The School of Public Policy (SPP) and the Center for European Union Research (CEUR) at Central European University (CEU), the French Institute of Budapest, and the Embassy of France in Budapest co-organized a series of panel discussions at CEU on May 19 to reflect on freedom, religion, and security in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo attack on January 7, 2015. The event was part of CEU’s Frontiers of Democracy series.
In his welcoming remarks CEU President and Rector John Shattuck described the event as “an exploration of the times we are living in.” He noted that one of the intentions of the terrorists was to undermine the values of tolerance and freedom of speech. Shattuck noted that the attacks had exposed the “fragility” of some of our freedoms. His Excellency French Ambassador Roland Galharague urged his audience to keep in mind “one simple thought” – that keeping freedom alive was just as important as more conventional security measures in our efforts to defend against terrorism. Associate Professor Marie-Pierre Granger, who also welcomed the audience, recalled that alongside the strong mobilization of support for Charlie Hebdo, there were also some who were reticent to stand behind the journal because they felt the cartoonists had “gone too far,” and contributed to further marginalizing already oppressed French Muslim communities. This tension, she explained, would be explored in the first panel.
The three panel discussions focused on: freedom of expression - what to say or not to say; media freedoms – between the state, money, and security; and the role of religion(s) – what place for Islam in Europe. Panelists provided diverse disciplinary and geographic perspectives on the issues.
CEU Legal Studies Associate Professor Mathias Möschel moderated the first panel which featured Professor Stephanie Hennette-Vauchez (University of Paris-Ouest, Nanterre), CEU Assistant Professors Sejal Parmar (Legal Studies) and Simon Rippon (SPP and Philosophy), and Professor Renáta Uitz, head of the Legal Studies Department. Panelists explored the scope of freedom of expression from a comparative perspective, focusing in particular on the tensions between freedom of expression on the one hand, and religious freedoms; and public order and security on the other. While legal scholars offered critical analyses of how international, European, and national laws protect and limit speech, the philosopher on the panel (Rippon), as well as member of the audience, asked whether all forms of expression and content should enjoy special protection, even when they are hurtful.
Ellen Hume, Annenberg Fellow in Civic Media at the Center for Media, Data and Society (CMDS) at SPP, moderated the second panel focused on media freedoms and the protection of journalists that included Peter Noorlander, chief executive officer, Media Legal Defence Initiative; Kate Coyer, CMDS; and Tamás Bodoky, editor-in-chief, atlastszo.hu. They revealed the many threats facing traditional as well as citizen-journalists, in particular physical violence, governmental pressure, and economic dependency, and how journalists curtail their freedom of expression through various forms of self-censorship. Panelists also explored what we could and should do to ensure that freedoms were not lost in the interests of public security, and stressed the responsibility of members of the media themselves to alert the public to this issue.
In the concluding panel on the role and place of religion, SPP Visiting Research Fellow Brett Wilson posed questions to Associate Professor Akil Awan (Royal Holloway, University of London) and Nasser Suleiman Gabryel (chargé d’enseignement, Ecoles des Hautes Etudes et Sciences Sociales). Panelists challenged the view that the Paris attacks were religiously motivated, and stressed instead the role of identity construction and the importance, in secular societies, that religious matters not be ignored but instead discussed openly and in a public space.
In her concluding remarks, Granger said that “more events of this type are needed.” Hervé Ferrage, director of the Institut français de Budapest, agreed noting that the day-long discussion had focused on questions that are “at the very center of our democratic values.”