As an Indonesian blogger living in The Netherlands I feel the urge to write about Charlie Hebdo attack today in Paris.
Below is the famous painting by American artist, Norman Rockwell. It is freedom of speech, from his Four Freedoms serie.
This evening my husband and I watched Dutch, Belgian, French and German television continuously. News, talkshows were covering the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris today simultaneously.
It is a sad day. As a french friend of mine wrote “Dans quel monde vit-on?”. In which world do we live in? I wonder what might come next. This is so discouraging after new year which has hardly started a week ago.
What happened today has polarized the situation, especially in Europe right now. Populistic parties would gain more support. Hatred against Muslims/Islam or even worse, hatred against all migrants, would rise. Believe me, that would do no good for all parties involved in this region.
I feel so naive to wish for world peace this year although I know I am not the only one.
Now I am off to bed, dreaming of a better world.
Huissen, January 7 2015
Chez Lorraine 
Sedih banget mba Yo tapi juga bikin takut 😦
Sedih dan was-was akan ada apa lagi kemudian. Di Belanda nanti sore orang banyak akan demo dibeberapa kota Non, Je suis Charlie.
Semoga gak sampai rusuh atau gimana2, ya, mba. Hati2 aja.
Makasih Non.
Mengerikan banget 😦
Iya, ngeri.
what got me thinking is everyone seems to hope for peace, but why is the contrary happening? then who are they? haha
Almost everyone. And I can’t laugh about it Nadia.
Sure thing, it is not funny… at all, i’m sorry, if you take it differently from my intention. For me it is too confusing. I could think of everyone wants a world of peace, they write and sing it everwhere, but the news about attack is always coming.
Maybe i’ve been too naive all the time, thinking that if everyone wants peace means no one is attacking. I was wrong.
It’s clear to me now Nadia. Thank you for explaining.
IMDO, what happened in Paris is un-excusable but I think Charlie Hebdo is not the mighty guardian of freedom of speech either. They only use it to cover their racism behind “satirical” nonsense. Islam is a minority in France, why do they keep “attacking” them only for a laugh or two? I guess the money is quite rewarding enough. Well it’s only in my dumb opinion though.
correction: inexcusable.
Aryan, Charlie Hebdo attacks not only Islam but other religions (Judaism, Christian and Catholics), politicians and fascist.
You may think that Charlie Hebdo is not the mighty guardian of freedom of speech but free press and freedom of speech is the pilar of French revolution just like in other West European countries. If I take it further as blogger we also enjoy the freedom of speech.
And you may disagree with or even mad at them, but executing the makers of Charlie Hebdo in cold blood? This has made me sad. Really sad.
Btw, since Islam is a religion I believe the right term is discrimination, not racism. Racism refers to one single race while Muslims are from different races.
I do not have enough words to describe how sad I am. C’est vraiment horrible!
Oui, quelle horreur! I am really anxious of what might come.
Baca-baca beritanya jadi sedih banget. Bingung mau ngomong apa mba. 😦
Iya Dan. Memperuncing suasana ya kejadian ini.
kakak disana pake bahasa apa? #salahfokus
Sehari-hari bahasa Belanda Win.
Aku meradang (maaf untuk penggunaan kata-kata ini) tiap kali ada kasus pembunuhan, kemudian terselip kata-kata pemujaan bagi Allah dan Rasul-Nya. Islam yang aku yakini bukan agama yang mengajarkan pembunuhan. So sad to hear about this news.
Ngga apa Dev. Banyak Muslim disini yang mengecam keras kejadian ini.
Jika aku boleh menambahkan komentarku, Mbak. Ini bisa menjadi lesson learned bagi media manapun untuk tidak lagi membuat karikatur Muhammad. Sebebas apapun berpendapat tapi tetap harus mengetahui batasan yang dianut umat agama lain.
Hm, justru itu yang rame didiskusikan kemarin di semua talkshow disini. That is my reply and I won’t go deeper than that.
Lesson learned? You can’t control what other people do, but you can control how you feel about that. That’s probably the most important lesson of all.
I dare say this attack would provoke more media to mock (any) religion to show that they’re not afraid. I’m a free speech defender and people could say (and draw) whatever they want, I just need to control myself not to get fussed by it.
Someone commented on my friend’s facebook status about the massacre: “He said, wouldn’t you be angry if someone drew your father naked eating dogshit?” I figured that he was trying to justify the massacre.
Fortunately somebody answered coolly. No, people could stand up for themselves and if they couldn’t, there’s always another way to solve it, by court, by police. We don’t need to resort to violence.
It’s sad that people start to take cartoons so seriously. It’s just a drawing. You might be mad, but that is probably the extent to it. If you let yourself get angry over a cartoon then you are the biggest fool that has ever walked on earth. I’m quite worried about my former colleagues at The Jakarta Post right now. As you probably knew they printed a satire cartoon about ISIS quite awhile ago and people went mad about it – mostly about the flag that has holy words on it, they don’t quite understand that ISIS does use the flag while they murder people. The newspaper is reported to the police but I don’t quite follow the update. Some people are just unbelievably stupid.
What I saw yesterday evening on Dutch and Belgian talkshows, some comedians were really cautious in seeking for the right words expressing their opinion about Charlie Hebdo affair. Then someone warned them of self-censorship.
To those who justify this act I think it is really difficult to understand the essence of the free word. As you said if one is offended by the cartoon, there are many ways to let the journal know. Shedding blood is not the solution. Charlie Hebdo shootings have triggered more anger and hatred which is very sad.
