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You are Charlie? Well, I am Donbas!

Left – I am Charlie Hebdo / Right – Boum! Bang! Donbas
You are Charlie? Well, I am Donbas!
Article by: Kateryna Zhemchuzhnykova
Translated by: Christine Chraibi

All day I watched Sky News live broadcast on French Special Forces freeing the hostages from the kosher store and storming the publishing house where the Charlie Hebdo suspects had taken refuge. Some hostages were killed; the two suspects and their “colleague” hiding in the store were shot during the police operation.

I always seem to have mixed feelings in such situations. On the one hand, all those suspected terrorists will no longer be able to kill innocent bystanders. On the other hand, are the lives of four hostages worth the price of eliminating potential terrorist threats? Moreover, is killing anyone – hostages or suspected terrorists – justified in any way? Who has the right to decide between life and death, and who does not? But, anyway, it lasted three days. That’s all.

And what about the media? We seldom heard the term “suspected terrorists”. They were more clearly marked as “terrorists”… without a trial. Professional and ethical standards? And the constant heated reference to ethnic religious Muslims… (by the way, according to the French census, they number 8% of the French population, but people believe they make up 30%) .. all trained by al-Qaeda … a kosher store… all the stores have closed in the Jewish Quarter… “Kadyrivtsi” loyal to Putin…

The question is – where does “freedom of speech” end and insult begin (be it religious, political or any other)? Well, in a way, if a politician has a mistress, but publicly stands up for family values, then we must talk about it as this public figure is lying to his voters. When you have a New Year’s interview in the office of a high-ranking official and you accidentally see a document on the table about risks of explosion at a nuclear power plant, you must also report it as it constitutes a threat to many people. But, what about anticlerical caricatures?

Then, when we look at what’s been happening here in our own country throughout the past year, we can also see a lot of ambiguity… I understand that our emotions take over, but just the same. ..

Poroshenko has made such eloquent statements against this somber background:

– ATO will not last long!

– We will all celebrate Independence Day at home!

– I am Charlie!

Seeing that all this could have been stopped in April or May if anyone had really decided TO DO something and listen to our Ukrainian patriots in the Donbas, if anyone had listened to all our dead heroes, to Ilovaisk and to others… But, today it’s so “trendy” to say that “I am Charlie”. Some media figures have even organized flash mobs. But, for some reason or other, no one says – “I am Donbas!”

This is such a complicated matter… extremely complicated…

 

Translated by: Christine Chraibi
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