Cartoons republished after carnage
MORE THAN five years after Islamist militants killed 12 of their colleagues, staff at French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo say they re-published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad to tell the world they are “still standing” – albeit with a security detail.
Police officers guard the entrance to the magazine’s new office, and some staff have bodyguards.
“We say ‘Good morning’ to the cops when we arrive,” said Laure Daussy, a writer who joined the magazine soon after the attacks. “That’s not something you ought to get used to.”
The gunmen are dead, but on September 2 the trial of 14 people accused of being their accomplices began in a Paris court. To mark the start of the trial, Charlie Hebdo republished the cartoons which, when first published, turned it into a target of searing anger and a global symbol of free speech.
“It’s to show that we are still standing, still alive, still doing Charlie,” said Antonio Fischetti, who has worked for Charlie Hebdo since 1997.
Anticipating strong sales, the magazine said it printed 200 000 copies. While before it struggled to stay afloat with weekly sales of 30 000, the first edition after the attacks sold 8 million copies. Weekly sales have now settled back to around 55 000 copies.
Tens of thousands of people protested in Pakistan on Saturday over the re-publication, chanting “Death to France”. In France, criticism has been muted. The rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, Hafiz Chems-eddine, wrote after the cartoons were republished that Charlie Hebdo should continue to express itself.
Abdallah Zekri, director of the French Council for the Muslim Faith, called on French Muslims to ignore the re-published cartoons.
While the years since the attack have not blunted Charlie Hebdo’s willingness to provoke, they have brought a keener understanding of the cost this carries. The magazine moved its offices to an undisclosed location.
A security firm guards the newsroom at a million euros a year. Body guards are assigned to some cartoonists and writers. Veteran writer Fischetti said the biggest change since the attack was the mood. “When I joined Charlie in the ’90s it was a gang who had fun, had a laugh. We’ve lost that.”