Is Yasmina Khadra Charlie?

Few days ago I found a very interesting and informative commentary concerning the murderous attack in Paris which shocked the public opinion.

It all happened in January and now, two months later, we all already know the most important facts about the incident: the place, the time, the reasons, the organisation the terrorists identify with and the identity of the victims. We all know the official statements about the incident as well. They are summarised by the most popular phrase in media: “Je suis Charlie”: a sign of intolerance towards the violation of the freedom of speech and the solidarity with victims.

Of course, we are right to “be Charlie”, but it is essential to learn something more and to understand how it was possible that such a tragedy happened. That is why I was glad to stumble upon  an interview with Yasmina Khadra. He is a well known French-speaking  author from Algeria and he is a Muslim.

In the beginning, he said that even if he had witnessed many Algerian tragedies, he was still shocked, because “nobody can get used to that atrocity”. Then he was asked about his opinion on the Algerian origins of the terrorists and the fact that the Muslim community was accused of responsibility for the attack. He replied that the origins and nationality were not important and that a murderer might have been identified only by their act. That is why he does not feel any link with them. To him, it is only an act that counts, and not whole background (the contrary of what the media often says). What is more, the Algerian origins could not significantly influence this act because those who are guilty, were born and brought up in France.

He also insisted on the fact that the Muslim community had nothing to do with the attack because these were only Islamists who are responsible. He claimed that “this reaction of condemning Muslims is a huge mistake”. By saying that, he wanted people to stick to the definitions and not to confuse groups that are not related to each other.

To him, the problem is that different groups have different values that are “sacred” and  try to impose them one to another. If there is no dialogue, it will always be impossible to put an end to the conflict of which the attack was just an extreme symptom.

That  are just some of the opinions of Khadra. The whole interview below (with English subtitles):