Charlie Hebdo

Charlie Hebdo

The paper's controversial 3 November 2011 issue "guest-edited" by Mohammed.
Type	Weekly satirical news magazine
Format	Magazine
Editor	Charb
Founded	1969, 1992
Political alignment	Left-wing, anarchist
Official website	charliehebdo.fr

Charlie Hebdo (Charlie Weekly) is a French satirical weekly newspaper, featuring cartoons, reports, polemics and jokes. It appeared from 1969 to 1981, when it folded, and was resurrected in 1992. The current editor is cartoonist Charb. His predecessors are François Cavanna (1969–1981) and Philippe Val (1992–2009). Irreverent and stridently non-conformist in tone, the publication has a strongly left-wing, anarchist slant.

The magazine is published every Wednesday, with special editions issued on an unscheduled basis.

History

In 1960, Georges Bernier, and François Cavanna launched a monthly magazine entitled Hara-Kiri. Choron acted as the director of publication and Cavanna as its editor. Eventually Cavanna gathered together a team which included Roland Topor, Fred Othon Aristidès, Jean-Marc Reiser, Georges Wolinski, Georges "Gébé" Blondeaux, and Jean "Cabu" Cabut. After an early reader's letter accused them of being "dumb and nasty" ("bête et méchant"), the phrase became an official slogan for the magazine and made it into everyday language in France.

The publication was banned in 1961, but reappeared in 1966. Certain collaborators did not return along with the newspaper, such as Blondeaux, Cabut, Topor, and Aristidès. New members of the team included Delfeil de Ton, Pierre Fournier, and Bernhard Willem Holtrop.

1969–1981

In 1969, the team decided to produce a weekly publication as well as a monthly magazine. Gébé and Cabu returned. In February 1969, Hara-Kiri Hebdo was launched, and then renamed L'Hebdo Hara-Kiri in May of the same year.

In November 1970, Charles de Gaulle died in his home village of Colombey, ten days before a club fire caused the death of 146. 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 once more banned, this time by the Minister of the Interior.

In order to side-step the ban, the team decided to change its title, and used Charlie Hebdo. The new name was derived from a monthly comics magazine called Charlie Mensuel (Charlie Monthly), which had been started by Bernier and de Ton in 1968. Charlie took its name from Charlie Brown, the lead character of Peanuts, and was possibly also a nod to Charles de Gaulle.

In December 1981, the publication ceased, owing to a lack of readers.

1992

In 1991, Gébé, Cabu and others were reunited to work for La Grosse Bertha, a new weekly magazine resembling Charlie created in reaction to the Gulf War and edited by comic singer Philippe Val. However, the following year, Val clashed with the publisher, who wanted apolitical mischief, and was fired. Gébé and Cabu walked out with him and decided to launch their own paper again. The three called upon Cavanna, Delfeil de Ton and Wolinski, requesting their help and input. After much searching for a new name, the obvious idea of resurrecting Charlie-Hebdo was agreed on. The new magazine was owned by Val, Gébé, Cabu and singer Renaud Séchan. Val was editor, Gébé artistic director.

The publication of the new Charlie Hebdo began in July 1992 amidst much publicity. The first issue under the new publication sold 100,000 copies.

Choron, who had fallen out with his former colleagues, tried to restart a weekly Hara-Kiri, but its publication was short-lived. Choron died in January 2005.

2004

Following the death of Gébé, Val succeeded him as director of the publication, while still holding his position as editor.

2006

Controversy arose over the publication's February 9, 2006 edition. Under the title "Mahomet débordé par les intégristes" ("Muhammad overwhelmed by fundamentalists"), the front page showed a cartoon of a weeping Prophet Muhammad saying "C'est dur d'être aimé par des cons" ("it's hard being loved by jerks"). The newspaper reprinted the twelve cartoons of the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy and added some of their own. Compared to a regular circulation of 100,000 sold copies, this edition enjoyed great commercial success. 160,000 copies were sold and another 150,000 were in print later that day.

In response, French President Jacques Chirac condemned "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, claiming the cartoon edition included racist cartoons.

A later edition contained a statement by a group of 12 writers warning against Islamism - Islamic totalitarianism.

2007

The suit by the Grand Mosque and the UOIF reached the courts in February. 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 Nicholas Sarkozy sent a letter to be read in court expressing his support for the ancient French tradition of satire. François Bayrou and François Hollande also expressed their support 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 March 22, 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.

2008

A controversy over a column by veteran cartoonist Siné leads to accusation of antisemitism and Siné's sacking by Val. Siné launches a rival paper called Siné Hebdo which lasts two years. Charlie Hebdo launches its Internet site, after years of reluctance from Val.

2009

Debris outside the paper's offices following the November 2011 attack.

Philippe Val resigns after being appointed director of France Inter, a public radio station to which he has contributed since the early 1990s. His functions are split between two cartoonists, Charb (Stéphane Charbonnier) and Riss (Laurent Sourisseau). Val gives away his shares in 2011.

2011

In the early hours of November 2, 2011 the newspaper's office in the 20th arrondissement was fire-bombed and its website hacked. The attacks were presumed linked to its decision to rename a special edition "Charia Hebdo", with the Prophet Mohammed listed as the "editor-in-chief". The cover, featuring a cartoon of Mohammed by Luz (Renald Luzier) 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 organisation deplores "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.

See also

• Le Canard enchaîné, a satirical weekly French newspaper

Further reading

• La bande à Charlie (Charlie Hebdo). Stock, 1976, by Jean Egen

External links

• Charlie Hebdo (French)
• Un historique d'Hara-Kiri/Charlie Hebdo
• French Satirical Newspaper Charlie Hebdo Wins Second Trial Over Controversial Cartoon Ban Request
• Schofield, Hugh. "Charlie Hebdo and its place in French journalism." BBC. 3 November 2011.