Satire and Religious Tolerance: How Acceptance/Rejection of Satire is Determined by the Capacity of Religious and Political Forces to Agree on a Modern Civic Contract

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 302-323
Author(s):  
Remi Piet
Keyword(s):  
Religious Identity ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Political Activism ◽  
Civic Identity ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Political Satire ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
Political Forces ◽  
Religious Establishment ◽  
Charlie Hebdo

The January 2015 assassination at the Charlie Hebdo offices and the dozen ensuing terrorist attacks in France over the last eighteen months are the manifestation of a structural opposition between a civic identity whose most controversial manifestation is political satire and a religious identity hijacked by radicals. This paper explains how political satire is deeply entrenched in French culture and how it has been used as a democratization and liberating tool by a society eager to counterbalance the existing religious establishment. Similarly, it then addresses satire in the Muslim world and underlines that, instead of being considered a tool of the weak against the powerful, it is perceived as a neo-colonial manifestation of an exogenously imposed political order that ostracizes the citizen from his legitimate religious belief. Instead of a liberating instrument, it is perceived as attacking the foundation of a religion that many see as their refuge against authoritarian elites. This paper then analyses the historical evolution of Islamic political activism. After highlighting the existence of satire and religious representation in Islam in some of its earliest societal orders, this paper argues that the Muslim community under the leadership of its Ulema has been fractured into a range of different scholastic interpretations of Islam resulting into different acceptation of liberal civic orders. The reaction towards Charlie Hebdo and the strong/weak condemning or silent/vocal approbation are representative of their contamination by radicalism. This paper finally demonstrates that the rejection of satire is symptomatic of the incomplete evolution of the state and the weakness of national and transnational institutions. Addressing the reforming of Muslim institutions in France itself, this paper argues that there is no incompatibility between Islam and a liberal republican order guaranteeing freedom of expression and satire.

scholarly journals Charlie Hebdo: Testing the Limits of Freedom of Expression

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Niaz A. Shah
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Hate Speech ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Criminal Code ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
The Public ◽  
Shared Space ◽  
The Right ◽  
Charlie Hebdo

AbstractThe right to freedom of expression is a qualified right: it allows expression that might ‘offend, shock or disturb’ but prohibits ‘insults’, ‘abusive attacks’ and ‘hate speech’. Applying the Convention test I argue that all cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, which although might offend Muslims, are an acceptable form of expression in Western democracies except cartoon number two implying the Prophet Muhammad as a ‘terrorist’ which is ‘insulting’ and ‘an abusive attack’ on the Muslim community and Islam. In the post-9/11 circumstances, it may be viewed as a vehicle for instigating hatred against the Muslim community. By critiquing the inaction of Denmark and France, I argue that failure to prosecute Jyllands-Posten and Charlie Hebdo violates Articles 9(1) of the European Convention and the Danish Criminal Code and the French Freedom of Press Act 1881. Relying on ECtHR’s jurisprudence, I argue that the values of the Convention and democracy aim to nurture a society based on tolerance, social peace, non-discrimination and broad-mindedness. The public space is a shared space and no single group – religious and non-religious – can monopolise nor intimidate it.

The Armenian Factor in the Formation of a Yezidi Identity, or: Who Is “Inventing” the Yezidis?

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (51) ◽  
pp. 72-112
Author(s):  
Nodar Mossaki ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
General Trend ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
Populated Area ◽  
Northern Iraq ◽  
Iraqi Kurdistan

