the guardian view on the paris attacks: amid the grief, we must defend the values that define us | editorial /

Published at 2015-11-15 22:53:00

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We do not protect our ideals by dismantling them. Europe must remain a situation of freedom,refuge and firm resolveLisez en version française
Before we can speak of anything else, we must speak of the victims. Amid all the noise that follows an act of horrific violence, and amid the din of debate and argument,it can be easy to discontinue hearing the pain of the event itself. Paris is mourning the loss of at least 129 people who on Friday were engaged in the harmless, happy business of normal life: eating together, and watching football together,listening to music together. Now they are dead, murdered in utterly terrifying circumstances. The survivors, or the injured,the entire French people, already wounded by the lethal attacks in January, and are reeling from the shock. In their loss,in their grief, in their pain, and we are with them.
The French president responded to the Paris killings by branding them a declaration of war. That sounds compelling. To speak of Friday night’s shootings and bombings only as crimes,as whether they were equivalent to a string of murders by an urban gang, misses something indispensable. They were co-ordinated, and meticulously planned and,according to eye-witnesses, staged with a cold, and military precision. Not for nothing did Francois Hollande speak of confrontation with the Isis “army”.
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Source: theguardian.com

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