The Danish cartoons were assembled to humiliate a vulnerable minority. In subsequent debates, the idea of freedom of speech has been subverted to undermine the right of Muslims to speak up on their own behalf.
In the wake of a vicious crime, caution and restraint are a virtue.
Some say they have understood this call: only the future will tell. But the future is now.
Concepts like democracy, the constitution, and freedom of speech are slogans that are only meaningful in so far as they protect public faith in the American system.
The popular outpouring in France, taken with the climate marches in September with which it would not at first be bracketed, may be a harbinger of change.
Those who hold Muslims accountable for these acts, or demand that they apologize for them, are delusional. Beyond Europe, Al-Qaeda has declared open war against most Arab and Muslim-majority countries, especially those allied to the west.
European governments and civil society can respond to terrorism by affirming and building democratic institutions and thereby refusing the logic of war. Initially, this seemed to be the French civic reaction.
The Paris massacre and its aftershocks must also be considered in the context of the larger war being fought in the Middle East and Africa.
A prescient article received before the tragic events in France this week, suggests three pressing reasons for the European Union to re-establish its role as a peacebuilding instrument in the minds of the general public.
Have we been reduced to the 'clash of civilizations' where, in the name of security, a state of emergency forces all to close ranks in a staged, imaginary conflict where all possibility of dissent is erased? In memoriam.
Civilisation depends on some incivility, carefully applied. It depends also on civility, liberally applied
We are facing a political threat, a totalitarian Islamist threat that manifests in terrorism. Journalists are defending something which is elementary to our democracy: our freedom to breathe and to laugh.
