The world's beautiful and peaceful response to the Paris terror attack.

Today, as 12 of their own lay dead, the French have responded in typical Parisian style: Fiercely, gracefully, and in breathtaking force.

Look at the heaving crowds in the streets of Paris right now, defiant and together. Many of them are holding pencils; small graphite tributes to the cartoonists who died today, and the freedom of expression they deserved.

Paris now. In all its splendor. #JeSuisCharlie #CharlieHebdo pic.twitter.com/7qdEVluNeO

— Sara Assaf (@SaraAssaf) January 7, 2015

This bloody attack on satirical magazine Charlie Hedbo was not just an act of terrorism. It’s an act of violent censorship.

The perpetrators here claim to be avenging the prophet Mohammad, who cartoonists at Charlie Hedbo dared to depict in cartoon form (one of the most highly publicised taboos in Muslim culture, if you remember the incident with Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in 2005).

They stole 12 lives and left a handful of humans wounded because some drawings offended their religious beliefs. If we let them, a dozen murders could scare and silence anyone who draws irreverent things for a living.

Doesn’t look like that’s happening.

Cartoonists around the world have rallied together, picked up their pencils, and responded the best they know how. Forget an eye for an eye; this is a cartoon for a cartoon.

Scroll through some of the pitch-perfect comics published today here.