26/01/2015 Political Affairs and Democracy
“On 7 January we lost some of our most brilliant cartoonists - those who mocked politicians, both right-wing and left-wing, religions, and all sorts of symbols, denouncing those who use them wrongly or to oppress others” said Caroline Fourest, a French journalist who used to work with Charlie Hebdo, at today’s hearing entitled “Terrorist attacks in Paris: together for a democratic response”.
The hearing was held by the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy, in co-operation with the PACE Committee on Culture, Science, Education and Media. “In France we have very clear laws placing a limit on freedom of expression; this limit is incitement to hatred on grounds of someone’s origin or religion,” said Ms Fourest, arguing against the prohibition on blasphemy.
“The terrorist attacks in Paris were a major political event in that they concerned two essential principles: freedom of expression and living together in peace,” added Driss Ajbali, a Franco-Moroccan sociologist and essayist and author of a book on "Violence and immigration".
The hearing is to serve as a basis in preparing the debate under urgent procedure on the same subject to be held at 10 a.m. on Wednesday in the context of the PACE plenary session (26-30 January 2015).