Yesterday three masked gunmen brandishing AK47s stormed the offices of the satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, and murdered twelve people execution style. They then brazenly left shouting “Allahu Akbar!” (God is great) and “We have avenged our Prophet”. All three monotheistic religions have been the target of Charlie Hebdo’s satire which has often included cartoons depicting Islam’s prophet Mohammed.
This much is clear: This barbaric act of terror was an Islamic attack against the democratic values of freedom, equality and fraternity; and no degree of offense, particularly that offered by a cartoon, justifies murder. Religion, and particularly Islam, has been protected from criticism for too long.
It is high time we lift the protective cloak and subject religion to the same questioning, ridicule and satire we reserve for its cousins, politics and economics.
To censor free speech in the wake of this attack is to run scared and surrender our freedom. Stand firm for Charlie. Charlie Akbar!
Teenage Daydream 