France - Charlie Hebdo Attack

[loreta]

Since Wednesday I listened Radio France International and also videos about the situation, I have heard reporters, politicians, specialists, people and public opinion, etc. A word that I almost never heard before was AMALGAME that in English is AMALGAM. This word was used too many times, almost all the time. I was curious and checked for the definition. And this is the result:

En politique, un amalgame est un procédé de langage qui consiste à assimiler abusivement des personnes, des groupes ou des idées dans le but de discréditer un adversaire, un groupe ou une population. C'est le cas, par exemple, lorsqu'on associe intentionnellement et injustement des personnes contemporaines ou des idées à des régimes ou groupes du passé, unanimement reconnus pour leur nocivité ou dangerosité. L'amalgame est une forme de manipulation ou de diversion qui provoque une réaction immédiate de la part de ceux à qui est adressé le message et évite de procéder à un examen plus approfondi d'un problème en "noyant le poisson".

En English:

In politics an Amalgam is a process of speech that consist to associate with excess people, groups or ideas with the aim to discredit an opponent, a group or a population. Its the case, for example, when we associate on purpose unjustly actual people or ideas to systems or past groups, unanimously known for their dangerous and noxiousity. Amalgam its a form of manipulation or diversion that provokes an immediate response to whom the message is addressed and prevents a deeper analysis of a problem "drowning the fish" reaction

_http://www.toupie.org/Dictionnaire/Amalgame.htm

A very interesting definition specially in this context!

Edit: correction.

 

[StrangeCaptain]

Maybe I am getting Stockholm Syndrome, but the size of the crowd is the one thing I can believe about this whole mess. The politician's photo op is expected because I can't see any way that that many chief politicians packed into that small a space would let anyone near them, but the rest?

French people are social. The economy is centered around everyone having enough time and money to have barbecues (not that I have anything against barbecues) and making a thimble full of coffee last during a 3-hour conversation. So in that sense, I can totally believe the numbers. Think of it as a giant barbecue or the biggest have-to-be-there café meet-up ever.

The thing that bothers me is what comes next.

 

[Bastian]

Some news (according to Les Echos) :
- next issue of Charlie Hebdo will be translated in 16 languages, and 3 million copies will be distributed.
- the French gvt decided today that 10.000 extra soldiers will protect "sensitive sites" (making it the first time for a domestic military operation of such an extent)

PS : before the slaughter, 60,000 copies of the newspaper were printed but only 30,000 were sold (and they needed to sell 35,000 copies to achieve financial balance) so the newspaper was near bankruptcy.
_http://www.lepoint.fr/societe/charlie-hebdo-sera-en-kiosque-coute-que-coute-08-01-2015-1894926_23.php

"Charb" (the leader) told one of the reporters that he was (kind of) "working the streets" to get some financial support, even asking French President François Hollande, but no-one answered !
_http://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2015/01/09/zineb-el-rhazoui-de-charlie-hebdo-il-arrivait-que-l-on-dise-aux-collegues-je-vous-aime_4552554_3224.html

 

[Joe]

Since Wednesday I listened Radio France International and also videos about the situation, I have heard reporters, politicians, specialists, people and public opinion, etc. A word that I almost never heard before was AMALGAME that in English is AMALGAM. This word was used too many times, almost all the time. I was curious and checked for the definition. And this is the result:
A very interesting definition specially in this context!

Edit: correction.

Yeah, was thinking about the overuse of this word today myself. What it really amounts to is a pejorative word for "context". When the BBC reporter told a French Jewish woman that Palestinians were being abused by Israel, she accused him of "amalgam".

 

[seek10]

Some news (according to Les Echos) :
- next issue of Charlie Hebdo will be translated in 16 languages, and 3 million copies will be distributed.
- the French gvt decided today that 10.000 extra soldiers will protect "sensitive sites" (making it the first time for a domestic military operation of such an extent)

I saw this fox news opinion piece.

_http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2015/01/09/europe-us-must-confront-homegrown-islamic-terror-threat-before-more-die/

Europe, US must confront homegrown Islamic terror threat before more die

France has a big problem. So does Great Britain. So does the rest of Europe. And so does America. The problem is the several thousand young, native-born Islamist extremists who travel abroad to fight for ISIS in Syria and Iraq, or Al Qaeda in Yemen and Pakistan, and come home to kill.

