Massive global response to the latest attack on the free press
David Seddon
On Wednesday 7 January 2015, France and the rest of the world rapidly learned of the shocking attack on the offices of the satirical journal ‘Charlie Hebdo’ (Weekly Charlie) and the assassination of 12 journalists and policemen by men who are thought to be French nationals of Algerian origin and self-declared Islamist terrorists. The response was immediate and massive. Huge crowds gathered in the streets of Paris - particularly in the 20th arrondissement where the attack took place - and all across the world there were individual and collective gestures of solidarity and support for free speech, a free press and free media. Hundreds of thousands have already declared: ‘Je suis Charlie’ (I am Charlie).
Background
‘CharlieHebdo’is a French satirical weekly newspaper, featuring cartoons, reports, polemics, and jokes. The magazine is published every Wednesday, with special editions issued on an unscheduled basis. Irreverent and stridently non-conformist in tone, the publication is also anti-religious and left-wing, publishing articles on a wide range of topics and attacking shibboleths of all kinds - the extreme right, Catholicism, Islam, Judaism, politics, culture, etc. According to its former editor,‘Charb’ (Stéphane Charbonnier) – who died in the attack –the magazine's editorial viewpoint reflects ‘all components of left wing pluralism, and even abstainers’.
It has its origins in a monthly satirical magazine, called ‘Hara Kiri’ (the traditional samurai form of suicide), which started in the early 1960s. After an early reader's letter accused them of being ‘dumb and nasty’ (bête etméchant), the phrase became an official slogan for the magazine and made it into everyday language in France. In 1969, the Hara-Kiri team decided to produce a weekly publication – on top of the existing monthly magazine – which would focus more on current affairs. This was launched as Hara-Kiri Hebdo.
In November 1970, Charles de Gaulle died in his home village of Colombey-les-Deux-Églises, eight days after a fire in a nightclub caused the death of 146 people. The magazine released a cover spoofing the popular press's coverage of this disaster, headlined "Tragic Ball at Colombey, one dead." As a result, the journal was banned by the Minister of the Interior.The team decided to change its title to ‘Charlie Hebdo.’Charlie was Charlie Brown, the lead character of Peanuts,and an inside joke about Charles de Gaulle. Publication ceased in December 1981; but it was resurrected in 1992.
Previous controversies
On 26 April 1996,François Cavanna, Stéphane Charbonnier (‘Charb’) and Philippe Val filed 173,704 signatures, obtained in 8 months, with the aim of banning the Front National for contravening articles 1, 2, 4, 6 and 7 of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.
In 2000, journalist Mona Chollet was sacked after she had protested against a Philippe Val article which called Palestinians "non-civilized". In 2004, Val became director of the publication, while still holding his position as editor.
In the edition of 9 February 2006, under the title "Mahomet débordé par les intégristes" ("Muhammad overwhelmed by fundamentalists"), the front page showed a cartoon of a weeping Muhammad saying "C'estdur d'être aimé par des cons" ("it's hard being loved by jerks"). The newspaper reprinted the twelve cartoons of the Danish Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy and added some of their own. This edition sold more than twice its usual number of copies.
French President Jacques Chirac condemned such "overt provocations" which could inflame passions. "Anything that can hurt the convictions of someone else, in particular religious convictions, should be avoided", Chirac said. The Grand Mosque, the Muslim World League and the Union of French Islamic Organisations (UOIF) sued the magazine, claiming the cartoon edition included racist cartoons.
A later edition contained a statement by a group of 12 writers warning against the threat of Islamism.The suit by the Grand Mosque and the UOIF reached the courts in February 2007. Publisher Philippe Val contended "It is racist to imagine that they can't understand a joke" but Francis Szpiner, the lawyer for the Grand Mosque, explained the suit: "Two of those caricatures make a link between Muslims and Muslim terrorists. That has a name and it's called racism."
Future president Nicolas Sarkozy sent a letter to be read in court expressing his support for the ancient French tradition of satire. François Bayrou and future president François Hollande also expressed their support at the time for freedom of expression. The French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) criticized the expression of these sentiments, claiming they were politicizing a court case.
On 22 March 2007, executive editor Philippe Val was acquitted by the court. The court followed the state attorney's reasoning that two of the three cartoons were not an attack on Islam, but on Muslim terrorists, and that the third cartoon with Mohammed with a bomb in his turban should be seen in the context of the magazine in question which attacked religious fundamentalism.
In 2008, there was controversy over a column by veteran cartoonist, Siné, which led to accusations of anti-semitism and Siné's sacking by Val. Siné sued the newspaper for unfair dismissal and Charlie Hebdohad to pay €90,000 in damages. Siné launched a rival paper called SinéHebdo which later became SinéMensuel. Charlie Hebdo launched its Internet site.
In 2009, Philippe Val resigned after being appointed director of France Inter, a public radio station to which he had contributed since the early 1990s. His functions were split between two cartoonists, ‘Charb’ (Stéphane Charbonnier) and ‘Riss’ (Laurent Sourisseau).
In the early hours of 2 November 2011, the newspaper's office was fire-bombed and its website hacked. The attacks were presumed to be linked to its decision to rename a special edition "Charia Hebdo" (Shari’aHebdo), with the Prophet Mohammed listed as the "editor-in-chief". The cover, featuring a cartoon of Mohammed by Luz (RenaldLuzier), which depicted Muhammad saying: "100 lashes of the whip if you don't die laughing", had circulated on social media for a couple of days.
Charb was quoted by AP stating that the attack might have been carried out by "stupid people who don't know what Islam is" and that they are "idiots who betray their own religion". Mohammed Moussaoui, head of the French Council of the Muslim Faith, said his organisationdeplores "the very mocking tone of the paper toward Islam and its prophet but reaffirms with force its total opposition to all acts and all forms of violence." François Fillon, the Prime Minister, and Claude Guéant, the Interior Minister, voiced support for Charlie Hebdo, as did feminist writer Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who criticised calls for self-censorship.
In September 2012, the newspaper published a series of satirical cartoons of Muhammed, some of which featured nude caricatures. Given that this came days after a series of attacks on U.S. embassies in the Middle East, purportedly in response to the anti-Islamic film Innocence of Muslims, the French government decided to increase security at certain French embassies, as well as to close the French embassies, consulates, cultural centres, and international schools in about 20 Muslim countries. In addition, riot police surrounded the offices of the magazine to protect against possible attacks.
Foreign Minister Laurent Fabiuswas critical: "In France, there is a principle of freedom of expression, which should not be undermined. In the present context, given this absurd video that has been aired, strong emotions have been awakened in many Muslim countries. Is it really sensible or intelligent to pour oil on the fire?" However, the newspaper's editor defended publication of the cartoons, saying, "We do caricatures of everyone, and above all every week, and when we do it with the Prophet, it's called provocation."
The latest attack
On 7 January 2015, three gunmen opened fire at the Paris office of Charlie Hebdo, killing at least 12, and wounding 11. Staff cartoonists Charb, Cabu, Honoré, Tignous, and Wolinski, along with economist Bernard Maris, and two police officers standing guard at the magazine were all killed. President François Hollande described it as a "terrorist attack of the most extreme barbarity". The three men are identified as Said Kouachi and CherifKouachi, both French nationals of Algerian origin, and HamydMourad, 18, whose nationality is unknown.
On Thursday, the day after the attack, the remaining staff of Charlie Hebdo announced that publication would continue, with the next week's edition of the newspaper to be released under the usual schedule.
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