La Mort de Notre Voix; Salut Hebdo.
12 dead – 2 of whom were policemen. 11 critically injured. These were the figures
released by most news stations worldwide, regarding the recent terrorist attack on the
offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, in Paris. And it was in this selfsame city,
just over two centuries ago, that citizens rioted and overthrew one of the most
powerful monarchies in Europe, in order to obtain a tentative taste of freedom, which
they as human beings, righteously deserved – and still deserve today.
And the freedoms being targeted at this point are indeed those of speech and expression,
freedoms which most people, being numbed by the comfort and leisure afforded by a
democratic society, often fail to appreciate and occasionally exploit for the wrong
reasons. This gutsy publication, in particular, was no stranger to the creation of scandals,
having been criticized by many and having even previously fallen victim to a deliberate
office fire, which by some sheer stroke of luck, injured no one. But did they ever think of
backing down? Did such an attack silence the courageous few that kept on pushing to
express the ideas everyone thought of but feared to make public? Hell no. The editor
himself beautifully put forward this notion: I’d rather die standing than live on my
knees – a quote which was unfortunately, brought to reality, having been one of the
victims of the attack himself.
Why is it that just because one criticises their set of beliefs and principles, should they
believe it to be a glorifying act to just halt the lives of innocents that had so much going
on for them? What right do they have to impose themselves on others and to play God and
decide whether a person lives or dies? Correct. They had absolutely no right. The victims’
families must be absolutely distraught, for one. Secondly, it was an absolute waste of
individualistic talent that brought something unique and productive into the world,
through their actions. Being a journalist is not an easy task, especially one that reports
news, with his life being in constant risk, from war-ridden countries. But being shot down
in the city you called home, in sheer cold-blood, point-blank, where the odds of it
happening were so small, is a completely different story – a chilling and horrifying one to
be exact. I think, that the absolute fact that such an organised attack happened in a
country such as France, which is a prime example of a thriving democracy, brought most
people face to face, with the horrible reality that tyranny and extremism will still
inadvertently trickle into the cracks in the foundation of such a society. Unfortunately,
such cracks will appear in even the most stable of structures.
Being an editor myself, albeit one related to a school newspaper, I physically reacted by
jumping in my seat, whenever I heard the gun shots while watching the videos. Journalism
has always personally interested me, as a side-profession, but after seeing such an event
taking place I, without wanting to, suddenly feel restricted and terrified at the prospect
of being silenced in order to preserve my life and that of each of my family members, in a
democratic country, idealised to be safe from such discrimination.
But as Gandhi so rightly put it, I must be the change I want to see in the world. The first
step to recovery is always perceiving the problem and understanding it and I believe that
journalism is an excellent route to that. Journalism would be for nought, had it never
been used to reveal scandals or critical issues and propose ideas for the bettering of
society. It is an excellent weapon, when used properly, utilized by democracies in order to
safeguard rights and encourage public participation – elements a democracy thrives upon,
which will ultimately lead to the propagation of true freedom.
My eternal admiration will forever rest upon those brave enough to speak out and open
their minds to the world around them, especially people that have actually given up their lives for the truth. These artists have left behind legacies related to the conquest of
liberty, which fortunately, these terrorists failed to apprehend. Their plot has been foiled.
They have not succeeded in generating fear and silence. Oh, on the contrary, every single
journalist yearns to write about such a pressing matter as this. They have simply lit a fuse
to a bomb of words within every single writer who is now dying to get started on
criticizing them and calling out their extremist attitudes. So essentially, the scores are
now as follows: Journalists – 1: Terrorists – 0. They lose.
Denise Gatt, Editor
Animation - Abigail Agius
