

Charlie Hebdo’s current confrontation with Islamic polemics is not its first. In 2008, it won a legal case against accusations of incitement to racial hatred when it chose to reprint the Danish cartoons, launched by the French Muslim Council (CFCM) and the Grand Mosque of Paris. Interviewed on recent events, Mohammed Moussaoui, president of the CFCM has both condemned the attack on Charlie Hebdo and the printing of the irreverent images.

Describing the decision to print images known to be offensive to Muslims as “hurtful” and questioning the association of the caricatures of Prophet Mohamed with events in Tunisia or Libya, he defended the right of those who opposed the decision to protest as well as the freedom of the press to print the said images and explained that in a plural society, people’s relationship to the sacred will necessarily vary.

The attack on the press outlet, Charlie Hebdo is symptomatic of the broader unease French society is facing in light of a growing visible Muslim minority. While successive generations of “French” origin are getting more secular in their outlook, with around 60 per cent of youths saying in 2008 that they had no religious belief, the pattern among the children of immigrants from north Africa, Sahel and Turkey is the opposite, as religion gains in importance, particularly among the young.

How France negotiates an inclusive public sphere in which the views of all its citizens, including those who abide by a religious tradition, are reflected remains a stark challenge. It is telling that Charlie Hebdo chose Mohammed as “guest editor”, rather than a contemporary figure who could express an accurate reflection of French Muslim opinion on current affairs — instead, it chose the route of ease, ascribing archaic and reactionary ideas to a sacred figure, his ideas rigidified and frozen in a literalist caricature, which although undoubtedly humorous in parts, is completely out of sync with how most Muslims understand Islam’s relationship to the modern context. This issue might be its best-selling; the real question though ought to be, is it its best?

Myram Francois-Cerrah is a writer, journalist and budding academic

The politics of science

2 Nov 2011 | Uncategorized

When science and free expression clash, it’s often a matter of public concern. The fallout from Professor David Nutt’s clash with the government was one of many topics tackled at a panel discussion at the British Academy on Monday night. As perhaps the most famous recent example of government rejection of scientific research, the furore over Professor Nutt’s findings about drug use exposed the disconnect between scientists’ presentation of data and government policy –– and, for those working in criminology, education or communications, the problems can be even greater.

The event, jointly organised by SAGE and the Academy, part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science, presented the panel with the question: “How can social scientists and government work together to strengthen public trust in scientific evidence?”

For Julian Huppert MP, this was a chance to challenge the belief that politics and science simply don’t mix. Unhappy with the way in which some politicians have shied away from attempts to place the work of social scientists at the heart of some of their own decision-making, he applauded the Conservative manifesto pledge to encourage MPs to attend a course in understanding science. Unfortunately, only a handful of politicians took part — and those who amounted to “crisis cases” within politics were nowhere to be seen.

Professor Anthony Heath also had some complaining to do: lamenting the fact that social scientists rely too often on “stylised”facts and selective use of events. Social scientists need to be aware of the difference between advocacy research and scientific research, he added.

For Imperial College academic and Guardian contributor Dr Alice Bell, who contributed to research for the BBC Trust’s review of impartiality in science reporting, there is a real need for social scientists to have their findings challenged, acknowledged and debated, not only in Westminster, but in the public arena: for this, the media is crucial — and the work of PR professionals should not be discounted.

How scientists communicate –– and what is hidden –– is explored in the forthcoming issue of Index on Censorship magazine, Dark matter: What’s science got to hide? The issue, published by SAGE, looks at how scientific data is digested, politicised or suppressed — whether it be the work of doctors, physicists or oceanographers. Fred Pearce, author of The Climate Files, is an advocate for data sharing, calling for an openness in scientific communities, particularly on the heels of the Climategate scandal at the University of East Anglia. Sense about Science‘s Tracey Brown laments the increasing pressures on scientists and stepped up attempts to silence their debate, not least due to the chilling effect of English libel law. The BMJ’s investigative editor Deborah Cohen looks at how keeping information about drugs trials out of the public domain can have disastrous results — here some trusted names in the drugs business come under scrutiny.

Elsewhere, in the United States, warnings over the dangers of deepwater drilling go ignored in a political environment that has led President Obama to disappoint those who had hoped for a more transparent approach to research. The ACLU’s Heather Weaver outlines the beguiling trajectory of the powerful creationist lobby and its impact on the US education system. And in China, the pollution politics at play paints a worrying future for some of the country’s population.

The issue is out on 28 November, with a launch of the magazine at Imperial College on 6 December.  For more information about The Art Issue, available now, and to subscribe to the magazine, click here.

Revelations of widespread phone hacking raise pressure on Murdoch

2 Nov 2011 | Leveson Inquiry, Uncategorized

Further evidence in the News of the World phone hacking scandal published yesterday by the Culture, Media and Sport Committee has revealed that senior executives at the paper were in 2008 alerted to “a culture of illegal information access” at News International that involved “at least three” of its reporters.

A legal opinion sent on 3 June 2008 by News Group Newspapers’ counsel, Michael Silverleaf QC, to the paper’s chief lawyer, Tom Crone, also advised the newspaper to settle its case against Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of the Professional Footballers Association, who was suing the paper for breach of privacy.

In addition, internal correspondence published by the Committee revealed that Crone had privately told former editor Colin Myler in the same year about a “damning email”  that showed the tabloid had made use of “extremely private voicemails” left on Taylor’s phone in 2005. This contradicts the accounts given by Myler and Crone to the committee in 2009, in which they said there was was no evidence that other journalists were involved in phone hacking.

The revelations will heap further pressure on James Murdoch, who is due to face the committee on 10 November, to explain his role in handling the scandal. He told MPs in July this year that he was unaware that other News of the World journalists were implicated in the illegal practice before he paid Taylor a £750,000 settlement in 2008.

However both Crone and Myler told the committee in September that they had made Murdoch aware in June 2008 that phone hacking was not restricted to a single reporter. MPs are likely to question Murdoch about what he was told in his meetings with Myler and Crone, as well as whether he had been made aware of Silverleaf’s advice.

Detailed reports on yesterday’s revelations can be found here and here. Click here for the full evidence released by the committee yesterday.

 

UK: Disorder no excuse to clamp down on internet

2 Nov 2011 | Digital Freedom, Europe and Central Asia, Index Index, minipost

Governments must not crack down on internet and mobile phone networks during times of unrest, the British Prime Minister David Cameron said yesterday. Speaking at a two-day international cybersecurity conference in London, Cameron said that cybersecurity should not be an “excuse for censorship or to deny their people the opportunities that the internet represents”.

Speaking at the same conference, Index on Censorship CEO John Kampfner said: “as soon as our own Western-style stability of the state is called into question then freedom of expression is expendable. There should be one rule for all, including Western governments.”