STATEMENT of IWL(FI)
Written by IWL-FI – International Secretariat
Friday, 09 January 2015 20:53
The terrorist attack on the newspaper Charlie Hebdo occurred in Paris is a blow not only against the critical press, but also against the workers’ struggle and, especially against the Islamic people.
 
We often see how terrorist attacks serve the imperialist’s interests. Al Qaeda’s attack on the Twin Towers in 2001 facilitated the whole Bush’s warmongering onslaught by invading Iraq and Afghanistan. A violent attack against the mass movement worldwide was carried out on behalf of the “war on terrorism”.
Today’s attack has a similar content. It will strengthen the French and European far right. It will facilitate repressive responses that were already under way across Europe against immigrants, as well as in the Middle East and North Africa.
So far, when we are writing this note no group has yet claimed responsibility for this atrocity. But we know who will pay for it: the whole mass movement, starting with their most exploited and oppressed portion, the immigrant workers.
We defend press freedom and criticism. The newspaper Charlie Hebdo brought together some of the most expressive and of international tradition cartoonists as George Wolinski, also killed in this attack. The attack had huge repercussions among the cartoonists who dedicate themselves to the political criticism worldwide.
This attack is not in defence of a fair cause using a misguided methodology. It is an expression of those who advocate a semi-fascist authoritarianism, using a disastrous methodology.
This does not mean that we agree with all the newspaper’s positions. We respect those who believe in Islam, as well as those who are Catholics or Protestants. However the possible disagreements with any of the newspaper’s positions or cartoons do not prevent us from vehemently repudiate this attack. Regardless of agreeing with the cartoons line we uphold the right of speech and expression of the cartoonists and journalists.
The executors of the killings want to convey the idea that they defend Muslims, but in fact they defend a society in which those who disagree are eliminated, as it is in the self-proclaimed Islamic State in which all those who do not accept the dictatorship are tortured, or executed. This kind of action only strengthens islamophobic far right.
We call all the workers’ organizations and leftist organizations to repudiate this attack. We must not allow that its condemnation be assumed by the rightist and the imperialism. Let us, the workers, repudiate it and be prepared to resist the political attacks that lie ahead.
Finally, we want to show solidarity with the newspaper journalists and workers, their families and friends.