The first edition of the magazine since the attack in which 12 people were killed has a cartoon of the prophet Muhammad on its cover. Our writers share their views.
Myriam Francois-Cerrah: The magazine drifts into racist caricatures
Timothy Garton Ash: We must not allow the assassin's veto
Nabila Ramdani: This shows how muddled the debate has become
Padraig Reidy: It manages to be both respectful and irreverent
Joseph Harker: This smashes a moment of genuine hope
Jonathan Jones: It's a life-affirming work of art
[2691 comments]
[TOP RATED COMMENT 1620 votes] "In depicting the prophet Muhammad it is deliberately offending the vast majority of Muslims around the world."
I find the Koran's references to unbelievers offensive. Fuck'em.
[SECOND 1522] Panel comments on magazine that suffered terrible losses and still has the courage of its convictions in newspaper that didn't and doesn't.
Ok then.
[THIRD 1391] "Joseph Harker: This smashes a moment of genuine hope."
It does no such thing and it's rather sad that you should even suggest as much.
[FOURTH 1347] And the comments of the panel are aligned according to their previous positions: those who support free speech continue to support it; those who believe that the avoidance of 'insulting' Muslims at all costs trumps free speech, continue to hold this reprehensible (to my mind) view.
[FIFTH 1120] Islam is currently the only religion that, on pain of death, is off limits to criticsim. Why is that? No other religion gets this treatment.
Yes, Charlie Hebdo got their cover perfectly right.
[SIXTH 1114] The cover is beautiful because it shows The Prophet weeping for both those who were killed and for the followers of Islam who have been duped by the evil maniacs who prostitute the religion for their own ends and fill young men and women's hearts with poison.
The only thing they could do better in my opinion is to have a follow up picture of Christ with his arm around Mohammed saying "It's OK. It gets better with time."
Loved it.
[SEVENTH 963] It's a great choice. That there is a chilling, violence-enforced taboo on depicting Mohammed, even in places like the UK (just look at the comments by the editor of The Independent) is surely apparent, and ought to be deeply worrying to anyone who cares about freedom of expression. CH have been a lonely voice defying it, have paid a terrible price, and have now used the opportunity, with the eyes of the world on this cover to a degree that will likely not be the case again, to refuse to bow to intimidation. Bravo.
[EIGHTH 959] "Millions of French people took to the streets at the weekend to express their unity against terror attacks, but it has taken just 48 hours to undo this spirit."
That unity means absolutely nothing if Charlie Hebdo can't continue to ridicule whoever it damn well chooses.
[NINTH 679] Myriam Francois-Cerrah once again trying to portray the dead cartoonists as racists and conflating religion with race.
Apologists like her only seek to deflect criticism which in turn shields non-violent extremism and leads to more division. [Guardian Cif] Read more
