A new year inevitably inspires ambitious new plans and a chance to hit the reset button. I know that my heart quickened a bit after the clock struck 12 with thoughts of how this year would be better than the last, with opportunities for forward momentum, for the commencing of new business. But, along with frigid temperatures, the second week of 2015 brought a chilling reminder for those of us fortunate enough to live in the west that there are no safe places, and we make plans at our own peril. But didn’t we know that already?
The two gunman who planned and executed the Charlie Hebdo murders got the maximum amount of bang for their terrorist buck, gaining international attention for the Jihadi cause as well as a likely bolstering of support for the decade-plus War on Terror. Because, make no mistake, a splashy and violent event like this is made to stir shit up. And if recent history is any indication, what is stirred up will land heaviest on our brown brothers and sisters here and abroad. The European right wing and their American counterparts used the news to promote a nasty and racist strain of xenophobia with their chronically scared constituency, and in the the most craven WTF, some propagandists even laid responsibility for the killings at NYC’s own mayor Bill DeBlasio for, I dunno, acting upon some of the policies he was elected for?
But as someone who experienced 911 and its aftermath in New York, I can tell you that this time is different. Back then, the “you are with us or against us” drumbeat was so prevalent that the mere suggestion that there was some complex causes for the horrifying effect would be met with shrill accusations of treason, at least in most circles. But in the chaos surrounding the killings in Paris, diverse opinions popped up immediately. The cartoonists were called out for the racist-seeming depictions of Muslims, with supporters assuring under-informed readers that the artists were equal opportunity offenders and staunch antiracists. I’m still not sure what I make of the satire, but the debate was useful, and continues, and what struck me was how accessible it all was. There is no monoculture, at least not for those with access to the internet, and it is up to us to see patterns in shocking acts of violence–if we ever want to move beyond them. Charlie Hebdo was a symbol to the killers. And it is now a symbol to the rest of the world, in spite of the intentions of the victims. They would, one suspects, find events in their name like the staged photo opp with a Rogues Gallery of world leaders with dubious (at best) respect for the press to be worthy of their most pointed ridicule. And the speed with which the hypocrisy of those leaders was exposed makes me hopeful for how the rest of the year will play out.
The pattern that I see is that we have a chance to get our houses in order. In the US there is always a default desire to find heroes and villains, but the more I dig, the murkier it all gets. American and European policies led to where we are today, and no amount of droning, occupations or harassing of journalists will eliminate the threats that professional propagandists like FOX assure us are the biggest threats to our way of life. Imagination and honest soul searching should be the first and last resorts for anyone interested in a future with more peace, inclusion and opportunity. But it is up to us to make it happen.
We live in a time when biopics of innovators Martin Luther King Jr., Alan Turing and Steven Hawking share marquee space with the neocon fantasy of American Sniper. And if you think of everything you read, see or hear (much of it unintentional) as input, then know that your output is something you have in your control. So what are you putting out there, and who is it serving?
In images like the one above, I see a sane response from clear headed people who will see these tricky days an opportunity for more love and inclusiveness, rather than some dystopian shutdown where all the tribes of the west close ranks. Will it happen? We’ll see, I suppose.
Photo: Danielle Voirin