Tag Archive "islamism"

Islamism and democracy seen as a ‘war of the gods’

“I'd rather die standing, than live on my knees.” That 2012 statement by Stéphane Charbonnier, editor of the satirical French weekly Charlie Hebdo, was a compelling battle cry, and the tragic murder of him, his staffers, and two policemen in Paris on Jan. 7 guaranteed its place in the modern democratic liturgy. He was willing to die a martyr for the sacred principle of “free speech,” and he did.