Les réactions des pays frontaliers suite aux attentas à Paris -synthèse en anglais

International reactions towards the Paris terrorist attacks.

Introduction :

France just lived an historical moment. The terror attacks that occurred early January in Paris will definitely change the way western countries handle the terrorist problem. Some might say that France just experienced its 9/11. Why these attacks have known such an impact towards the Western World ? We may say that the recurring bombings in the Middle-East contribute to a certain banalization of terrorism, but the exceptional hallmark of these attacks are that they occurred on the Western soil. To some extent, the spatial proximity made us realize that terrorism is definitely a real thing that may affect us all. As Stéphane and Raphaël said last week, the Paris terrorist attacks completely overshadowed the massacres in Nigeria perpetred by Boko Haram, which is an evidence of the exceptional impact on the french society.

The terrorist attacks cover two elements : the terrorist attacks against Charlie Hebdo that happened on the 7th of January and the hostage-taking two days later in a kosher market in Paris. Thus, the Paris terrorist attacks cover two aspects. On the one hand, a direct attack against the freedom of speech since Saïd and Chérif Kouachi justify their shootings by saying that the newspaper insulted their prophet through his representation on a cartoon. The shooting against Charlie Hebdo was a direct answer towards the blasphemy against islam. On the other hand, Amédy Coulibaly shot down a police-woman the morning before the hostage-taking in the kosher market which may be qualified as a direct attack against the Jew community.

The question that needs to be asked now is, why do we choose this subject ? Immediately after the attacks, there was an international consensus over the condamnation of the attacks. But three weeks after the events, the reactions seem more contrasted as the Niger demonstrations one week ago suggests. We will focus on the politician recommandations and also on the recommandations delivered by foreign newspapers.

We will first present a brief recap of the events and the immediate reactions. Then, we will focus on the contrasted reactions towards the terrorist attacks.

I) A brief recap of the events and the immediate reactions : a shared outrage

A) A brief recap of the events.

As I said in the introduction, the Paris terrorist attacks cover two elements : first, an attack towards the freedom of speech though the shooting at the Charlie Hebdo head-office, and also a anti-semitic attack towards the kosher-market hostage-taking.

On the 7th of January, two Islamist gunmen forced their way into and opened fire in the Paris headquarters of Charlie Hebdo, killing twelve, including the cartoonist staff of the newspaper. During the attack, the gunmen shouted "Allahu akbar" ("God is great" in Arabic) and also "the Prophet is avenged ». The two gunmen were identified as Saïd Kouachi and Chérif Kouachi, French Muslim brothers of Algerian descent. Therefore, the terrorists were french, which raises the crucial question of islam toughening within the French society, especially in jail where apparently, the Kouachi brothers made contact with die-hard islamist. Thus, terrorist attacks seem more difficult to predict since the shooting was not committed by foreigners. Nevertheless, we know for a fact that the France intelligence agency, the DGSE, had files on the brothers Kouachi regarding their past commitment in a jihadist branch during the Iraq war.

The hostage-taking that took place at the kosher market is directly linked to the Charlie Hebdo attack since there is now evidence that Amedy Coulibaly and the Kouachi brothers knew each others and planned the attacks together.

B) The immediate reaction in France.

Now, I am going to talk briefly about the immediate reactions in France. Obvisouly, the Paris terrorist attacks strikes both the public opinion and french politicians which denounced jointly the barbary of theses attacks and called for unity against terrorism within the french society. The condamnation of these attacks were strongly followed in the social medias with the hashtag « Je suis Charlie » and spontaneous demonstrations came out in several french cities on the evening of the shootings.

The demonstrations on the Sunday following the Paris terrorist attacks were without precedent since 3.7 million people gathered to protest against terrorism and reaffirm french republican values such as freedom of speech and freedom of opinion.

Moreover, on the french politician scene, the Marseillaise was collectively sang by all the MP at the french national assembly, an event that didn’t happen since 1918 with the end of World War I.

Obviously, the need for security and strong measures against terrorism were felt inside the french society. In concrete terms, the french government answered these needs by increasing the military and intelligence headcount with more than a thousand job created in theses sectors. Moreover, the protection of religious sites (mosques and synagogues) was settle. As you may see across the street, there is three soldiers protecting a jewish school. Eventually, we saw juridical conviction for those who supported the terrorist attack through social medias. For instance, the french humorist Dieudonné is to be judged on the post of one of his post on Twitter.

C) Immediate international reactions : worldwide condamnation over terrorism.

We can wrap up political reaction from around the word, as the international community joins together in condemnation of the terror attacks.

For instance, Barack Obama said : « France, and the great city of Paris where this outrageous attack took place; offer the world a timeless example that will endure well beyond the hateful vision of these killers ».

This declaration echoes others from Japan, where Shinzo Abe, the japanese prime minister, expressed « profond shock and indignation » and said that « At this difficult time, Japan is with France ».

In concrete terms, this rally around France was embodied the Sunday following

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