The words, “Je suis Charlie” (I am Charlie) swept the Western world on the evening of January 7.

That morning, masked, heavily armed assassins broke into the offices of the Parisian weekly newspaper, Charlie Hebdo (“Hebdo” translates to “Weekly”) and murdered 11 people—for printing satirical cartoons they didn’t like.

Satire is an old tradition in France, and during a mid-week of terrorism, the French people’s determination to publicly demonstrate their freedom only grew stronger.

But in much of the Middle East, the cartoons Charlie Hebdo prints are considered blasphemy, punishable by prison or worse. The assassins claimed they were avenging a defamation of their religion.

Their two real goals were different. They wanted publicity from the Western press they abhor, to recruit disaffected Western Muslims to the terrorist death cults, which they claim to be Islam. More of a concern here, they want to intimidate and coerce the media and weaken our freedom of speech, which they also can’t abide.

Some commentators in this country, while railing against the attack on free speech, also questioned Charlie Hebdo’s pouring gasoline on a fire. In an interchange with one of these, Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein critiqued the networks’ refusal to air Charlie Hebdo cartoons for fear of reprisals. Bernstein said the media’s acting in concert provided strength in numbers against reprisals. “There comes a point where we have to be courageous, and this is a point where we need some solidarity.”

Over the years, Charlie Hebdo has repeatedly targeted Muhammad, as well Jesus, the Pope, Judaism, French and world political leaders and public figures with its biting satirical cartoons.

A famed quotation is often attributed to the 18th century French philosopher and playwright Voltaire: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

Stephane Charbonnier, publisher and cartoonist, and his three top cartoonists, were among the dead in the Wednesday attack. When Charlie Hebdo’s offices were firebombed in 2011, Charbonnier responded similarly to the threat. “I’d rather die standing than live on my knees.”

Our American press has to have the same kind of resolve.

Ironically, in addition to guns and bombs, the perpetrators of recent attacks are using the hallmarks of our civilization’s free speech to attack the Western world: media, which can’t ignore news; and the Internet, which can’t ignore anything.

The attacks aren’t likely to stop anytime soon. Fanatics out there will continue their agendas unless and until the oppressed and enslaved populations they control rise up to reject their message and replace them.

Big issues, small paper

Intimidation happens everywhere and is not new to this publication. Thirty years ago, a paid activist from California came here to predict the National Park Service’s (NPS) upcoming theft of their land. For those who don’t recall it, people were stirred into a fearful frenzy.

In need of a scapegoat, the activist named this newspaper, which had thoroughly covered the river corridor planning, as the NPS propaganda tool. A boycott was organized. Some vendors refused to sell the paper and advertisers dropped ads. Others stepped forward to defend it. People on opposite sides stopped talking to each other. NPS vehicles were vandalized. One man took a swing at another at a planning meeting. The newspaper ran a satirical cartoon and biting editorials. The home of general manager Laurie Stuart and editor Glenn Pontier mysteriously burned down, and the cause was never determined.

What people didn’t know at the time was that there were those at the park service who were also suspicious about this newspaper’s agenda. Working part-time as an interpreter for NPS to augment my negligible newspaper earnings, I became the subject for investigation. One of my park service superiors called me in to explain my actions in an off-duty meeting with NPS opponents. I said that I was reporting the other side of the issue, but didn’t elaborate. When Superintendent John Hutzky learned of my superior’s efforts to interfere with the press, that superior was overruled and eventually transferred to another park.

The newspaper responded to the efforts at intimidation by continuing to report the news, both good and bad. As time passed, the public’s desire to know what was going on overcame the boycott and it all became yesterday’s news.

Watch your back

We can’t change the cultures of others from the outside, but we must be sure that intimidation and coercion don’t change ours. There will be more threats and attacks on our freedoms, and not all of them will be so overt.

After 9/11, we got the PATRIOT Act, and the government was into our phones and library borrowing records. We need to be sure that more of our right to privacy isn’t lost through new and more invasive efforts to insure us against all evil.

Ben Franklin penned these famous words: “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” We are a free and open society and there will always be risks that go with our freedoms.

James Madison was principal framer of the Bill of Rights. He wrote, “The instability, injustice, and confusion introduced [by faction] into the public councils, have, in truth, been the mortal diseases under which popular governments have everywhere perished.”

We’ll continue to stand with the First Amendment and the words of Stephane Charbonnier: I, too, would “rather die standing than live on my knees.”