On January 7, 2015, French magazine Charlie Hebdo suffered a brutally violent attack by terrorists who killed several of the magazine's most famous cartoonists and satirists, and wounded others.
What is Charlie Hebdo?
If you live in France, the 44-year-old Charlie Hebdo is a household name, even though its average circulation of 100,000 readers is considered small. An infamous source of defiantly liberal political satire, the weekly ("hebdo" is an abbreviation of "weekly" in French) publication has a reputation as one of the nation's most subversive and unapologetic provocateurs. A typical issue is filled with wall-to-wall cartoons and articles that gleefully parody far-right politics and all forms of religious extremism — though historically, Militant Islam has proven to be one of Charlie Hebdo's favorite targets.
Put simply: If Bill Maher and MAD Magazine had a French lovechild, Charlie Hebdo would be it.
A Brief History
Charlie Hebdo was founded in 1970 by François Cavanna, though it ceased publication in 1981 and returned in 1992. It was borne out of a monthly satirical magazine called Hara-Kiri, created by Cavanna and Georges Bernier, that decided to go weekly. Formally banned by the French government after ridiculing media coverage of a fire that claimed 146 lives, the magazine was renamed Charlie Hebdo to skirt the ban. The name "Charlie" came from Peanuts' Charlie Brown, but it was also intended as a play on the title of another comics magazine called Charlie Mensuel. Over the years, Charlie Hebdo has made many national headlines, even influencing government policy at times. But its satire has amassed its share of enemies, including as we all (unfortunately) know, Islamic radicals. One of its most controversial editions was the February 9, 2006 issue, which depicted the prophet Muhammed on the cover, weeping and saying "It's hard being loved by jerks." Inside were more cartoons mocking Muhammed and Islam. In case you didn't know: Muslims consider it blasphemous to create images depicting the prophet Muhammed. Lawsuits were filed, threats hurled, but Charlie persevered.
Charlie and the Terrorists (Part 1)
Until the January 2015 attack, the magazine's biggest headlines came on November 2, 2011. That was the day that the editorial offices of Charlie Hebdo were firebombed and everything inside destroyed. Fortunately, the attack occurred after hours, so no staff members were present in the building.
The person(s) responsible for the bombing were never found, but it was believed to have happened in response to an edition that was about to be published in which Charlie took Islamic law to task. Among other things, the issue sarcastically boasted that the Prophet Muhammed was its new editor-in-chief, and inside were more satirical images of Muhammed and even an editorial supposedly written by the prophet.
The French prime minister at the time, Francois Fillon, and others in positions of power issued statements of support for Charlie Hebdo, defending its right to free speech. Fillon said:
"Freedom of expression is an inalienable right in our democracy and all attacks on the freedom of the press must be condemned with the greatest firmness. No cause can justify such an act of violence."
Those words, now over three years old, certainly ring true today.