Satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo released its first issue since the Jan. 7 massacre of 12 workers by Islamic extremists in the magazine’s Paris offices.
The cover of the issue featuring a cartoon of the prophet Muhammad holding a sign saying, “JE SUIS CHARLIE,” has initiated a worldwide discussion on religion and free speech. The issue, available in six different languages — including English, Turkish and French — hit newsstands Wednesday.
The magazine typically has a print run of 60,000 copies, but following the attack the planned print run grew at first to one million, and ultimately to five million copies. Newsstands sold out in Paris Wednesday morning, while high demand was seen worldwide.
In Charlottesville, local communities joined together in solidarity following the attacks. A group walked the Downtown Mall as part of a demonstration last week. The French Department held a discussion Wednesday titled “Terror in Paris: Charlie Hebdo and the Future of France,” to discuss the attacks and what impact it would have on French society.
Assoc. French Prof. Ari Blatt, chair of the French department, said given the reaction to the events in the past week — including demonstrations of solidarity throughout France and around the world — people were ready to purchase copies of the newest Hebdo regardless of the cover’s content.
“I suspect people bought the issue for any number of reasons: as a sign of solidarity, or as a way to resist or symbolically condemn the murderous ideologies that motivated the killers; but also, on a more mundane level, to acquire a piece of history,” Blatt said in an email. “Some, as we've seen, purchased multiple copies to sell on the internet — I heard of listings on eBay offering copies for upwards of $700.”
The cover of the new issue has sparked widespread controversy. Some Muslims believe their faith prohibits the depiction of the prophet Muhammad and were outraged and offended by the cover. Egypt and Turkey, both of which have a large Muslim population, threatened to issue restrictions on websites with access to Charlie Hebdo images.
Hannah Andersen, a graduate Arts & Sciences student studying French, said she saw the spike in magazine sales as an indicator of the curiosity of individuals worldwide keeping up with the aftermath of the attack on the Paris offices.
“To say that Charlie Hebdo's printing of the prophet Muhammad ‘undermines’ Muslim communities' shows of solidarity I think is unfair,” Andersen said. “Charlie Hebdo was, and is, a ‘journal irresponsable.’ This is what they do.”
French Prof. John Lyons said Charlie Hebdo and its predecessors have been satirizing religion, and especially the Catholic church for decades.
“In my view the freedom to satirize and caricature one or all religions is not only an important aspect of freedom of the press but a requirement for the freedom of religion itself,” Lyons said in an email. “Let Charlie caricature Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, Moses, Mary Baker Eddy, Joseph Smith. … This is a crucial fundamental right. If people don't want to see the prophet depicted, they should not buy Charlie Hebdo.”
Whitney Bevill, another graduate Arts & Sciences student studying French, said the high numbers of people mobilizing to march after the attack and also to buy the latest edition of Charlie Hebdo show national solidarity as well as an opportunity to spur discussion about the role of Muslims there.
“For now, the French census doesn't ask about one's faith,” Bevill said in an email, “and immigrants are under a heavy burden to assimilate, meaning that they're expected to give up cultural and religious traditions in order to become ‘French,’ whatever that means. France has very much tried to be a melting pot in order to create a unified republic, and it has done so at the expense of certain diversity.”
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