The article deals with the problems of ethnic and religious identity of the Yezidis who have been traditionally classified as Kurds but have increasingly disassociated themselves from them in recent years. This development was reflected in post-Soviet censuses in Russia, Georgia, and Armenia, where the vast majority of Yezidis defined their ethnic identity as Yezidi rather than Kurdish. In Kurdish studies, the process of separating Yezidis from Kurds has also traditionally been associated exclusively with the policies of the Armenian authorities, particularly in the context of the national and ideological role of Armenian scholars in the Armenian-Kurdish discourse. However, the article shows that the ethnicization of the Yezidis is a general trend in the Yezidi community, regardless of the factor of Armenia. The author claims that it is the attitude of the Kurdish-Muslim community towards the Yezidis in their historical homeland—in Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan—that is a predictor of the Yezidi identity. This was most clearly seen after the ISIS attack on the Yezidi populated area in Sinjar (Northern Iraq) in August 2014, as a result of which thousands of Yezidi men were executed, and the captured Yezidi women enslaved. These events are understood by the Yezidis within the framework of the Yezidi-Kurdish relations, since the Kurdish armed forces—which had guaranteed the security of the Yezidis and protection from ISIS—unexpectedly withdrew their troops from Sinjar shortly before the terrorist attacks. This led to an increase in anti-Kurdish sentiments in the Yezidi community.

“Stick to Sports”? First Amendment Values and Limitations to Student-Athlete Expression

2021 ◽  
pp. 107769902110187
Author(s):  
Michael K. Park
Keyword(s):  
Expression Analysis ◽  
First Amendment ◽  
Student Athletes ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Political Activism ◽  
Public University ◽  
Regulatory Environment ◽  
Student Athlete ◽  
Public Issues ◽  
University Officials

The resurgence of political activism by student-athletes raises the specter of increased constitutional challenges to public university regulations on student-athlete speech. This article explores the special regulatory environment situating student-athletes and gleans the First Amendment values underpinning cases where student-athletes challenge institutional regulations on their freedom of expression. Analysis of the legal discourse suggests that courts are more likely to apply increased scrutiny to university officials’ attempts to regulate expression on public issues versus speech that address personal or private matters. This article ends with some suggestions for practitioners and scholars to consider when evaluating regulations on student-athlete speech.

scholarly journals INDEXICALITY OF RELIGIOUS IDENTITY IN YALE MSA E-COMMUNICATION

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 330
Author(s):  
Aris Munandar
Keyword(s):  
Religious Identity ◽  
Group Communication ◽  
Minority Group ◽  
New Haven ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
Muslim Identity ◽  
Muslim Students ◽  
To Come ◽  
Linguistic Structures ◽  
E Mail

Muslims in the U.S is a minority group, thus, vulnerable to discrimation. Yale Muslim Students Association (Yale MSA) as a Muslim community on Campus provides Yale students with the opportunity to come together in a supportive Muslim environment and seeks to educate the Yale and New Haven communities about Islam (YaleMSA.org). This article discusses how Yale MSA indexes Muslim identity in its emails and webpage communication and how the indexicality shows Yale MSA as an empowered Muslim community on campus. It applies the framework for identity analysis proposed by Bucholtz and Hall (2005), especially principle (3) identities may be linguistically indexed through labels, implicatures, stances, styles, or linguistic structures and systems. The analysis of Yale MSA in-group e-mail communication (Yale [email protected]) and in out-group webpage communication (YaleMSA.org) during the 2008-2014 periods reveals that Yale MSA uses Arabic borrowings and expressions presupposing Muslim life to index’s its Muslim identity. The intensive use of Arabic borrowings in the in-group communication heightens the Islamic atmosphere and strengthens solidarity among members, while the use of Arabic borrowings in combination with English equivalent in out-group communication mitigates prejudice from different faith groups. The choice of overt labels “Muslim” and “non Muslim” rather than “Moslem” and “nonbeliever” implies Yale MSA’s freedom to speak its own voice, and advocate for equal respect among different faith groups in Yale campus and New Haven community. The confidence in speaking its own voice and asserting an equal stance demonstrates that Yale MSA is an empowered Muslim community.

