In the days since the cold-blooded killing of 12 people at the office of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, the French are struggling with grief, shock and anger.

The killers, who have been identified as French men of Algerian descent, shouted “we have avenged the Prophet” and “Allahu akbar” as they fled the scene. Charlie Hebdo is well known for its highly irreverent treatment of all religions. The gunmen could not just stomach this, so they attacked one of the most iconic newspapers of the country and the value it symbolises: freedom of expression. In the course of their dastardly act, they killed not only journalists but also police officers. One of them was Ahmed Merabet, a French Muslim. Irony seldom gets more tragic than this.

Since the attack, France’s national security alert system, the Vigipirate plan, has been heightened to maximum alert even in schools, where a minute of silence was observed. The flags adorning all public buildings have been tied down with black ribbons.

Tearful tributes

After I dropped my children to school in the morning on Thursday, I noticed other parents gathered outside spontaneously. A few of us were at Place de la République the night before, along with 35,000 fellow Parisians with “Je Suis Charlie” (I am Charlie) signs.

People in the metro behaved normally but their faces reflected their anguish. Outside my office at the news weekly Courrier International, I walked past heavily-armed policemen wearing bulletproof jackets. All media outlets have taken this additional security measure. As I entered the building, the comedian Sophia Aram was starting her daily speech on a popular show aired by the main French public radio. She did not try to be funny and instead paid a humble tribute, with tears in her voice, to the five iconic dead cartoonists. Many prominent journalists on the radio and on television were tearful too.

We need to grieve, and we need to do it together. But while doing so, we have to be careful not to lump together the five million-strong French Muslim community with a handful of barbaric admirers of Daech (the term used in France for the Islamic State).

Racism and Islamophobia, two poisons that have gained currency even in mainstream media, will have to be not only avoided but confronted. Also, the consequences of our colonial past will have to be examined with courage and honesty and our post-colonial identity will need to be discussed. Or else, the Front National, a racist right-wing party already on the rise, will attract even more voters than it already does.

Giving hope

The crowds standing in solidarity and in defence of freedom, our most fundamental value, the one the French Republic is built on, the one we inherited from the 1789 revolution, gave a lot of hope to us all. As have others. Libération and Le Monde, two prominent weeklies, have given office space to the remaining team of Charlie Hebdo, whose next issue will come out on Wednesday. Fundraisers are being organised for the victims’ families by Reporter without Borders, whose headquarters is in Paris. On Sunday, a massive demonstration is scheduled to take place in the French capital. Concerts will probably follow.

At Courrier International, our contribution is a special issue which hit the stands on January 9. It will comprise front-pages, editorials and cartoons from around the world, including India. A significant part of the sales will go to Charlie Hebdo.

Regardless of its provocations, the very existence of Charlie Hebdo signalled the vitality of our freedom of expression and of our right to outrage. Charlie has become more than the name of a newspaper now: it has become French for freedom. Je Suis Charlie.