Cohen-Almagor on The Charlie Hebdo Affair: Between Speech & Terror

Raphael Cohen-Almagor, University of Hull, is publishing The Charlie Hebdo Affair: Between Speech & Terror in The Critique’s Great War Series Part II: Charlie Hebdo, Free Speech & Religious Violence, 2016. Here is the abstract.

John is standing in the city square and sings loudly. He holds a baseball bat and carries a big sign that says: “I dare you to criticize my singing”. John is 2 meter tall and his physics suggests that he spends many of his free hours in a gym. It seems he enjoys many free hours. The expression on his face leaves little doubt as to the likely consequences of such a dare. You have the freedom and choice to ridicule him, even more so because you do find his singing most disturbing. Still, would you dare him? The Charlie Hebdo affair has brought to the fore four major issues: [1] Freedom of expression and offence [2] The fallacy of universal liberalism [3] Globalization [4] Sombre yet sober thoughts about the era in which we live. I analyse the terror attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices through several prisms: freedom of expression; the principle of profound offence; the fallacy of universal liberalism; globalisation, and the era in which we live of violence and terror. It is argued that after the violent episodes of “The Satanic Verses”, The Danish Cartoons and the Hebdo Cartoons we know full well that freedom of speech has a price. Responsible people should weigh the consequences of their conduct – action and speech. We should learn from these affairs, take offence seriously, acknowledge the fallacy of universalism and the reality of globalisation where speech in a liberal part of the world may provoke negative and violent reaction worldwide. We should fight for our principles while being cognizant of the price tag which might be high and bloody. And the price would not necessarily be paid only by the speaker. The speaker also endangers others. Responsible speakers should ask themselves whether their struggle to express outrageous ideas freely justifies putting other people’s lives as risk. Our freedoms should always be tempered by responsibility.

Download the essay from SSRN at the link.