What the murderers might have in mind: to generate a powerful backlash against all Muslims, and a society in which further marginalization of minorities drives ever-greater alienation and radicalization. This would certainly spur more recruits to violence, and serve to purport "legitimized resistance" to perceived repression. It a very old strategy. To these killers, the notion of reasonable accommodation with others' beliefs and lifestyles is anathema. It is very unlikely that they were seeking some sort of 'respect and dignity' within the culture of secular France—and there is much work to be done toward that reasonable goal that does not include curbing free expression. Much more likely they aimed their terror as a salvo in the battle for the universal jurisdiction of a 'global caliphate' — in which the most severe and twisted hyper-Islamist misinterpretation of their religion's teachings would be imposed on all.
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What the murderers might have in mind: to generate a powerful backlash against all Muslims, and a society in which further marginalization of minorities drives ever-greater alienation and radicalization. This would certainly spur more recruits to violence, and serve to purport "legitimized resistance" to perceived repression. It a very old strategy. To these killers, the notion of reasonable accommodation with others' beliefs and lifestyles is anathema. It is very unlikely that they were seeking some sort of 'respect and dignity' within the culture of secular France—and there is much work to be done toward that reasonable goal that does not include curbing free expression. Much more likely they aimed their terror as a salvo in the battle for the universal jurisdiction of a 'global caliphate' — in which the most severe and twisted hyper-Islamist misinterpretation of their religion's teachings would be imposed on all.