I wrote this piece because at the end of the day blogging is also the right of freedom of speech.
I do hope your former colleagues at the Jakarta Post would be ok.
It’s like Joris Luyendijk wrote: “The terror killing of Charlie Hebdo journalists is an invitation by the perpetrators to all of us to become as vindictive as they are”. In the name of the absolute freedom of Press, we should reject their invitation.
Yes indeed Colson. That is why after weighing the pros and cons I wrote this post. Shedding blood is not the solution. And as a blogger this hit me. Blogging is also freedom of speech.
as I said before that was my dumb opinion. and once again, I thought that what happened was inexcusable. nothing in this world worth someone’s losing their lives. but I think there are lots of stories to tell that doesn’t involved religion or other sensitive issues. (and it’ll turned back to freedom of speech argument, again)
Ketangkep 1 org keknya ya, Algerian 😐
Adik iparnya salah satu dari dua yang masih buron. Baru 18 tahun umurnya.
Saya dengar pembunuhnya mmg terlatih dan sgt rapi. Sepertinya ada hubungannya juga dengan peran Perancis dalam menangani masalah kelompok radikal Timteng yg lg hangat.Pertanyaannya knp bisa kecolongan separah itu ya intelejen mereka? Ini aneh. Semoga imigran dan muslim yg tdk bersalah tdk mjd korban masyarakat berikutnya..
Betul Fee. Apalagi sejak 2011 pernah ada bom meledak di Charlie Hebdo dan sejak itu kantornya dijaga polisi. Intel ngga dapet info tentang rencana shooting kemarin. Sad.
After Sydney now this. So sad. I wish for world peace as well and it now looks like a miracle. 😦
Sadly yes Christa 😦
Media lagi panas banget di Eropa. Di Itali juga. Terus terang, aku juga jadi ketar ketir disini. Semoga nggak ada kejadian kayak gini lagi.
Iya Gi. Disini juga jadi siaga gitu. Banyak kantor redaksi koran di Amsterdam dijaga ketat polisi hari ini.
I too only wish for world peace. I am speechless mbak.
The day after I still find it disturbing Rie.
Mba, suamiku sampe emosional nonton beritanya. Anak anak disuruh ke kamar dulu pas dia nonton berita yg jam 6 sore, barulah setelah anak2 tidur jam setengah 8 kita baru bisa melototin TV, ga bisa diomongin sedihnya.
Aku & suamiku juga nongkrong didepan tv sampe jam 11 malem. Gonta ganti channel lihat berita dan talkshow Yang. Ngenes lihatnya.
Sedih ya mbak yo… 😦
Yup, sedih dan bingung.
karena saya berjilbab suamiku malah jadi parnoan,takutnya malah menyebar ke italy, ada yg marah trus melampiaskan ke kaum muslim
Iya, itu juga yang buat aku khawatir. Hati-hati ya Adhya.
aku juga lngsung liat CNN 2 hari lalu.. serem bngt yah mba.. padahal mrk juga ga salah apa2.. =(.. makin bnyk yg aneh2.. ga lama dnger berita sydney, skrng malah di paris.. emang harus bnyk2 doa yah kyknya buat keamanan.. never know what tomorrow may bring.
Indeed. Kasihan orang yang ngga ada sangkut pautnya bisa kena imbasnya Jen. Yang paling parah orang juga bisa saling curiga.
seram banget ya mbk yo, dan ga ngerti kenapa sih orang2 jahat gt. kan efeknya jadi panjang….seperti yang mbk yo bilang ” Hatred against Muslims/Islam or even worse, hatred against all migrants, would rise. Believe me, that would do no good for all parties involved in this region.” …suka sedih kalau ada orang berperilaku seperti ini….
Aku sedih karena jadi polarisasi, us vs them Ratih. Orang jadi berprasangka, mudah curiga dan alert.
iya mbk yo, itu juga yang buat saya sedih selain kasihan yang jadi korban..kenapa sih harus pakai senjata…kayak nyawa orang murah banget gt 😦
iya banget mbk…sedih kalau tahu kondisinya begini 😦
iya mbk…. semoga tahun ini lebih damai dan lebih banyak orang saling menebar kebaikan ..amin
Amin Ratih, suwun.
iya sama mbk yo…sedih ya jadi mudah curiga dan berprasangka….
I work at French Company, we had our 1 minute silent yesterday 😦 it was a very sad tragedy.
It is. And the last developments and the possible present threats don’t make the situation better.
It is very sad indeed and it is still going on in Paris:( I am with you in terms of the effect on immigrants all over the world.
It is. I spoke to a good friend of mine who lives only 3 km from Charlie Hebdo office. He said the vibe in the city is anger and brave. He himself is sad and confused about all this Garile. J’espère que ta famille y reste en sécurité.
Merci Yoyen, mes familles sont dans le sud de France. Ils sont bien mais tres tristes 😓.
mb Yo bahkan ini bikin aku yg di Indo juga takut. I am planning on coming back there & always have a good impression about the EU.
Iya Bhella. I hope the situation would not escalate.
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Py ga ngikutin beritanya mba Yo. Cuman baca beberapa update status dari tante py yg tinggal di Nice, emang serem bgt katanya suasananya disana :(( Apapun itu semoga bisa secepatnya mebaik yah mba Yo. Dan harapan ut a better World bisa terwujud. Amin.
Mudah-mudahan Py.
It is sad and disturbing at the same time. Even sadder when there were still people who thought such killings were justified.
Yes, it makes me sad also. Justifiying bloodshed in the name of God.