After the armed attack on the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists, the political and media exploiters of the emotional reaction to these events made a catchphrase of the words “national unity.” In so doing, they masked the attack’s social and geopolitical causes, and began a witch hunt against anyone who refused to submit to their agenda.

The “war on terror” — a weapon of theirs based on the supposed defense of “freedom” against “obscurantism” and “barbarism” — thus serves to consolidate the social and political order that contributed to this violence in the first place. Indeed, it suppresses any struggles that challenge these structures — including the fight against Islamophobia.

Social struggles and the political fight against structural racism have made real progress in recent years in France, despite their systematic marginalization. And those attempting to restore the French situation to what it was prior to these successes have opportunistically seized on this attack. That is also true at an international level: these forces have contributed to the colonial counter-revolution in Third World countries, particularly in the Arab world, after the political upheavals and revolutionary movements of 2011.