Kapok: Make no mistake

In the past few days, in the wake of the horrendous terrorist attacks in Paris, I have been confronted by the best and the worst.
On the side of the best, you have the numerous private and public messages of outrage, sympathy, solidarity, fraternity, etc., expressed loud and clear, by friends, colleagues and strangers alike.
Both in Hong Kong and Macao, the SAR governments were very prompt in issuing communiqués extending condolences to the families of the victims and wishing the injured swift recovery. In Hong Kong, an emotional vigil took place Monday evening in Tamar, gathering some 2,500, including most of the senior diplomatic representatives as well as the Hong Kong SAR Chief Executive himself. In these moments, despite adversity and distress, humanity regains its face as countless faces standing as one. I and we are together, able to commune beyond our differences.
And then, I have been witness to passing remarks made by well-intentioned acquaintances that are truly appalling, especially coming from well-educated people. One posted an emotional message on a social media platform explicitly arguing that there is somehow a “good” immigration, one that is “humble” and thus able to blend in, and… the other one. Another person, a claimed socialist, matter-of-factly told me: “well, not all Muslims are terrorists, but you cannot deny that all terrorists are Muslims!”
I am myself from Paris. My parents live near the locations that were targeted. I go to some of these places each time I am in the City of Light, and on Friday, very close friends of mine, together with their children, were supposed to go for dinner at Le Petit Cambodge and have a drink at Le Carillon. No need to say that I was thus extremely shocked by what happened, and spent most of my Saturday making sure that my loved-ones were safe. Even now, I keep peeping at the list of the victims with a clear sense of apprehension that I might stumble upon a known name. I will be in Paris for a week starting next Monday, and can already feel an immense sorrow sinking in.
Trust me, when I say I condemn the attacks and I see only criminals of the worst sort in the perpetrators of these acts – cowardly slaughtering acts – I do mean it.
Yet, one has to be careful with passing comments, especially because we have a unique responsibility in this part of the world in promoting European values and heritage. European values do not equate with Catholicism, far from it. Ancient Greece and Rome are the matrix of European civilization — Renaissance rings a bell? — and a significant part of our neoplatonic filiation only survived because of Arab intellectuals. Heritage is a bit more than street signs, and what truly matters in regards to cultural encounters is the ability to have dialogue, exchange and cross-fertilize — the rest is misplaced nostalgia.
To my Macao friends, I say it clearly as this might prove useful for this community: it is a classic phenomenon for the last wave of migrants to try to “close the door” on the next one, as it is somehow afraid the latter will challenge its hard-gained status. Discrimination against Italian and Portuguese migrants was as bad as the one against people from North-African countries, and they are all today an integral part of the French society. Beyond the international context, what is not working anymore in France is the “integration” drive, both at school and at work. Moreover, any religion is a form of ideology that can be used for different purposes, and both the Basque separatist movement ETA and the Irish IRA were packed with Catholics.
Finally, the ones who suffer the most from terrorism right now are the Muslims themselves and we are no strangers to that state of affairs.
Ultimately, it is troubling to hear senseless words from people who come from a place that has only 0.3% of Muslims… or it just proves a point: ignorance is to be fought if humanity wants to ultimately prevail.

Published in Macau Daily Times, November 20 2015