_http://insider.foxnews.com/2015/01/10/hundreds-no-go-zones-across-france-are-limits-non-muslims

Hundreds of 'No-Go Zones' Across France Are Off-Limits to Non-Muslims

In the wake of the terror attacks in Paris, some are questioning if France has helped fuel the rise of radical Islam by allowing "no-go zones," areas that are off-limits to non-Muslims.

There are an estimated 750 no-go zones across France, large, insular neighborhoods where the government has all but surrendered authority to the Muslim community.

Many of these areas are governed by Islamic Sharia law, and the state is unable to provide even basic public aid such as police, fire and ambulance services.
...
Nolan Peterson explained on "Fox and Friends" this morning that no-go zones are basically neighborhoods where French Muslims coalesced because they couldn't find housing or economic opportunities within the major French cities.

It looks, they are spinning the desperate poverty measure to a rebel controlled territory for next action.

 

[birk]

Here is a video that suggests the police were using blanks at the kosher store. Hard to say, but it looks strange to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAk5G9x9Jdw&feature=youtu.be

 

[loreta]

Am I wrong or is it that not long time ago, during the lasts attacks to Gaza, it was prohibited to protest in France for Palestine? Do you remember if Sott put an article about it?

 

[truth seeker]

Am I wrong or is it that not long time ago, during the lasts attacks to Gaza, it was prohibited to protest in France for Palestine? Do you remember if Sott put an article about it?

Are you thinking of this:

http://www.sott.net/article/282134-An-increase-in-pro-Palestinian-protests-against-the-genocide-in-Palestine-prompts-France-to-ban-rallies

or maybe this:

http://www.sott.net/article/282224-Fascist-France-become-first-country-in-world-to-ban-pro-Palestine-demonstrations

 

[loreta]

Am I wrong or is it that not long time ago, during the lasts attacks to Gaza, it was prohibited to protest in France for Palestine? Do you remember if Sott put an article about it?

Are you thinking of this:

http://www.sott.net/article/282134-An-increase-in-pro-Palestinian-protests-against-the-genocide-in-Palestine-prompts-France-to-ban-rallies

or maybe this:

http://www.sott.net/article/282224-Fascist-France-become-first-country-in-world-to-ban-pro-Palestine-demonstrations

Thank you very much! Yes. It is important to remember to some people that for Palestina people were not able to manifesting like they did for the charlie comedy.

 

[Altair]

_http://www.worldbulletin.net/news/152585/charlie-hebdo-fired-cartoonist-for-anti-semitism-in-2009

Charlie Hebdo fired cartoonist for anti-Semitism in 2009


Maurice Sinet, 86, who works under the pen name Sine in the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, faced charges of "inciting racial hatred" for a column he wrote in 2009. The piece sparked a slanging match among the Parisian intelligentsia and ended in his dismissal from the magazine.

"L'affaire Sine" followed the engagement of Mr Sarkozy, 22, to Jessica Sebaoun-Darty, the Jewish heiress of an electronic goods chain. Commenting on an unfounded rumour that the president's son planned to convert to Judaism, Sine quipped: "He'll go a long way in life, that little lad."

A high-profile political commentator slammed the column as linking prejudice about Jews and social success. Charlie Hebdo's editor, Philippe Val, asked Sinet to apologise but he refused in a very strictly manner.

Mr Val's decision to fire Sine was backed by a group of eminent intellectuals, including the philosopher Bernard-Henry Lévy, but parts of the libertarian Left defended him, citing the right to free speech.

As mocking young Mr Sarkozy converted to Judaism for money, Sine was accused of being Anti-Semitic and faced many preassures leading him to be fired from the weekly magazine. The same magazine published cartoons even insulting the Islam Prophet Muhammad and Muslims yet explained them as “freedom of speech.”

Charlie Hebdo published cartoons about Prophet Jesus and Chiristianity, too, causing the magazine being sued 12 times by Catholic Chuch.

 

[Iron]

Interesting this piece of information of the guy that was fired for being "anti-semitic".

What keeps bugging me is why the Charlie Hebdo? Surely the intention was not to cause any major losses for the French economy and inner workings, but why exactly this newspaper? Why not take the opportunity to kill some of the good guys and blame on the terrorists?

They deliberately choose a racist rag that was headed for bankrupcy. I still don't get this part of their plan.

