En sorgens dag

Återigen, mindre än ett år sedan attacken mot Charlie Hebdo, har Frankrike upplevt terrorismens fasor. Återigen har oskyldiga människor fått sätta livet till för extremisters övertygelser. Återigen är Europa centrum för denna terror.

Vi måste en gång för alla inse att det är en kamp mellan idéer som vi är på väg att förlora. Självklart kan militära insatser sättas in för att begränsa IS och terrororganisationer i Mellanöstern, men vi kommer aldrig att vinna den kampen om vi inte inser att det är så mycket mer som ligger bakom. Frankrike till stor del, men även Sverige och andra länder i Europa har inte lyckats med att ge framtidstro till alla unga människor. När unga människor, uppväxta här, som har gått i skola här, kan tänka sig att kriga för IS har vi misslyckats. Vi har inte lyckats med att inkludera alla människor i vårt samhälle, och det gynnar extremismen. Vi måste på allvar analysera detta och se över hur vi ser på varandra och vilken plats alla människor har i vårt gemensamma samhälle. Vi måste vinna kampen om idéerna.

Efter attacken på Charlie Hebdo skrev jag följande text, som jag vill plocka fram igen:

2015-01-07
Attack on us all… Attack on the freedom of speech!

Today we had the unfortunate opportunity to see a cowardly and despicable attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris.

The terrorist attack was an attack not only against the magazine, but also against one of the fundamental rights in any democratic society: freedom of expression!

France has historically been a symbol of the new society, that left behind feudalism and absolutism and has shown the new path based on a democratic vision!

When I think of France I also think of the illustrations, this historical process that intellectually enlighten mankind through the ending of the darkness in the world at that time. In France the first encyclopedia was published! The sole purpose of this publication was that educating the society is a necessary action in order to fight dictatorships and totalitarian regimes. Already at that time they understood that an educated society that thinks for itself was the path to follow!

Today darkness returned to France at 11:30 in the morning!

In a few weeks we have witnessed two really disturbing facts of interference with the right of expression: first the attack on Sony and now the attack on Charlie Hebdo. These actions in nature can only be despicable and reprehensible!

In today’s world the images in near real time witness in many cases human folly … The image of a police officer laying on the ground, wounded and with arms in the air with the unmistakable gesture that we all learn from childhood, that of surrender. This gesture was not enough for the terrorist who was hungry to show their power … For us this is nothing but an act of cowardice!

What we see in this terrorist act this day should lead us to think about how we can combat what happens in the international arena … Two points are important to me:

What we see daily on television about the war in the Middle East and the actions of the Islamic State should not be understood at all as an isolated event in a certain limited region of the world … It is a fact that affects the entire international community. In Europe alone we can see how these organizations have their followers ready and willing to act.
We must open our eyes and fight more strongly against those groups that want to recruit youth and children to be “soldiers” … We must have a clear, energetic and decisive stance against these events.

Rene Jaramillo