Je ne suis pas d’accord avec ce que vous dites, mais je me battrai jusqu’à la mort pour que vous ayez le droit de le dire – so said one of the world’s foremost philosophers, Voltaire. It is a quotation that is often referred to whenever an attempt is made to silence a particular opinion by someone who feels uncomfortable with what is being said.

This week’s events in Paris were shocking for more than one reason.

The attack on the satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo was shocking first and foremost because of its sheer brutality, leading to the violent death of 12 innocent and unarmed civilians.

Such lack of respect for the sanctity of life should shock anyone having any sense of decency.

Secondly, and perhaps equally significantly, the assault was shocking because it was a direct attack against freedom of expression.

In a world of true freedom, people should be free to express their opinion provided it does not incite violence or other criminal activity.

Such cowardly acts must be met with complete and utter defiance

Equally enough, people should be free to express their lack of agreement with an opinion that is expressed.

Resorting to terror tactics in the hope of silencing a particular brand of critics is nothing short of a full blown attack on democracy itself. This week, the target is satire on Islam; tomorrow the target may be your own opinion piece on a newspaper or your Facebook status or your Tweet about any subject that renders some entity particularly uncomfortable. It is a slippery slope that should unite us all in our determination to combat it.

The attack presents a third shocking aspect: the prospect of an increase in xenophobia, Islamophobia and extreme-right political success.

France itself has seen the political extreme-right, in the form of Marine Le Pen and her Front National, go from success to success at the polls. One can only shudder at the thought of a Europe dominated by far-right politicians, all hell-bent on spreading racial prejudice and hatred of a particular creed. Such a prospect is equally a threat to democracy and freedom.

If freedom and democracy are to emerge victorious in the face of such monstrous barbarities, the answer is not sliding down an equally despicable mud pit. The answer is ensuring that such cowardly acts are met with complete and utter defiance.

Democracy should not change its ways and satirical magazines such as Charlie Hebdo should be allowed to continue with their editorial line as was the case prior to this shameful attack.

If need be, security should be beefed up to ensure the well-being of our society. This beefing up of security should not in any way give rise to any deterioration of anyone’s civil liberties.

Freedom, liberty and democracy did not come about overnight. Freedom, liberty and democracy are not new to difficult challenges. Neither are they new to the spilling of innocent blood.

Let us not allow the death of the innocent in the attack against Charlie Hebdo to represent the death of freedom, liberty and democracy.

Let us resolve and ensure that the Paris massacre only serves to strengthen a society that is free, democratic, tolerant and governed by the rule of law.

Angelo Micallef is a lawyer and a PN candidate