honeybadgerpress.ca

Adding Historical Perspective on Charlie Hebdo Attack

As published in the Toronto Star: Jan. 8, 2015

I’ve not been surprised to note the hypocrisy of Canada’s mainstream media in trumpeting the virtues of the satirical press. Prior to the recent killings at the French magazine Charlie Hebdo; Canada’s satirical press has been marginalized, belittled and ignored by pundits from corporate titans like Astral, Thompson and Bell Media.

Without diminishing the import of the twelve French journalists killed by people described as Islamic terrorists; mainstream media portrayals of French victimhood are misleading and devoid of historical perspective. While mention has been made of France’s extensive military contribution to the African sphere of the ongoing "War on Terror"; it should also be noted that France has a long and lingering history of brutal atrocities in Africa, Indochina and the Caribbean.

In Haiti's case; France has consistently refused to pay reparations for the wealth drained from its' most profitable former colony. While France begrudging offered citizenship to many of its colonial subjects in the post-World War Two era; centuries of abuse should not be minimized and citizenship will not return native wealth to Haiti, Algeria, or Vietnam. Once again, ordinary people pay with their lives for the callous refusal among Western governments to accept or even acknowledge the consequences of military and corporate excesses in the Middle East and elsewhere