 The next item of business today is the member's business debate on motion number 15065 in the name of Christian Allard on Charlie Hebdo. This debate will be concluded without any questions being put, and I would be grateful if those members who wish to speak in the debate could press a request to speak buttons now. I call on Christian Allard to open the debate. Seven minutes please, Mr Allard. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I would like first of all to thank all the MSPs who signed the motion and all the MSPs who stayed this afternoon to listen to the debate. And of course, all those who stood shoulder to shoulder in solidarity with the people of France in the time of need at first minister's question a year ago. Presiding Officer, it is time for Parliament to reflect on the events that took place in Paris on the 7th of January 2015 at the Charlie Hebdo offices. We remember today the journalist, and I say the journalist because cartoonists are journalists as well as they are artists. We remember the police officers and others who fell victim to the attack. An attack on the right of free speech. The following day, more people died in a Jewish supermarket in Paris, and I understand that there are many terrorist attacks across the world that don't get the same attention in our media or in Parliament. Some of those attacks were made in more victims often unreported, but that day the attack on freedom of expression brought together French communities in France like never before across the world and across Scotland in Aberdeen, and I remember very well the French committee coming to Aberdeen with a lot of Scottish friends. In Glasgow under the rain I've seen the pictures and in Edinburgh of course in the capital. France has a great love for the work of cartoonists and a great love for politics, and that goes very well together. This explains the overwhelming reaction of the people in France on the day of the attack. Cartoonists are celebrities of a ver. Invited in chat shows and news programmes, listened to, read and appreciated by whole. This day, today, must be about them. About cartoonists free to work in France and across the world. One of France's most popular of those artists, of those journalists, of those cartoonists, was of course Cabeau, one of the victims. He served as a French military during the Algerian War, which was our Vietnam War. He did not stop him drawing. He drew cartoons for the Army magazine Bled and other publications like Pilote. I was a great fan of Pilote when I was young, and it's a pilot. It's that pilot where no less than the father of aesthetics and I know how much aesthetics is loved in Scotland. For example, today in the national there is aesthetics speaking the mother tongue, and it is great to see that this cross borders. It's that pilot that no less than the father of aesthetics, René Gossigny, first employee of Cabeau. In 1960, Cabeau co-founded Arakiri magazine. What a name, presenting officer, Arakiri. And the magazine did commit Arakiri. It got banned and was replaced the following day by Charlie Hebdo. We had lost another one of its founders a year before the attack, a great hero of mine and other cartoonist, Cavana. Arakiri, like Charlie Hebdo, respected nothing. As Cavana explained, we respect nothing because nothing is respectable. Let's be clear. Those magazines are outrageous, they're provoking, they're crude, sometimes obscene. They certainly do not appeal to everyone's states, and that is very clear. We are not for everybody's conception. Another victim on that day was 80 years old, Vorinsky, from an immigrant family just like Cavana. Vorinsky was born in Tunisia to Jewish parents. Drawing cartoons was his life, very political, but also very erotic drawings. Perfect for a publication like Charlie Hebdo. And yet in 2005 he was recognized nationally and awarded Francis Higher Decoration, the Legion of Honor. Another victim was Bernard Verlak or Tinius, as he was known. He had his work published in many of the popular magazines which I used to buy very often when I was young again, like Fluid Glacial. No surprise to anyone, Tinius was a member of cartoonist for peace. Many more died that day in the office of Charlie Hebdo, president of the Philippe Honoré, another cartoonist, two columnists, Bernard Marie and Elsa Caillard, a copy editor, Mustafa Hurat. Two more people who happened to be in the offices of Charlie Hebdo at the time, Michel Renault and Frederic Boiseaux. The editor, Stephen Charbonnier Charb, as is well known, died also that despite being under police protection because they were under police protection. This is how his bodyguard, police officer Frank Bransolaro lost his life. Another victim was Ahmed Merabe, the policeman who opened fire on the terrorists. His brother later said that Ahmed was Muslim and very proud of being a police officer and defending the values of the Republic, of the French Republic. At this point, president and officer, I would like to strongly state that this attack, like many other terrorist attacks in the past, has nothing to do with religion. It's about power, president and officer. It's about men wanting