 

[Scottie]

As I wrote in the last C's session, there is one thing to consider together with the mass manipulation about the 'Je Suis Charlie' hysteria, which is that many of the people who went demonstrating wanted to show their solidarity and their willingness for an union going beyond French, Muslim, Jewish or whatever identities, mostly in order not to let those who want hatred and violence recuperate the event by their ideology...
Not that bad IMO.

The next morning, our newspaper had a full-page photo of the crowds with the phrase, "Millions march to Defend the Republic!"

 

[loreta]

If you look at this rally of Je suis Chalie with coldness and objectivity, even as if you were an ET or from the "eyes of a Persian" (as Montesquieu did with his "Persian Letters" when he criticized France and the French), you see something very scary: people marching behind the totalitarians of the planet. The message is there. People marching behind the criminals of this planet. That's what we can see, because we were not there, in the middle of the crowd. In 100 years when people will look this march, in pictures or movies, they will say: my god. Same when we now see reels of the Germans marching behind the nazis. We can say also: there were some good people in this crowd, some very good citizens. Yes, and that was the problem in Germany, in 1933 and now in 2015. And we can say also: they were afraid that's why they went to the rally, in Germany as in Paris. Same thing. Fear, good citizens.

 

[Niall]

Today in LaDepeche, I read that 3 Muslim youths in Toulouse have been arrested and already sentenced to prison terms for making "outrageous" comments in public that were construed as "supporting the terrorists."

_http://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2015/01/13/2027865-provocation-apres-attentats-paris-deux-hommes-condamnes-toulouse.html

The first kid, Farid from Toulouse, 22 years old and wearing a Chelsea football shirt, told the judge: "I was drunk. I do not remember everything. But still, it's not like me." But the state prosecutor's arguments won the day: "Terrorism is not just organizations. It's also out there in the street. Society doesn't want it anymore, and should not back down from it. Society spoke on the streets [Sunday] and she is waiting for us react!" Farid had no previous offences, and he explained to the court that he was stressed out last week by the whole atmosphere in the country. No matter - he was sent down for 10 months.

Saïd, 24 years old and of Palestinian origin, was arrested in the wee hours outside a nightclub in Toulouse late last week after cops arrived in time to hear him declare: "I am pro-Palestinian. Vive le jihad! To hell with France!" Obviously drunk after consuming a bottle of vodka, and now handcuffed in the back of a police car, the cops claim he then threatened to wreak vengeance upon them all with a Kalachnikov. Saïd told the judge: "I live in a car and eat thanks to Resto du cœur [a meals-on-wheels charitable organization]. I have no links to terrorism." And also no previous offences. No matter - he was sent down for 3 months.

Then there's Marley Ouardi, 21 years old, who "clearly expressed his support of the Kouachi brothers on a Toulouse tram" in the course of arguing with a ticket inspector checking passengers' travel cards. The ticket inspector called for back-up and the 21-year-old was taken to a police station. Ouardi told the judge he said no such thing, although he admitted he was in a bad mood because he had just come from having an argument with his sister, so he might have said something stupid in the heat of the moment. The state prosecutor's case rested explicitly on making an example of the young man: "It's a case of individual terrorism. It's necessary to respond, to send a message." Ouardi was sent down for 12 months.

All three were tried and convicted in record time under a new law that has been on the books since November last year: maximum 5 years in prison and a 75,000 euro fine for in any way 'apologizing for terrorism'. And if you do it on the Internet, the sentence goes up to 7 years and 100,000 euros.

 

[loreta]

Interesting this piece of information of the guy that was fired for being "anti-semitic".

What keeps bugging me is why the Charlie Hebdo? Surely the intention was not to cause any major losses for the French economy and inner workings, but why exactly this newspaper? Why not take the opportunity to kill some of the good guys and blame on the terrorists?

They deliberately choose a racist rag that was headed for bankrupcy. I still don't get this part of their plan.

It is a good, excellent reason, a racist magazine and it goes with the official story, Muslims revenge Mahomet . Also it serves another purpose: divide the French. Many many people considered Charlie Hebdo a rag, as you say, . So you have one side people who will defend Charlie Hebdo, in another side people that are against racism and insults. So you have two sides, "two France". Like before: the liberated France and the occupied France. Divide to control. It is a cliché but it works.