Muslim residents walk graffiti painted on the walls of a mosque in the town of Saint-Etienne, central France. (Laurent Cipriani/AP)
Alex Snowdon compiles a selection of commentary and analysis about the contentious issues arising from the recent attacks in Paris
Last weekend I collated ’12 illuminating contributions to debate in wake of Paris killings’. Since then there has been more and more commentary and analysis about the various contentious issues arising from the recent events. So, here is a further selection of writings on Islamophobia, secularism, free speech and the contexts shaping the terror attacks in Paris, all of which I strongly recommend reading.
A letter to liberals – Mehdi Hasan responds to the hypocrisy of the ‘free speech fundamentalists’
What a perfect tribute to satire the Paris march turned out to be – Mark Steel exposes political leaders’ double standards
The limits of secularism - Giles Fraser on the bullying of France’s stigmatised and disenfranchised Muslims
Who are they laughing at? A former employee of Charlie Hebdo lambasts the magazine’s racist trajectory
There’s no insulation from the West’s wars - Seumas Milne explains how the ‘war on terror’ bred more terror
Palestinian journalists targeted as Netanyahu and Abbas march for ‘free speech’ - Electronic Intifada highlights a few troubling inconsistencies
The limits of liberalism - John Rees explores the debates around freedom of speech
From anti-Semitism to Islamophobia – Michael Rosen recalls some pertinent history
What should anti-capitalists say? – John Mullen offers some thoughts from Paris
Unmournable bodies - Teju Cole on the different values placed on different lives
Don’t mention the war - Lindsey German points out what is missing from media narratives about the Charlie Hebdo murders
Making sense of the horror – Tariq Ali on how Islamophobia and Islamist terror feed each other
I’m going to kill a cow – Anindya Bhattacharyya provides an illuminating analogy
Discussing Charlie Hebdo - Gavan Titley puts a few things straight
Why many French Muslims are not impressed by Je Suis Charlie - the Washington Post shares the voices of those suffering the backlash
Alex Snowdon
Alex Snowdon is a Counterfire activist in Newcastle. He is active in the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Stop the War Coalition and the National Education Union. He is the author of A Short Guide to Israeli Apartheid (2022).