Erstellt am: 11. 1. 2015 - 21:43 Uhr
"You Cannot Extinguish Our Freedom"
As I watched the events unfold in Paris on live TV, I was, like millions across the globe, overcome a feeling of horror and frustration.
I was horrified by the senseless murders - journalists slain for drawing pictures, police officers executed for doing their job, and citizens murdered while simply doing their grocery shopping.
I was also frustrated that, although the innocent victims of the attacks were of the broadest range of faith and ethnicity, and although the humane heroes of this sad story are of diverse faiths, the attacks feed into the politics of division. The far-right group PEGIDA said on its Facebook page this weekend that the killings at Charlie Hebdo in Paris confirmed its views.
No-one can change what has happened. There is a sense of powerlessness. But we can shape our own response to events and there is great power in that.
Chris Cummins
That is why an estimated 12,000 people came to central Vienna on a blustery and cold afternoon to demonstrate their solidarity with the victims of the terror attacks in France and to call for tolerance and freedom of expression.
"I think we have to understand that we need a peaceful co-existence", a vigil attendee told me, as we rubbed our hands against the cold: "It is always worth getting out of the house and coming here to show you care about freedom."
Chris Cummins
The vigil was accompanied by the chorus of the Vienna state opera. Burgtheater actor Peter Matic read a quote from Ernst Jandl: "Unsere Ansichten gehen als Freunde auseinander" and his colleague Elisabeth Orth read out a declaration from the Austrian government: "Our answer to the cowardly attacks in France is to say that you cannot extinguish our democracy or our freedom."
Chris Cummins
Many at the vigil held banners reading "Je Suis Charlie" - I bumped into Green’s politician Pete Pilz in the crowd and asked his interpretation of the slogan: "It means we won’t cede a millimetre of ground to the terrorists and that freedom of expression and the freedom of the press are absolute freedoms."
"For me 'Charlie' stands for freedom of expression and freedom of speech", said a young demonstrator called David. "Through caricatures you can provoke thought and dialogue."
Chris Cummins
It is clearly ludicrous to hold a broad population in anyway responsible for the acts of a few violent extremists. Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch’s infamous tweet yesterday that even peaceful Muslims "must be held responsible" for the murders in Paris has thankfully been broadly condemned. The Christian community was not blamed for the murders committed by Anders Behring Breivik in Norway in 2011.
Nonetheless, many of the Muslim Viennese, who I met gathered in solidarity at the Ballhausplatz, wanted to make a statement about the perception of their faith in the wake of these attacks - including Sulaema:
"I am a human being. I have lived here for 25 years and I am a Muslim. I wanted to come here to make a symbolic gesture - to say that Muslims aren’t how they are now perhaps perceived to be. I am against terror. And that is why I came here."
Chris Cummins
"I came here to show my solidarity", said Adalat - a refugee. "It is the same problem we have faced in our region of Pakistan and Afghanistan for many years." He points out that terrorists recently killed over a hundred children in Pakistan. "Always we condemn this violence. We believe in peace. We condemn those who kill in the name of religion. We have been fighting this threat for a long time."
Chris Cummins
Gerhard Tuschla is a retired war reporter who says he met people who treated him with immense kindness whenever he was working in Muslim countries: "I was in fourteen wars for different TV stations. I think, that killing in the name of Allah is the work of just a few people who don’t understand what is going on in the world. They don’t understand that what we need is to live together in peace. That is why I am here: for my murdered colleagues and friends and to show we can all live together peacefully even if we have different religions."
Chris Cummins
Katja, a Belgian living in Vienna said:
"I wanted to come here because we are seeing today an international movement, that is today more important than ever, because we are all fighting for the same rights. We are fighting for liberty and our European rights and against racism against Muslims. We shouldn’t mix terrorism and Islam. It is important to be here in order to fight against racism and for liberty.
The things that happened in Paris are not just events that just concern France but events that concern all of us in European society. Our parents and grandparents fought for so long for the rights we enjoy and for the free societies in which we live. We must stand together and protect these societies."
Chris Cummins
Now the coming days and weeks and months will determine our response. Will we commit to a society where it is safe to mock and provoke debate and dialogue? I want to leave the last word with my colleague Hugh Schofield, a regular voice on FM4 Reality Check and an admirer of the veteran cartoonist Cabu who was murdered by the terrorists last week. As Hugh wrote for the BBC.
"Cabu would have been gratified by the outpouring of support on the streets of France these last dreadful few days. But he would probably also have said: Where were you all when we needed you? He and the others stuck their necks out for freedom. No-one else did."