The Transformation of Monastic Habits

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 604-640
Author(s):  
Kyunghee Pyun
Keyword(s):  
East Asia ◽  
Civic Education ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
Civic Identity ◽  
School Uniforms ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Religious Orders ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Faith Based ◽  
Christian Missionary

Abstract In this paper, I posit that the transformation of monastic habits is observed and maintained in East Asian school uniforms. School uniforms at the schools founded by religious orders, mainly by Protestant and Catholic missionaries, could have manifested faith and religious identity. These religious authorities, who acted as managers of civic education, coincided with other public and private schools founded in secular contexts, unlike the religious emblems of those groups in their home countries. Many schools founded by Christian missionaries in East Asia in the early twentieth century eliminated a “sacred versus profane” dichotomy in their school uniforms and school symbols. In the formulation of a nation state in East Asia, homogeneity among inhabitants was more important than a faith-based religious identity by each Christian missionary group. Wearers of school uniforms in East Asia were taught to nurture civic identity along with the faith.

Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Jonathan Ervine
Keyword(s):  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
French Society ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Stand Up Comedy ◽  
Career Trajectories ◽  
Charlie Hebdo

This introduction will briefly discuss the ways in which the January 2015 attacks on the offices of Charlie Hebdo provoked debates about humour and freedom of expression, as well as the limits of humour. It will argue that debates surrounding Charlie Hebdo are symptomatic of tensions and contradictions within French society when it comes to exploring multiculturalism and humour. It will also show that it is necessary to take a wider view that traces the evolution of debates about humour and the career trajectories of leading humourists. The last decade is a period during which stand-up comedy has grown in stature in France, and differing ways of evoking socio-political issues about French society have emerged.

scholarly journals Freedom of Expression, Secularism and Defamation of Religion: The Case of Charlie Hebdo

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 276
Author(s):  
Peonidis
Keyword(s):  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Terrorist Attack ◽  
Religious Faith ◽  
Prima Facie ◽  
Third Parties ◽  
Basic Rights ◽  
Legal Sanctions ◽  
Religious Criticism ◽  
Charlie Hebdo

I argue that under normal circumstances a state that is liberal and secular should not use its legal apparatus to suppress the publication of cartoons like those that triggered the deadly terrorist attack on the premises of Charlie Hebdo in 2015, if it is determined to abide by its core values. These values, which include religious neutrality, religious freedom, and unhindered freedom of criticism, imply that individual citizens are prima facie legally free to express their disapproval of particular religions or religious faith in general, through any non-violent means they consider appropriate, including parody and ridicule. This idea is open to various objections. Those focusing on the protection of religion as such can be easily dismissed, but the charge that defamation of religion causes offence to believers has to be taken seriously. Nevertheless, I defend the view that we need something stronger than taking offense to justifiably ban harsh religious criticism. In particular, I argue that, if the above sort of criticism prevents its recipients from exercising their basic rights or it incites third parties to engage in criminal activities against the above individuals, it should be subject to legal sanctions. However, this is not the case with the cartoons that appeared in Charlie Hebdo, since, as far as I can tell, no basic rights of French Muslims were violated, and no violent actions were committed against them as a result of their publication.

Welcome to the Umma: The British State and its Muslim Citizens Since 9/11

2009 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 329-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toby Archer
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
Policy Responses ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
British Muslims ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Security Questions ◽  
British State

British Muslims are citizens of the United Kingdom and also part of a worldwide community, the Umma, the Muslim community of the faithful. British Muslims have both national and transnational allegiances and on the part of the British state this has necessitated new ways of governing its Muslim citizens. Concerns over both terrorist violence and societal security questions regarding Muslims in the UK are both internal and external to the state. The government has had difficulties in finding transnational policy responses that go beyond the old division of internal and external security. After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, security was the main reason why the British state sought to engage Muslims, but this has been transformed into the wider agenda of ‘community cohesion’. In tracing the Muslim groups that the government has engaged with since 2001, I show how the issue of governing Muslims has gone beyond concerns just about terrorism and violence to a wider agenda that accepts British Muslims as citizens, yet at the same time still reflects the fears of Muslim ‘otherness’. I consider how this otherness is seen as a threat to societal security, and how the government’s attempt to create policies to deal with such threats is best understood as the ‘politics of unease’.

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