power. It always is. Are you on? We are still asking how best to respond to terror. Charlie Hebdo has given us the best response to this attack on free speech as we can get. They kept on doing what they were doing before. They kept on being the treasures to mock and to provoke us all, to show no respect to anyone because none of us are respectable. In the aftermath, the message came clear and came from the people, not from politicians and not from the media. An attack on our journalists and our cartoonists is more than an attack on free speech. It's an attack on us all. This is why we must not change any of our laws to restrict free speech or our freedom of expression. We don't need to like or even buy Charlie Hebdo magazine, but we need to make sure that we have the right to be published. Cartoonists are also taking a bigger place here in politics, from Steve Bell to Craig Moody. We might not always agree with them, but we need to make sure that the drawings are seen. Let's make today, the 7th of January, a day to celebrate cartoonists across the world. After this debate, the cross-party group for France will meet to have a discussion about this on committee room for a discussion led by Scottish cartoonist Terry Anderson who is in the gallery today and from Cartoonist rights network internationally. Let's make sure that we keep intact our freedom of expression. And let me finish, Presiding Officer, with the words of another journalist, Antoine Leris, who wrote an open letter to the terrorist who killed his wife in the atrocity of the Bataclan concert hall in Paris last November. He wrote, No, I will not give you the satisfaction of eating you. Presiding Officer, let's celebrate today the cartoonist across the world. Merci beaucoup. I now call Elaine Murray to be followed by Chick Brody. Thank you, Presiding Officer, and I would like to congratulate Christiana Lara on securing this debate. I hope that I managed to sign it. I tried to check that there is a peculiarity of the portal that you can only see the last seven days of motions that have been submitted. I am not quite sure what has gone wrong with that. It does not seem like a year since members of this Parliament—indeed, people across Europe and beyond—were declaring just we, Charlie, to express our solidarity with the 17 people murdered, including journalists working at the Charlie Hebdo offices and in the attack on the Jewish supermarket. None of us then would have expected that, just 11 months later, Paris and its people would again be the victims of appalling acts of terrorism, and that on this occasion 130 people would be left dead. As Christiana Lara said, the taking of life through acts of terrorism is appalling whatever part of the world it occurs in. However, I think that there is something about it occurring in a city that you know yourself, which really brings home to you the horror of the atrocity. I know Paris quite well myself. My parents had a good friend in Nojansu Man when I was a child and I first visited the city at the age of eight. It seems almost unbelievable that this city should be subjected to terrorist atrocity twice in 2015. Mrs Lara submitted his motion in order to be able to champion the cause of free speech. I think that that is a very topical discussion, because there is a lot of debate around whether Donald Trump should be banned from the United Kingdom because of his hateful comments about banning Muslims from the United States. I am sure that all, if not all, certainly the vast majority of members of this Parliament hope that Mr Trump gets nowhere at all near the White House. The right to free speech, of course, is not absolute. There is a balance point beyond which someone's right to express their opinion will compromise the safety or human rights of others. Where that balance point falls is not always easy to judge. Charlie Hebdo is a satirical magazine, so I wanted to use my short contribution to highlight the importance of satire, particularly in political life. Christiana talked about the role of cartoonists. The word cartoonist these days tends to be associated with children's entertainment, but cartoons have a much longer and more serious history than Mickey Mouse and Tom and Jerry. Cartoons in Europe have for centuries been a medium for political comment and satire. My history textbooks at school were illustrated by cartoons depicting Bonaparte and Wellington, Charles James Fox and William Pitt the Younger, Gladstone and Israeli. Some of those would be considered to be racially offensive these days. Indeed, the depictions with Israeli were very racially offensive. Others were highly offensive towards the Scots and the Ishes, for example, or towards people from Africa. However, those cartoons gave a real insight into the way issues were being perceived at the time. Although our attitudes towards what is acceptable and what is offensive change over time and increasing multicultural aspiration satire, whether using the medium of cartoons or TV, radio, etc., remains important. Entertainment and illustrative of views and perceptions. During the 1980s and 1990s, I was a great fan of the TV programme Spitting Image. As