I'm surprised - and disappointed - that nobody so far here in Hyde Park has considered it appropriate or necessary to comment on the assassination of 12 journalists of the French political cartoon paper 'Charlie Hebdo' in Paris yesterday.
Yes - it is an event that happened in Europe.
But in it's targeting and brutality it is one that concerns all those who believe that the freedom of opinion and the press is one of the core values we as open Western societies have to cherish and defend.
Especially on boards like these which give a forum to non-mainstream, sometimes true minority or even deviant views of the world campaigning for protecting and strengthening these rights should be self-evident.
It would be wonderful if this board could include more discussions of international political significance and not limit itself to in-group ritualized disputes about more than infrequently marginal US issues.
Yes - it is an event that happened in Europe.
But in it's targeting and brutality it is one that concerns all those who believe that the freedom of opinion and the press is one of the core values we as open Western societies have to cherish and defend.
Especially on boards like these which give a forum to non-mainstream, sometimes true minority or even deviant views of the world campaigning for protecting and strengthening these rights should be self-evident.
It would be wonderful if this board could include more discussions of international political significance and not limit itself to in-group ritualized disputes about more than infrequently marginal US issues.
