[liberationtech] Bernard Maris among Charlie victims

[Julian Oliver]

..on Fri, Jan 09, 2015 at 04:02:44PM +0100, Andre Rebentisch wrote:
> Small world. What a terrible act of terror.

Very sad indeed. He was a strong voice in the anti-swpat movement. My partner, a
Parisian, tells me he was also a cherished and respected lecturer.

While I'm here, I wouldn't be so general as to call this an "act of terror"
however, in the sense of intent.  Reading the below detailed account it doesn't
seem to me the Kouachi brothers were out to "attack freedom", make an "assault
on civilisation" or generally "spread terror", as the largely hysterical Anglo
press insists; globalising the narrative while writing itself into the plot.

Rather, it was an act of confused religious revenge by two orphan brothers,
troubled drifters, who'd made radical Islam their family:

    http://www.leparisien.fr/charlie-hebdo/attentat-a-charlie-hebdo-la-lente-derive-des-freres-kouachi-09-01-2015-4431787.php

This tragedy can teach us more about issues of poverty, integration and
socialisation among 1st and 2nd generation immigrant communities in France
(Europe more generally) than the 'roots' of global terrorism (or interpretations
of Islam). As ISIS recruitments have shown, there are lot of socially and
culturally displaced kids out there desperately looking for both a 'clan' and a
higher sense of purpose; something to live and die for. It often just takes a
mentor with an agenda to turn them. This is the story of the Kouachi brothers.

Sadly there'll likely be many more like them if the National Front rises in
power - harvesting fear to feed their confused anti-immigration thesis,
isolating more communities (and their children) in turn.
 
Cheers,

-- 
Julian Oliver
http://julianoliver.com
http://criticalengineering.org
PGP key: https://julianoliver.com/key.asc
Beware the auto-complete life.