many people know, it was a satirical puppet show that poked fun at politicians, celebrities and the royal family, which at that time was quite novel. Some people were offended by it, particularly the issues around the royal family and the way in which they were depicted. Many of us found it highly entertaining and it was also a very pertinent commentary on the social and political issues of the time. I do sometimes wonder what its content might have been if the show hadn't been cancelled in 1996, and Mr Fluck Law and Lambinéon had decided to interpret the activities of this legislature. Celebrities and senior politicians receive a lot of publicity and can therefore overestimate the importance of their own importance in the great scheme of things. Satire, through cartoons or other media, to slightly misquote Robert Burns is a gift that allows them to see how others see them. It enables us all to laugh at ourselves, our leaders, at the people we admire, and brings them and us all down to earth. Long live Satire. Je m'appel Char. Maes o'r jei rwy'i pwy tu le jour, je suis charlie. Can I thank Christine Allard for bringing this debate to the chamber today on this anniversary? Last night I watched the very strong documentary about the Charlie Hebdo and subsequent terrorist adventures in France. It was extremely overwhelming. Charlie Hebdo magazine was published first in 1970, then seized publication in 1981, then it was resurrected in 1992, being published weekly since then. The magazine offers and offered, like many good satirical cartoonists, offered a refreshing and different angle on issues of the day, embracing humour, provoking thought, employing satire all wrapped in a parcel of creativity. In its website, it says that it defends secularism pure and simple. Society is free of racism but not segmented into ethnic groups. It defends universalism without crying peace doves and cultural diversity without snobs. Charlie Hebdo magazine threw its cartoons and writing, like fellow cartoonists and writers across the world, held up a mirror to society until that dark day one year ago on Wednesday, Jan 7, 2015, when men in black smashed or tried to smash that particular mirror. Sata's job, cartoonist and reporter's jobs, is to do that to mirror problems and contradictions in society, not to solve these three men in black had problems, some of it caused by peradventures in their countries caused by others and perceived as an attack on what was a developing but closed secular society. Presiding Officer, the state of political satire in an open society rather reflects the tolerance or the seminary tolerance that defines it. Less open society shun criticism, albeit as it sometimes is. It shun that criticism, especially pictorial criticism, as we see in our cartoons daily. So it was with Charlie Hebdo on that particular dark day, but not for the first time. We did suffer two attacks, the first in 2011 and, of course, 2015 when 12 people died. Today and every day, we shall remember them. Harold Rosenberg, an American philosopher, once said that satire and irony are regarded as the most effective source to develop a society, to understand a society. Once we have resolved the pain and the conflict that we have today—and we will—that pain that exists in societies that spawned terrorism, then perhaps even then satire in the form of cartoons will be even then a bigger vehicle to debunk the leading figures in politics, in religion and in other pseudo realms of power. It was no coincidence that, just as recently, respect for that openness, for example, was depicted by the flying of flags, for example in Glasgow and cities across Scotland and across the world, and it was described at that time as a challenge to a brutal attack on democracy and the freedom of expression. For it is as true as it has always been that the pen is mightier than the sword in world in drawings and in pictures. The neutralisation of terrorism against the Charlie Hebdos of the world, the minds and the hearts of those who would wish to change others via the barrel of a gun, will find ultimately that that barrel has a pen stuck in it. The greatest honour that we can pay to those today is that those who lost their lives and those who lose their lives to intolerance, to eschew the division of communities along narrow cultural or religious lines is to support the writer Sata and his vanguard of cartoonists in pursuing the creation within societies that allows and encourages debate and diversity. May their pens never run dry? Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. First, I'd like to congratulate Christian Allard for securing time in Parliament for this important debate. One year ago, on the seventh day of a new year, Paris, the city of lights, was darkened by a fearful atrocity. The first physical target of the attack was the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. The brutal murder of 11 journalists and one policeman as he lay unarmed on the pavement and wounded. Shocked the world and was followed by another atrocity at the hyper cache in another part of the city, the Île de France, where four more innocent people fell victim to the lone gunman Coulibaly who claimed to be working in tandem with the Hebdo assailants, Sherif and Syed Kuwashi. The physical attack on Charlie Hebdo symbolised an attack on the core freedoms we used to take for granted. Freedom of speech and the right to express beliefs without fear or terror. These fundamental freedoms are the basis of our Western European culture. They are a guard against tyranny and we have seen only too clearly what can happen when tyrants such as Hitler and Stalin can throttle that process, mass murder, holocaust, untold terror and mayhem. The attackers, members of Al Qaeda, ultimately failed in their aims because of the huge groundswell of outrage, first among the people of France and then elsewhere, just as we, Charlie, identified the groundswell with those innocents who had died and hopefully proved that the pen is still mightier than the sword. But these shocking events must impress upon us how fragile are these special freedoms and how important the need to protect our decent values that are central to our democracy and our way of life and to value and protect those who espouse them. Tyrants and terrorists alike in many of the most despicable regimes fear journalists, cartoonists, musicians and filmmakers for exposing them for what they are. Satire is a most effective tool in eroding pedestals. Laughter is poison to a tyrant. Let us remember the anger felt by Hitler when he was lampooned in Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator. The Marx Brothers film about Fredonia was also in the same vein and more recently The Interview which depicts events in North Korea is another in that vein. Indeed growing up in the UK I have been aware of the value of satire in lampooning politicians and other leaders through programmes such that was the week that was, spitting image and long established magazines like Punch and Private Eye. Even before this in the 19th century George Cruikshank frequently do George IV in a very unflattering light. Many may not like satires, especially politicas, but these are brave people who are in the front line when it comes to challenging tyranny and they run the risk of revenge attacks especially by fanatics. We must appreciate their courage, mourn their loss and support their replacement as bastions as part of our free world order. Especially the Charlie Hedbow atrocity highlights the dangers faced by journalists across the world. It takes great bravery to stand up and be counted and to tell the truth and that is never more important than now in an era which is seeing a decline in freedoms and an increase in terrorism and unfortunately it is likely that there will be further atrocities and massacres. Christian Allard remembers rightly that the people of Scotland and all our MSPs stood shoulder to shoulder following this massacre and all of us we must continue to behave in this way with courage in the face of this dark threat to freedom decency and a way of life to which countless people all over the world aspire. I invite Fiona Hyslop to respond to the debate. I thank Christian Allard for securing the debate and for what I thought was an excellent speech and I thank all the members who contributed to what has been a very thoughtful reflection on the horrific attacks on the Charlie Hedbow officers in Paris. A total of 17 people were killed in three days of attacks a year ago. That also targeted a Jewish supermarket and police. Since the attacks in January there have been a number of other incidents in February, April, June and August and finally the murder of 129 people in November. Charlie Hedbow's officers had already been fire bombed in 2011 and other magazine officers in Europe had also been threatened but the attack in Paris in January last year shocked the world. Within hours of the shootings the hashtag issues we see Charlie went viral rallying millions behind the plight of free speech in opposition to brutal killings. The horrific crimes prompted an unprecedented showing of solidarity with demonstrations and vigils held around the world. On the length of January about 2 million people including more than 40 world leaders met in Paris for a rally of national unity and about 3.7 million people joined demonstrations across France. Here in Scotland the First Minister spoke to the French consul general after the attacks and wrote to President Hollande to convey Scotland's condolences to and solidarity with the French people. She made a statement during First Minister's question time in flags, flew at half mast on Scottish government premises and here at Parliament. Rallies were held in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow. I signed the book of condolence at the French consulate and attended and spoke at an event organised by the French community outside the French consulate in Edinburgh. With today's debate we signal that we continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of France united in our condemnation of the atrocities. We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of life but at the same time we are absolutely steadfast in our defence of the fundamental freedoms that we all cherish so much. The attacks