Less than two weeks after Islamist militants attacked a beach on the Ivory Coast, killing 19 people, Ivorians returned to the same beach to make a music video about living without fear.
“Meme Pas Peur,” or “Not a bit afraid,” features peaceful landscape shots of Grand Bassam beach, where gunmen with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb raided resorts on a Sunday afternoon (March 14), killing tourists and locals. In the video, a group of Ivorians, and tourists, some wearing shirts decorated with the Ivorian flag, dance on the beach and in the water.
The song was released on Youtube on the same day of three attacks in Brussels by the jihadist group ISIL.
“In Ivory Coast, we’re on our feet,” it proclaims, criticizing AQIM’s interpretation of Islam. “What are you doing on the beaches? Because of 70 virgins, you kill innocent people… Islam is a religion that promotes love, you kill innocents for lost causes.” It also aims a few barbs at suicide attackers—six of the assailants at Grand Bassam were killed by police. “You kill innocents for lost causes… You there, in the name of God, you won’t go to paradise.”