1 - Charlie Hebdo: from controversy to consensus?

Summary

Introduction

Given the amount of debate provoked in France and internationally by Charlie Hebdo's decision in 2006 to print a series of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, and the relative recentness of the 2015 fatal attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo, it appears appropriate for the opening chapter of this book to focus on the now iconic satirical publication. Exploring reactions to key events involving Charlie Hebdo from 2006 to 2015 provides a way to trace the evolution of debates about humour in France during a turbulent decade. During this period, public reactions to the attacks meant that, within a few years, Charlie Hebdo had gone from being a relatively marginal and often controversial publication to becoming the focus of much greater public consensus. As we will see, such a trajectory is highly paradoxical given the publication’s roots and its own sense of what constitutes l’esprit Charlie. This chapter will examine several paradoxes that have formed part of debates about Charlie Hebdo, and these will include ways in which both those who have defended the publication and those who have opposed it have sought to justify their approach by appealing to French Republican values. As we will see, there have been several different interpretations of the implications of laïcité [French secularism], Republican universalism, and the freedom of expression.

Charlie Hebdo is a largely satirical publication, and has a long tradition of mocking those in power via cartoons and articles. However, much of the focus of writings on Charlie Hebdo has tended to concentrate on its most well-known cartoons – especially those on its front cover – without adequately discussing the extent to which such cartoons have been accompanied by articles on related themes. This chapter will seek to address this failing by providing a more complete exploration of the types of content that one finds within the pages of the weekly publication. It is important to see Charlie Hebdo as more than just a contemporary example of the long-lasting tradition of French satire due to the specificity of its humour and the debates that this brand of humour have provoked. As mentioned in the introduction to this book, Andrew Stott has stated that satire is a type of humour that often ‘aims to denounce folly and urge political reform through the subjection of ideas to humorous analysis’.