Uphold the right to universal free speech.
Je suis Charlie.
On Sunday, a perplexingly awesome mash-up of world leaders — from French President Francois Hollande to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — rallied in Paris to support the right to free expression.
It was an “extraordinary sight,” remarked CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. And it was. World leaders who often are at odds, and likely will be bickering by week’s end, marched arm-in-arm with the public in solidarity with Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical magazine that was the site of an unconscionable terror attack last week. The magazine, of course, was known for publishing potentially offensive caricatures of religious figures, including the Prophet Mohammed. The attackers are believed to have been motivated by radical Islam.
For now, the world is taking a stand for free speech.
Proclaiming the pen mightier than the sword.
Humor stronger than fear.
It’s a wonderful moment, truly.
Such harmony in the face of tragedy.
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They beat him up and left him for dead near the airport in Damascus.
But Ferzat did live to draw again.
His first cartoon after the attack: An image of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad and Russia’s Vladimir Putin walking side by side; their legs mingled together to form a Nazi swastika.
That’s speech worth protecting, right now and always.
May the rest of us be half as brave.
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