Charlie Hebdo Magazine

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:40

The scandalous satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo publishes cartoons, discussions, anecdotes and reports. The magazine became known all over the world after the terrorist attack that occurred on January 7, 2015, but even before that, the scandalous cartoons published in the weekly were discussed in the press every now and then. The editors of Charlie Hebdo have repeatedly explained to other media and the disgruntled public that the generally accepted concepts of morality and ethics are simply not for them.

A brief history of the magazine

French satirical weekly was founded in 1969 on the basis of the previously published Hara-Kiri ("Hara-Kiri"). Harakiri is a real art provocation, a challenge to society, indeed the most scandalous publication not only in France, but throughout the world. The newspaper repeatedly spoke harshly about the tragic events (as did Charlie Hebdo, by the way). Representatives of the authorities tried several times to shut down the weekly. The same style was adopted by the weekly Charlie Hebdo.

After a year of existence of the newmagazine, the French government banned its distribution. Hara Kiri Hebdo made an extremely unfortunate joke about the death of the founder of the Fifth Republic, Charles de Gaulle. Then the newspaper simply changed its name to Charlie Hebdo, abandoning Harakiri, and continued to work in the same vein as before. Literally translated, the new name sounds like "Charlie's Weekly" (Charlie is the same as Charlie), in a sense, reflecting the prehistory of its existence.

The first issue came out on November 23, 1970. Ten years later, the publication lost popularity among readers and closed, and in 1992 the magazine was successfully restarted. Over 100,000 people have bought the issue of the renewed Charly newspaper.

Publishes French magazine "Charly Hebdo" cartoons, articles, columns and various satirical materials. Often, materials of a really obscene nature come into print. The editorial team adheres to extreme left and anti-religious views. "Charlie Hebdo" hit the world's leading politicians, leaders of religious and public organizations. Repeatedly published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad and Islam in principle, the presidents of the United States, Russia and other states, terrorist attacks and disasters.

2006 Manifesto of the Twelve

In 2006, the French magazine Charlie Hebdo published the Manifesto of the Twelve. The appeal appeared as a reaction to the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in Denmark. The cartoons were reprinted in editions in many other states. Most of those who signedmanifesto are writers from Islamic states. They are forced to hide from the revenge of the supporters of Islam for their statements or works of art that allegedly offend the religious feelings of Muslims. In such aggressive Islamism, the authors of the "Manifesto of the Twelve" see a totalitarian ideology that threatens all of humanity (after, of course, fascism, Nazism and Stalinism, according to the editors of Charly).

2008 cartoon scandal

In 2008, the magazine published a cartoon of the son of French President Jean Sarkozy. The authorship belongs to the 79-year-old artist Miros Sine (in a professional environment, he is better known simply as Cine). The cartoonist is a committed communist and atheist.

The cartoon hinted at the incident on October 14, 2005, when Sarkozy crashed into a car on a motor scooter and then fled the scene of an accident. A couple of weeks later, the court found Nicolas Sarkozy's son innocent. Cine, firstly, noted in the caption under the cartoon that Jean Sarkozy is "an unprincipled opportunist (a person who follows his own interests, even if deceitfully), who will go far." Secondly, he noted the fact that "the court almost awarded him applause after the accident." Thirdly, Sine summed up that for the sake of a profitable marriage, the son of a politician is even ready to convert to Judaism.

This is a reference to the details of the personal life of Jean Sarkozy. A young and already quite successful politician married (at that time just engaged) to the heiress of the Darty household appliances chain JessicaSibun-Darty. The girl is Jewish by nationality, so the press spread rumors for some time that Jean would convert to Judaism instead of Catholicism.

The leadership of Charlie Hebdo demanded that the artist give up his "creation", but Cine did not do this, for which he was fired from the editorial staff, as he was accused of anti-Semitism. The editor-in-chief of the French weekly was supported by more than one authoritative public organization. The French Minister of Culture also criticized the cartoon, calling it "a relic of ancient prejudice."

Attack after caricature of prophet

In 2011, the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo changed its name to Sharia Hebdo for one issue, jokingly naming the new (temporarily) editor-in-chief of the Prophet Muhammad. On the cover marked the image of the prophet of Islam. Followers of Islam considered this offensive. A day before the publication of the magazine, the editorial office was bombarded with bottles of Molotov cocktails. In addition, an insulting cartoon of an ISIS leader appeared on Charlie Hebdo's Twitter account a few hours before the incident. As a result of the attack, the building was completely burned out.

Reason for another attack

On January 7, 2015, a terrorist act occurred in the editorial office of the Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris. The attack was the first in a series of attacks that took place in the French capital between January 7 and 9.

The reason for the attack was the anti-religious rhetoric of the French weekly, ridiculing the religious and political leaders of Islam, religion in general. Discontent and among the radicalminded followers of Islam has been growing for a long time. The most resonant cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad were published in 2011 (an attack on the editorial office followed) and in 2013 (it was a comic book about the life of the prophet). The reason for the attack is another publication. The editors of the magazine published a response to the amateur video "Innocence of Muslims" and riots in Arab countries.

