France is Not Amused by Those Who Tempt Limits of Free Speech

posted on: Feb 1, 2015

When the lights dim at the Comedy Club, a theater-cum-bar in central Paris, stand-up comedians Younes and Bambi rush onstage for their act, “The Arab and the Jew.” The comic duo portrays two young Frenchmen — one Muslim, the other Jewish — from the banlieues, the suburbs where poorer people and many immigrants live.

Predictably, it’s clichés galore. A rude Younes (aka Younes Arbouja) interrupts Bambi (Samuel Djian) bowing before an imaginary Western Wall. “You’re praying in the wrong direction,” he quips. “Wall St. is thataway.”

Bambi eventually pushes Younes away. “Your breath stinks!” he screeches. “Do you do Ramadan year round?”

While perpetuating stereotypes, the jokes underscore that France is made up of minorities, even visible ones — a term seldom heard in a country that prides itself on its rejection of multiculturalism.

But the Comedy Club fans are lapping it up, with many in the audience shouting “Oui!” when the performers ask if any Algerians, Moroccans or Tunisians are in the audience. For this crowd, these jokes are funny — and within the bounds of free speech.

But in France, not all wordplay is.

Franco-Cameroonian comedian and activist Dieudonné M’bala M’bala (usually referred to by his first name) is set to appear in a Paris criminal court on Feb. 4 on defense of terrorism charges for a Facebook post lampooning the ubiquitous “Je suis Charlie” slogan.

“I feel like Charlie … Coulibaly,” it read, suggesting that he identified with Ahmedy Coulibaly, the man who killed four Jewish hostages at a supermarket and a 27-year-old policewoman from Martinique before being shot dead by police.

A free speech paradox

Dieudonné, often accused of anti-Semitism, is a controversial character. He is already facing incitement to hatred charges in a separate case for insinuating that Patrick Cohen, a radio host, should have been sent to a gas chamber.

Are French humorists free to mock Islam, including its prophet, while others cannot legally crack a joke about the Holocaust? Short answer: yes.

Although Dieudonné’s name was never mentioned at the Comedy Club, this paradox was the subject of an exchange between Younes and Bambi.

Source: america.aljazeera.com