" Liberal states are right to take actions against the perpetrators of
violence, and should worry about the atmosphere that nourishes a
fear of freedom. But if they are doing it in the name of liberal
principles, they will need to, as much as possible, adhere to those
principles."
A middle-school teacher in France, Samuel Paty, is beheaded for showing cartoons of the
Prophet as part of a class on free expression. Subsequently, three more people are killed. The
killings have drawn condemnation. But almost as if on cue, this horrible incident is being
scripted to bear the weight of every historical grievance: Illiberal states like Malaysia, Turkey
and Pakistan are, in a cowardly way, positioning themselves as defenders of Islam. Every single
argument over the failures of French multiculturalism or its neocolonial past is being trotted out
as an explanation. Islam is being put on trial. The French State is being described as a
provocation. All in the service of avoiding some plain truths.
No liberal should equivocate on the right to freedom of expression. President Macron was
absolutely right to robustly defend free expression as a principle. Liberals have been too
squeamish about defending freedom of expression. There is a mistaken belief in some circles that
defending robust norms of freedom of expression, especially in Europe, is to license colonial
impunity or expressions of cultural superiority. But every single time you compromise on
freedom of expression, you set back the struggle of millions of people, including Muslims,
struggling to free themselves from the yoke of oppressive blasphemy laws everywhere across the
world. To put the point bluntly, the use of caricatures or writings about Muhammad as a
paradigm case to limit free speech does incalculable harm to liberal freedom across the world.
It does more to cement stereotypes of Muslims than the vile propaganda of Islamophobes.
To take one example, the much misused Section 295 of the Indian Penal Code had its origins in the
controversy over Rangeela Rasool; and the Satanic Verses affair irrevocably transformed free
speech politics in India for the worse. Reform is not going to be possible if you do not swallow
the idea that occasionally offensive speech will get through, including about the Prophet. There
are reasons for liberals to worry about colonialism and orientalist caricatures. But these cannot
be alibis to compromise on liberal freedoms. The idea that Muslims need to be especially
protected from offensive speech, paradoxically, is itself an expression of a kind of anti-Muslim
sentiment.
Liberals often have a well-motivated desire to respect, or at least not give offence to millions of
believers. Standing steadfast behind the right to freedom of expression does not require
valorising offensive speech; those who offend are at best to be tolerated, not encouraged. They
might sometimes require condemning. Defending legal toleration cannot close off the question of
what forms of ethical practices are appropriate for society. It, in fact, presupposes this difficult
conversation. These are fine distinctions all liberal states should understand. But liberals have also got the politics of offence backwards. Many people who want to gratuitously offend religion are puerile; often the motivation is to display a kind of impunity, especially towards minorities. But restricting freedom of expression, or violently reacting to it, ideologically rewards such impunity. It makes it more, not less politically potent. It unwittingly confirms the stereotypes the minority groups cannot handle freedom. The more it becomesacceptable to circumscribe speech because it is offensive, the more offence people take.
Offensiveness has become a competitive community sport in many contexts, precisely because it
can be weaponised for political mobilisation. Moreover, it is otiose to think that in a globalised
context, where images and ideas circulate instantly and speech is decontextualised and re-
contextualised in ways no one can control, freedom will better served by promising any religious
community a sanitised public sphere that could never cause them offence. If even a pedagogical
project in a protected classroom can be re-contextualised as an offensive assault on Islam, then it
is a fool’s paradise to promise a world where the sacred will never be seen to be violated.
it is a cardinal liberal principle that no one should be targeted for being a member of a particular
community. But the liberal expression of this commitment is to retreat into a taciturn silence over
the connection between religion and violence. There is the rush to go into the comfort zone of
“root causes”, some secular experience or deprivation, discrimination, colonialism, poverty.
These do matter in understanding how particular forms of violence are nourished. But the
response that “religion has nothing to do with it” is historically inaccurate. Politically mobilised,
fanatical religion has often not been safe for individual freedom, whether it is a form of Islam,
Christian or Buddhist fundamentalism or Hindu nationalism. The idea that true religion would
never incite anyone to violence is neither here nor there — the point is that people kill and
behead in the name of religion. It is an interesting question what cultural power allows some
incidents to be labelled as religiously motivated. In the same month as the beheading in France, a
Dalit lawyer was killed in Gujarat for posts allegedly prejudicial to Brahmins. Which will be
constructed as a religious killing?
It is, however, not for liberals to get into theological disputes and define people’s religion for
them. When they do this, they come across as if they want to exercise power over the religion.
All liberals should be interested in is making sure that freedom is not compromised. What kind
of religion is compatible with this freedom is for believers to decide. Getting into this hornet’s
nest, as Macron did, is overreaching, and muddies the principle at stake.
Liberal states are right to take actions against the perpetrators of violence, and should worry
about the atmosphere that nourishes a fear of freedom. But if they are doing it in the name of
liberal principles, they will need to, as much as possible, adhere to those principles. They have to
ensure that the asymmetries of power do not discriminate against communities. They will have to
ensure that the purpose of public policy and public discourse is to protect freedom and not to
stereotype or subordinate another culture or produce a forced uniformity.
This is a moment where the one thing that unites the political currents of the time is a sneering
glee at exposing the fragility of liberalism. All kinds of forces will muddy the ideological waters
around the violence in France to serve their ends. But remember the believer who thinks they
exist to protect their God, and not the other way round; and those who think human beings
cannot handle individual liberty are both taking our humanity away from us. It is time to cut
through complicated politics and defend the simple principle of liberty, against all its challengers.
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(With input from news agency language)
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