French Authorities Demonstrate Defense of Free Speech by Arresting 54 People for Free Speech

Screen Shot 2015-01-14 at 10.26.03 AMWhile I’m sure many of the millions of French citizens who marched in solidarity with the victims of the recent senseless violence and in the name of free speech came with genuine intentions, the corps of professional authoritarians, I mean politicians, who tagged along in order to pose for a staged photo op, clearly had less than noble intentions. Indeed, they likely spent the entire time scheming as to how the tragedy might be used to strip more rights away from their citizens.

The absurdity of well known tyrants standing arm in arm to support freedom of expression was laughable from the start. Many commentators have covered this shameless act of hypocrisy, including myself in the post: NOUS SOMME HYPOCRITES – Authoritarian, Anti-Free Speech Politicians Pose for Staged Photo Op in Paris.

It didn’t take long for the apparent hypocrisy to manifest itself in real life. First, we heard about David Cameron’s absurd call to ban encryption, which is essentially a call to outlaw private communications. Now we see French leadership turn into a complete and total caricature of itself by arresting 54 people for speech (including a controversial comedian for Facebook comments), negating the values the rally on Sunday was ostensibly so passionately defending. The AP reports that:

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NOUS SOMME HYPOCRITES – Authoritarian, Anti-Free Speech Politicians Pose for Staged Photo Op in Paris

Screen Shot 2015-01-12 at 10.27.34 AMAs I was wrapping up my travels in Asia, an extremely sad event unfolded in Paris during which 12 people were murdered at the office of satire magazine Charlie Hebdo. Just four days later, another sad and pathetic event occurred. A swarm of politicians, many of whom are professional authoritarians, shamelessly descended onto the streets of Paris to “join millions of protesters” in a rally for free speech and solidarity with the victims of the barbaric attack.

As is typically the case, mainstream media stories were filled with powerful images of these political hacks marching arm in arm; faces austere, defiantly standing their ground on behalf of freedom and liberty the world over. You have doubtlessly seen many variations of the following:

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Such images were commingled with photos of the real march, which was estimated to include an incredible 3.7 million people.

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Such images can bring a tear to the eye of even the most hardened cynic. Politicians and citizens united for a noble cause! There’s just one minor problem. As the Huffington Post and Independent both noted, this is what the politicians’ march actually looked like:

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