Far left wing campaign group Hope Not Hate has performed an abrupt u-turn on their views over the content of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo following the tragic deaths of twelve people yesterday including the well known editor and its top cartoonists.
According to website Nope, Not Hope in 2012 director Nick Lowles said that the “real definition” of “Counter-Jihadists” was “Muslim-Haters” in an article which gave the impression that Mr Lowles thought that journalists who poked at the wasps nest of fundamentalist Islam were ‘asking for it’.
This is in stark contrast to the statement Hope Not Hate released yesterday when news emerged of the killings expressing “solidarity” with the journalists. In a statement on their website, they offered their “sincere condolences” and said they were “shocked and revolted by the brutality of an attack not only on journalists, and police, but on the notion of free speech itself”.
“Charlie Hebdo is well-known for its often satirical cartoons and articles, some of which caused deep offence to some. However, there is absolutely nothing which can then be used to justify such horrendous killings.”
However, back in September 2012 Nick Lowles wrote that the staff and publishers of magazines such as Charlie Hebdo “know full well that an incendiary video, poster, cartoon or burning will create a reaction from extremists across the world.
“Last week there was the Innocence of Muslims video. This week we have a French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, publishing obscene cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. Next week we will have Pam Geller’s outrageous “savage” posters.
“These Muslim haters know that any stupid stunt is going to cause a reaction, and probably a violent one at that…. The Muslim haters know that the images of Islamists attacking buildings and murdering people only reinforce the view of some that Islam is a violent and intolerant religion….” And far from expressing solidarity, Mr Lowles wrote:
“These extremists don’t speak for anyone except themselves and if the mainstream majority – of all faiths and none – don’t speak up soon and isolate the extremists then the downward spiral of violence and extremism will continue.”
Following the comparison of the previous comments made by Hope Not Hate, Lowles took to twitter to distance himself from the article where he clearly mentions the magazine: