“Je Suis Charlie,” translated from French meaning, “I am Charlie,” is a message resonating and spreading across the world as millions have come together to stand against terror, even forming the largest demonstration in French history. On Jan. 7th, the world was dealt another blow during the battle against terrorism. The terror attack was targeted at a Paris satirical newspaper, Charlie Hebdo, which is known for its controversial cartoons and images depicting the prophet Mohammed, as well as other religious leaders. Twelve people, including journalists, cartoonists and policemen lost their lives in this coordinated terror attack. Three suspects, Said Kouachi, Cherif Kouachi and Hamyd Mourad carried out this attack in an effort to silence the message of the newspaper.
According to USA Today, the first two suspects, the Kouachi brothers, were French nationals born in Paris and of Algerian descent. Cherif Kouachi had previously been sentenced to prison in 2008 on charges of terrorism and was known to law enforcement in France. The third suspect, Mourad, is an 18-year-old who later surrendered at a police station. This particular series of terror attacks finally ended after a manhunt lasting three days across Paris for the suspects linked to Charlie Hebdo and a later hostage situation by another terrorist reportedly linked to the two brothers. The hostage situation led to even more violence and death.
We live in a global age where attacks and threats can happen almost anytime, anywhere, by anyone who has an agenda radical enough to push. It still remains a mystery how the brothers in the Paris attack slipped under the radar of French law enforcement, and it is somewhat frightening to have citizens of many countries try and join the fight with terrorist groups such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda. There have been several high profile acts of terror in recent months which occurred in the Western countries such as Ottawa, Canada in October, in Sydney, Australia last month and last week’s attacks in Paris.
Attacks in several other countries also occur more than we realize, but don’t seem to receive the same media coverage in America. During a two day span just days ago, two different acts of suicide bombing took place involving females as young as 10 years old; over 20 people were murdered and many more injured. According to CNN, the terrorist group Boko Haram allegedly murdered as many as 2,000 people across Nigerian villages in recent days as well. This is alarming because I believe this to be a silent epidemic occurring quite frequently, and many across the world don’t even realize how terrorist groups have impacted communities in their wake. Poor political leadership and communities prone to conflict allow terrorists to continually gain power and inflict more harm.
I think it’s shameful to ignore many of the conflicts and attacks occurring in less developed countries and for there to be no marches or acts of solidarity publicly expressed for these actions from the rest of the world. On Jan. 6th, there was an apparent explosion outside of a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People office in Colorado which has not received a great amount of notoriety. I wrote this article to highlight some of these events and ask for a call to action towards a major issue continuing shaping our country as well as the world negatively.
Words such as “Islam” or “Muslim” often appear to have a negative connotation to them when associated with terrorism, but we forget how acts of terrorism can be committed by almost anyone. Across many countries around the world there are rising anti-Islam and anti-immigration sentiments appearing. For example in the United Kingdom, the United States and also in Germany, thousands of protesters continue to express discontent with followers of Islamic faith and the many Middle Eastern immigrants seeking a safer shelter and try to better their lives. According to French newspaper, Libération, several Muslim places of worship were targeted by explosions and gunfire during the aftermath of the Paris attacks. I believe it to be wrong to place blame and judgment on a religion of over a billion followers across the world based only on the actions of a few. Every faith seems to have extremists and fanatics twisting a political agenda their way. The freedoms of religion and speech are a great measure in place in the United States, but should not be hindered by the bad in the world.