Movie Innocence of Muslims

The film itself, which the editors of the weekly had nothing to do with, was filmed in the USA. This is a picture that has a clear anti-Islamic rhetoric. The video hints that Muhammad was born of an extramarital affair, was a homosexual, a womanizer, a ruthless killer, and a "complete idiot". The film was directed by Makr Bassley Yusuf (also known as Nakula Basela Nakula, Sam Bajil and Sam Basil), an Egyptian Christian. He took such a provocative step, as he considers Islam "a cancerous tumor on the body of mankind." Even US President Barack Obama commented on this film, calling it "gross and disgusting."

The riots broke out after the trailer for the film was posted online and several episodes were shown on Egyptian television. In 2012, protests took place outside the US embassies in Egypt, Tunisia, Australia, Pakistan (public demonstrations were bloody there, nineteen people died, and about two hundred protesters were injured) and other countries. Theologian Ahmed Ashush, Minister of Railways of Pakistan, called for the killings of the filmmakers and the attacks.radical Islamists. The US ambassador and diplomats in Libya were killed, a terrorist attack was committed in Kabul (a suicide bomber blew up a minibus with foreigners, killing 10 people).

The course of events on January 7, 2015

At about 11:20 am, two terrorists armed with submachine guns, assault rifles, a grenade launcher, a pump-action shotgun, drove up to the archive of the weekly. Realizing that they had made a mistake with the address, the brothers Said and Sheriff Kouachi asked two local residents for the address of the Charlie Hebdo editorial office. One of them was shot by the terrorists.

Armed people managed to get into the editorial office, as they were helped by an employee of the publication, artist Corinne Rey. She was going to pick up her daughter from kindergarten when two people in camouflage appeared in front of the entrance. Karinn Rey was forced to enter the code, the militants threatened her with weapons. The girl later said that the French terrorists were impeccable, and they themselves openly claimed that they were from Al-Qaeda.

Armed people burst into the building shouting "Allahu Akbar". The first person killed was an office worker, Frédéric Boisseau. After the militants went up to the second floor, where the meeting was held. In the conference room, the brothers called Charba (chief editor Stéphane Charbonnier), shot him, and then opened fire on everyone else. The shots did not subside for about ten minutes.

The police received the first information about the attack at about 11:30. When the police arrived at the building, the terrorists were already leaving the office. A shootout broke out, during which no one was hurt. Not far from the editorial office militantsattacked a police officer, who was wounded and then shot at point-blank range.

Terrorists took refuge in a small town 50 km from Paris. They were liquidated on January 9, 2015.

Dead and wounded

The attack killed 12 people. Among the dead:

• Chief editor of the weekly Stéphane Charbonnier;
• bodyguard of editor-in-chief Frank Brensolaro;
• police officer Ahmed Merabe;
• famous cartoonists and artists J. Wolinsky, F. Honore, J. Cabu, B. Verlac;
• journalists Bernard Maris and Michel Renault.
• proofreader Mustafa Urrad;
• office worker Frédéric Boisseau;
• psychoanalyst, columnist for the magazine "Charly Hebdo" (France) Ellza Kaya.

Public outcry after the attack

The French President said that no terrorist attack can stifle the freedom of the press (and Charlie Hebdo cartoons or anecdotes, even if they speak negatively about political or religious leaders, cannot justify the killings), personally visited the site of the attack. On January 7, in the evening, a mass demonstration began on the Place de la République in Paris as a sign of solidarity with the families and loved ones of those killed or injured in the attack. Many came out with the inscription Je suis Charlie (“I am Charlie”), written in white letters on a black background. Mourning was declared in France.

After the terrorist attack, a number of media outlets offered help to the editors. The new issue was released on January 14 thanks to the joint efforts of Charlie Hebdo, the media group of the Canal + TV channel and the newspaper LeMonde.

Later, the authorities of Paris awarded the satirical weekly the title of "Honorary Citizen of the City of Paris", decided to rename one of the squares in honor of the magazine and posthumously awarded the editorial staff with the degrees of a knight of the Order of the Legion of Honor. The organizers of the International Comics Festival awarded the dead cartoonists with a special Grand Prix (also posthumously).

Caricatures after the Tu-154 crash

Despite the attack, the magazine continued to work. For example, on December 28, 2016, Charlie Hebdo published a cartoon about the Tu-154 crash near Sochi (92 people died, including members of the Russian Army ensemble, Dr. Lisa, three film crews, director of the Department of Culture of the Ministry of Defense, military personnel) and on the murder of the Russian ambassador in Turkey.

Circulation and cost of the magazine

After the terrorist attack in 2015, issue 1178 was released with a circulation of three million copies. The weekly sold out in just 15 minutes, so the magazine set an absolute record in the history of the French press. The circulation of "Charlie Hebdo" was increased to 5 million copies, later - up to 7 million. In early February, the publication of the newspaper was suspended, but a new issue appeared on February 24.

The average cost of "Charly Hebdo" is an average of 3 euros (slightly more than 200 rubles). At the auction, the cost of a new issue (issued immediately after the attack) reached 300 euros, i.e. 20,861 rubles, and the last one before the attack - 80,000 US dollars (more than 4.5 million rubles).

The management of the magazine "CharlyEbdo"

During the existence of the weekly, four chief editors have changed. The first was François Cavannat, the second was Philippe Val, the third was Stéphane Charbonnier. The fourth editor of the newspaper, who became the head of the editorial office after the terrorist attack in 2015, is Gerard Biard. The new editor-in-chief fully supports the policy of the publication in everything.