Freedom, I Write Your Name

Exactly one week after the shocking events in the capital of France, the "Georges Pompidou Center," one of the most important artistic and cultural hubs in Paris, hung a verse from a famous poem on its outer wall to express solidarity with the victims of this tragedy and to commemorate freedom. This poem, written in 1942 during the height of the Nazi occupation of France, has been repeated in textbooks for generations. The creator of this poem, which praises freedom, is Paul Éluard, a French poet and member of the resistance against the German occupiers, who died in 1952. Here are a few translated lines from this relatively long poem:----------------------------------------------------------------On my notebooks and homework,On my work desk, and on the trees,On the sand, on the snow,I write your name.***On all the reviewed pages,On all the white pages,On stone and blood and paper or ashes,I write your name.***On my destroyed shelters,On my fallen lanterns,On the walls of my boredom,I write your name.***And leaning on the power of a word,I take life back up again.I was born to know you,To call you by nameFreedom.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------Paul Éluard's poem helped the broken French during the years of occupation to hope for the end of captivity and the regaining of freedom. Now, the "Georges Pompidou Center" has once again turned to the poet of World War II, hoping that this time, with the magic of freedom, it can assist its grieving compatriots. This sorrow can be clearly seen in Paris. The city of light, poetry, and love, a city that has truly become a world homeland where colors, races, languages, religions, scents, and melodies from all corners of the world are intertwined, a city that prides itself on this mixture and loses its essence without it, is now grappling with bitter questions, the most important of which can be summarized as follows: Why did explosives and bullets from "ISIS" target our daily lives and entertainment instead of hitting the police and army, tearing apart the skin, flesh, and bones of our people in stadiums, cafes, and theaters?Perhaps the answer to this question can be sought in that very word "freedom." The sign hung on the outer wall of the "Georges Pompidou Center," using the title of Paul Éluard's poem, is likely a wink of acknowledgment and agreement to all the French who once again see their freedom threatened in the wake of the slaughter by "ISIS" soldiers.Simple FreedomsHowever, this time, with seventy-three years of distance, the concept of "freedom" in Paul Éluard's poem must be interpreted differently. In 1942, France longed to be freed from the domination of Hitler's Germany and to achieve independence. In 2015, the French, with astonishment and horror, see that the representatives of the most terrifying form of religious totalitarianism threaten their individual freedoms, the simple and everyday freedoms they enjoy in their homes and streets, in cafes and theaters, in how they dress, eat, drink, and love. During World War II, it was the national freedom of the French that was trampled under the boots of the Third Reich soldiers. This time, however, it is their individual freedoms that are under attack, from those who have risen against Western civilization and all its manifestations, including Paris and the lifestyle of its people.In short, during the Nazi occupation of France, the slogan of freedom was raised in pursuit of regaining "national sovereignty," whereas today people understand and value the slogan of freedom differently in defense of their "individual sovereignty." Let us not forget that Western modernity is built on personal freedoms and the "right of individual sovereignty," and for this reason, it is vehemently condemned and hated among all adherents of tribal and collectivist civilizations. All of this, from extreme European nationalists to Muslim fundamentalists in the Middle East, condemn many personal behaviors and choices that harm no one in the name of "deviation," "corruption," and "licentiousness" while claiming to defend valor, masculinity, and sacrifice for the nation and community. It is worth noting that within ten to twenty kilometers of Paris, there are towns that have been emptied of French people and are under the control of extremist Salafists and Wahhabis. In these towns, Arab women, fearing their bearded "brothers," dare not leave their homes without a hijab. In other words, the law of "either hijab or beatings" has been practically enforced in the heart of Europe. And it is also worth noting that on the horrific night of November 13, at the "Bataclan" theater in Paris, soldiers of the Islamic Caliphate calmly reminded their hostages, between bursts of Kalashnikov fire, that they had fallen into this punishment because they were drowning in the swamp of corruption and idolatry. Let us imagine what could have been going through the minds of the unfortunate audience during this "sermon," young people who had come to the slaughterhouse simply to enjoy their favorite music. I do not believe any painting, even using all the subtleties and complexities of "surrealism," could recreate the atmosphere of that night at the "Bataclan."The Unforgivable Sin of the "Corrupt" WestThe exposure of the "corruption" and "decadence" of the West holds a prominent place in the literature of Islamic (and also Christian and Jewish) fundamentalists. One of the pioneers of this exposure is Sayyid Qutb, an Egyptian whose writings have played a decisive role in the birth and growth of political Islam in the Arab and non-Arab worlds (including Iran). In the late 1940s, Sayyid Qutb was sent to the United States as an employee of the Egyptian Ministry of Education to study the educational system. The result of his two-year stay in America is a work titled "The America I Have Seen," which summarizes the perspective of a Muslim fundamentalist on Western society. Sayyid Qutb describes a society that has reached its peak scientifically and technically but has stagnated emotionally and behaviorally at the level of primitive humanity or even lower. He saw nothing in America but materialism, individualism, social injustice, racism, bullying, and superficial conversations and friendships, as well as idolatry in sports, art that is increasingly degenerating (he mentions jazz music as an example), the mixing of men and women, and the pursuit of sexual pleasure.... Everything in America, from Sayyid Qutb's perspective, reduces humans to the level of their basest instincts.Today, various Arab and non-Arab sects within the broad spectrum of Islamic fundamentalists have not gone beyond the level of Sayyid Qutb's writings from sixty years ago in their literature about the West, especially America. It is no coincidence that on September 11, 2001, Al-Qaeda terrorists targeted New York as a symbol of the corrupt and arrogant West. And it is no coincidence that in 2015, the Islamic Caliphate's kamikazes bled Paris, as another symbol of that same decadence. In cities outside the West, from Beirut to Bamako, it is often the same Western-inspired institutions that come under attack, or those who, rightly or wrongly, are identified by fundamentalist terrorists as allies of the West. The greatest and most unforgivable sin of the "decadent" and "corrupt" West, from the perspective of Sayyid Qutb's followers, is the acceptance of the "right of individual sovereignty." The sin of the "corrupt" and "depraved" Westerners is that after a long journey, they have accepted that every person is different from another, that each individual has their own characteristics, and that not everyone can be molded into one shape. Humans have a very short opportunity to live on this earth. It is better that they live happily in this short opportunity, and this is only possible if their individual tastes and inclinations for happiness are respected, even if they differ from the tastes and inclinations of the majority. The only limiting boundary of each individual's freedom is not to harm the freedom of others. This is the message of John Stuart Mill, one of the founders of the liberal school in the nineteenth century, who said: "It is for the good of humanity that every person lives as they see fit, not that they are forced to spend their lives according to the opinions of others."These days, a different atmosphere prevails in the streets and alleys of France. Many people in this country see for perhaps the first time that their individual freedoms, the simple freedoms that were previously taken for granted, can be challenged by very dangerous adversaries. They are just beginning to realize the plight of Middle Eastern women and men who must negotiate with heavily armed and ruthless powers over whether or not a single hair is showing, watching a movie, loving, celebrating, entering sports stadiums, and a thousand and one other very ordinary things.