It's only the seventh day of the new year and
there has already been what appears to be another terrorist attack. For those
of you who don't know what happened: Around noon today two (or three, police are not entirely sure yet) heavily armed men
stormed the offices of French magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris and started
shooting. Twelve people died, among them four popular cartoonists and two
policemen, several more were injured. The attackers are now on the run.
I could go into more detail about what exactly
happened, but there are several news sites that summarise today's tragic events
far better than I ever could, so if you're interested I'd recommend you read
one (or all) of the following:
(this one's German - sorry...)
(Info on the cartoonists killed and Charlie Hebdo itself)
Even though people in and around Paris have
been warned about the possibility of further attacks, countless of them are
coming together in the streets to proclaim their solidarity with Charlie Hebdo.
They are carrying signs saying "Je suis Charlie" (= "I am
Charlie") and holding up pens in protest. Not only French people are
showing their solidarity. All across Europe people have started to gather to signify their support. #JeSuisCharlie has been trending on Twitter
for hours.What is Charlie Hebdo?
Charlie Hebdo (French for "Charlie
weekly") is a French satirical newspaper that quite often covers polemic
topics. It has been described as very anti-religious and its controversial cartoons
have made headlines in the past. A couple of years ago Charlie Hebdo was victim
of terrorist threats and an arson attack to their offices after the magazine published cartoons of the Muslim prophet Muhammad. Charlie Hebdo and its workers have since been
under police protection. Unfortunately that protection has now proven unsuccessful.
Response
One of the things that struck me most about
this whole tragedy was other cartoonists' response. Several cartoons by cartoonists from all over the world have been published since the attacks condemning them (in a more or less cynical way).
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| David Pope, political cartoonist at The Canberra Times, on Twitter: "Can't sleep tonight, thoughts with my French cartooning colleagues, their families and loved ones #CharlieHebdo" |
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| Ruben L. Oppenheimer, Dutch political cartoonist, on Twitter: "#CharlieHebdo" |
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| Jean Jullien, French graphic designer living in London, on Twitter: "I am devastated by what just happened in France. #CharlieHebdo" |
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| Neelabh Banerjee, Indian cartoonist and illustrator, on Twitter: "Horrible attack. Cartoonists accross the world are uniting against bloodshed and violence." |
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| Nate Beeler, US-American editorial cartoonist for The Columbus Dispatch, on Twitter: "RIP #CharlieHebdo cartoonists. My toon from 2010:" |
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| Bernardo Erlich, Argentinian cartoonist for Revista VIVA, Clarín, on Twitter: "Atentado a Charlie Hebdo." (Attack on Charlie Hebdo.); [The cartoon says: "The world has become so serious that humour is a risky profession."] |
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| Martin Vidberg, French cartoonist, on Twitter: "Comment dessiner aujourd'hui? Comment ne pas dessiner aujourd'hui?" (How to draw today? How not to draw today?); [Cartoon: "Today, I am a press cartoonist. Today, I am a journalist. Today I draw for Charlie Hebdo."] |
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| Francisco J. Olea, Chilean illustrator, on Twitter: "#CharlieHebdo"; ["Grab your weapons, mates!"] |
Those are just a few examples of international cartoonists' reactions, that I found on here: http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/heartbreaking-cartoons-from-artists-in-response-to-the-ch?bffb&utm_term=4ldqpgp#.ev6RLNl4x
Irony at its worst
This is one of the cartoons that was (supposed to be??) published in today's issue of Charlie Hebdo. It was drawn by Stéphane Charbonnier aka "Charb", editor at Charlie Hebdo and one of the cartoonists killed in the shooting.
Roughly translated, the cartoon says: "Still no attacks in France. - Wait! We still have time until the end of January to give our best wishes/wish a Happy New Year."
What people shouldn't forget
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| Carlos Latuff, Brasilian political cartoonist, on Twitter: "Please RT! #CharlieHebdo attack has another victim! Via @MiddleEastMnt #ParisShooting" |
Which is why things like "#KillAllMuslims" trending on Twitter, to me, are almost as disgusting as the shooting itself.
I am not in any way trying to justify the attacks. They can't be justified. They were wrong and just plain horrible. But the fact that people are now trying to use today's events as an argument in their tirades against Muslims and Islam worries me. There is a significant difference between Muslims and Islamic fundamentalists. And while condemning what those two (three?? we still don't know) men did is perfectly understandable and valid, condemning an entire group of people along with them, just because they happen to belong to a certain religion, isn't.
Just try to remember that, even in the face of tragedies like the Charlie Hebdo shooting.
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