Paris attacks: the internet responds

ONLINE responses to the Paris attacks have given voice to the anger and disbelief at the massacre, but also the wish for reconciliation.

A video of a blindfolded muslim offering ‘trust hugs’ in the centre of Paris, another calling on fellow Muslims to tackle the jihadist threat among them, and parodies of an interview with the man who lodged two terrorists are some of the viral video responses in the wake of last week’s attacks.

Trust hugs

In a video that has been watched more than one million times, a young man is seen standing in the Place de la République two days after the attacks. Beneath him are two signs that read “I’m a Muslim, but they say I’m a terrorist” and a second that said “I trust you, do you trust me? If so, give me a hug.”

Members of the public can be seen with tears in their eyes as people stepped forward to hug the man.

Similar Muslim ‘blind trust’ tests have taken place in other major cities, but it is believed to have started in Toronto in January following a spate of Islamophobic attacks.

At least 25 attacks against Muslims have been registered with the authorities since the Paris shootings last week, seven of which were physical assaults including drive-by shootings.

Three people have been arrested after shooting at a kebab shop in Blaye (Gironde) and a woman wearing a hijab was punched while leaving the metro in Marseille and received a small stab wound in the chest.

Chronic 2 Bass

Elsewhere online a passionate video by the blogger Chronic 2 Bass calling on his fellow Muslims to take action against jihadists among them has been watched more than five million times in the two days since it went up. (Watch it here, but be warned, there’s swearing).

The lodger

By contrast to Chronic 2 Bass’s call for muslims to pay attention to odd behaviour, a TV interview with the man who rented out rooms to two of the terrorists but claimed to have no knowledge of who they were has been the subject of numerous parodies, from
Les Nul’s Cité de la Peur to Fantômas and a host of alternative darker quotes such as “when they asked me if I knew how to make a molotov cocktail, I told them I wasn’t a barman”.

We have flowers
When a reporter from Le Petit Journal crouched down to interview a child in Paris he probably didn’t realise he was going to produce a beautiful summary of pacifism and resilience in the face of brutality and terror, but the conversation that followed between the boy and his father is both heart-breaking and heart-warming.