Published On:Thursday, January 8, 2015

Posted by devil

Charlie Hebdo, a satirical French weekly (the name roughly translates to Charlie Weekly) is non-conformist and left wing in nature. Since its inception in 1970, Charlie Hebdo has published jokes, cartoons and reports on Catholicism, Islam, Judaism, politics, culture, etc. The name Charlie Hebdo was derived partially as an inside joke on Charles De Gaulle, the French ruler who still influences French politics. The name is also based on Charlie Brown, the lead character of the famous comic strip, Peanuts.

Charlie Hebdo was not new to threats and protests as their writings 'threatened' fanatical groups and religious organisations. However, in one of the most brutal attacks in France, 12 of Charlie Hebdo members were gunned down during a weekly editorial meeting by an Islamic terrorist group. The threats on the weekly had increased in frequency since they openly declared Prophet Muhammed as their editor-in-chief. Charb (Stéphane Charbonnier), the editor of the magazine till he was gunned down in the attacks, was already on the most wanted list of Al-Qaeda organisations for his anti-Islamic writings.

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While the world has questioned the freedom of speech and the right to expression post these brutal attacks, there's a wave of 'Je Suis Charlie' (I am Charlie) that's doing rounds of not only France but the world. Many of Charb's quotes have gone viral on social media with prominent cartoonists taking up the pen to voice their feelings on the attacks through comics.

Here are a few tweets and comics that perfectly define the attacks...

BBC

New Yorker

Here are a few quotes by Charbs which define freedom, the right to express and freedom of speech. 

“I have no kids, no wife, no car, no credit. What I’m going to say may be a bit pompous, but I’d rather die standing than live on my knees.” - Charb

“If we worried about the consequences of each of our drawings in each of our 1,057 issues, then we would have had to close shop a long time ago.” - Charb

“I don’t feel as though I’m killing someone with a pen. I’m not putting lives at risk. When activists need a pretext to justify their violence, they always find it.” - Charb

“So let’s talk about Islam the way we talk about everything else.” - Charb

“Our job isn’t to defend freedom of speech, but without freedom of speech we are dead. We can’t live in a country without freedom of speech. I prefer to die than live like a rat.” - Charb

And perhaps the most poignant:

“A drawing has never killed anyone.” - Charb