This Tuesday, 7 January, France commemorates the tenth anniversary of the attack on the editorial offices of Charlie Hebdo, followed by the murder of a policewoman in Montrouge on 8 January and the hostage-taking at the Hyper Casher shop in Paris, which left four people dead on 9 January. On 7 January 2015, the murder of 12 people in the name of radical Islamism had a worldwide impact and led to a large number of mobilisations, notably under the banner ‘Je suis Charlie’.
How many of us would take to the streets today to defend the right to satire and blasphemy in the face of censors and extremists of all stripes? It’s hard to say, except that press freedom seems to be in decline around the world. Half the world’s population lives under a dictatorial regime, religious or otherwise, where satire is banned or restricted. It is more necessary than ever to defend the right of cartoonists, who are all too often under threat, to make fun of others, to provoke thought and to nurture critical thinking. Democracy depends on it!
Cartooning for Peace is mobilising in support of Charlie Hebdo by organising a number of events and publishing the leaflet ‘Tenir la ligne, 40 dessins pour Charlie’ (‘Holding the line, 40 cartoons for Charlie’).
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