France Is an Unequal Opportunity
For all the talk of defending the right to blaspheme Mohammed, the French can be
extremely hypocritical when it comes to making fun of others.
BY LEELA JACINTO-JANUARY 13, 2015
When it comes to giant displays of solidarity and defiance, it doesn’t get much bigger than the Jan. 11 demonstration in Paris. On that day, over a million people packed the streets to watch leaders and top diplomats from around the world advance, arm-in-arm, down Boulevard Voltaire to pay tribute to the victims of Islamist militant attacks in and around Paris. Even the sun behaved on that bright, chilly Sunday afternoon — a made-for-TV moment. The marcherépublicaine — a term rather prosaically translated in the English-language press as “unity march” or “rally against terrorism” — aspired to reaffirm the values of the French Republic, particularly the freedom of speech.