were intended to spread terror and to drive a wedge into communities and societies. However, the response has achieved the opposite to what the terrorists intended to. In the aftermath of the attacks, the Scottish Government has been clear that we stand together with the Muslim communities in expressing our condemnation. Following the Charlie Hebdo attacks, the Scottish Arab Federation issued a statement in which they publicly declared the condemnation of the terrorist act. They highlighted that the vast majority of Muslims are horrified and sickened by the attacks and that Islam as a religion advocates tolerance and freedom of belief. Furthermore, they point to the fact that Muslims and other ethnic minority groups are very concerned about the rise of resentment against immigrants in many European countries. Let me quote from the final section of the Scottish Arab Federation statement. In order to eradicate terrorism, the fight against it must not be confined to security and military measures, but it should include political, socio-economic, ideological and cultural factors. Mutual understanding is essential to build confidence and avoid unreasonable behaviour. Constructive communication helps to overcome prejudice and shared media and slanted media reporting. Establishing dialogue through robust channels will go a long way towards diffusing tension and maintaining a peaceful and calm existence for all. The debate today has echoed many of those sentiments. A peaceful and calm existence for all is a cornerstone of our diverse and multicultural society. Terrorists want to undermine the values that we share. They aim to damage community relations, and it is clear that terrorism is, as Christian Allard pointed out, about a propagation of fear and a provocation of hate. An important challenge for us is to work towards creating cohesive and resilient communities in which the terrorist messages will not resonate. With today's debate, we affirm this Parliament's commitment to a modern, inclusive Scotland, which protects, respects and realises internationally recognised human rights principles. The assault on the Charlie Hebdo oftas was an act of terrorism and also an attack on the freedom of speech. It was Benjamin Franklin who said that whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freedom of speech. The principle of freedom of expression is a centrepiece of the European Convention of Human Rights and the international covenant on civil and political rights. It was a fundamental feature of the universal declaration of human rights, adopted in 1948, in response to the conflict and catastrophe that was brought about by the dictatorships of the 1930s. The power of caricature and satire has long been recognised. It was understood in ancient Greece and in Rome and is still feared by tyrants and dictators. Amnesty International's current right for rights campaign highlights the case of political cartoonist Zo Kifli Anwar Olhaki, who is also known as Zunar, who is facing a long prison sentence in Malaysia for so-called seditious cartoons. Such cartoons exist to highlight injustice and to make the case for change through challenge and ridicule. It can sometimes be hurtful as well as thought-provoking, but in a modern democracy like Scotland, there is more than ample room for legitimate commentary through the medium of cartoons and caricature. Those who seek to influence the views and opinions of others in our society need to accept that their own views are also open to challenge. A compliant, reverential media is not compatible with modern democracy. Democracies thrive in the face of challenge through freedom of expression. As we have heard in this debate, Elaine Murray talked about the historical context of political satire and cartoons. Chick Brody spoke eloquently about the modern context and relationship of democracy satire and the power of the pen. Jamie MacGregor has reminded us of the importance of the freedoms that we value and how we cannot and should not take those for granted. Of course, in a respectful democratic society where human rights are valued, there are also limits to express views that challenge and provoke. Giving of gratuitous offences is not a right, and satirical attacks, motivated by hatred and prejudice, step over the line of what is acceptable. Indeed, international treaties, including the ECHR, recognise that the exercise of freedom of expression brings with it duties and responsibilities, not least of which is the obligation to respect the rights of others. That includes the right of other people to hold views with which we may ourselves fundamentally disagree. In closing, I want to refer to the motto that appears on the coat of arms of the city of Paris, which shows a ship and sea. The motto, and I reflect on my higher Latin, is Fluctuate's neck mergator, which translates as she is shaken by the waves but does not sink. This century-old motto had a surge in popularity and is used in social media as a symbol of Paris resistance in the face of terrorism. Whilst we are all shaken by the terrible events in Paris, we continue to stand united with France in the fight against terrorism.