Charlie Hebdo: when Tragedy Meets Humour to Create Solidarity

       

    My night was far from happy and peaceful, after what happened yesterday in Paris. The Charlie Hebdo attacks are far from justifiable, and, no matter how offended someone must have been from their drawings, that is not a reason to pull out the rifles and kill people. Period. Just imagine: if everyone did that, for every single remark, text or media product that is not politically correct, we'd probably be all dead. 

               

              However, apart from the debates related to religious issues and freedom of speech, which were to be expected anyway, what I was impressed by was the worldwide solidarity shown by the media, and mostly through humour, just like the Charlie Hebdo team deserved. These symbols spread accross publications from France and from many other countries and on social media. The "Je suis Charlie" slogan, in several languages, has been spoken and posted by all of us. Even news anchors have been using it this morning, right after introducing themselves, at the beginning of the news programme. 

                

             Most of these drawings, created by various international cartoonists and from which I selected my own favourites, use humour as a weapon to soften the tragedy: making analogies between drawing tools and weapons of mass destructions, depicting the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists in heaven, or simply expressing encouragement for the remaining staff of the magazine to rise again and keep fighting for their values. 

                    

              Charlie Hebdo is a magazine with a long, and certainly not boring history. It started off from the 1960s magazine Hara-Kiri, and it has always been famous for its irreverent humour. Bannings and warnings of being banned have periodically marked its history, since the times of Charles De Gaulle. And some of the victims of the attack, some of the most famous French cartoonists, were actually members of its original team, since the early days. Even I was familiar with the naughty 1970s work of Wolinski. ;) And if I was saddenned by their loss - I can imagine the French people, who were far more familiar with their work and their humour. 

           Personally, from now on I will also commit to follow more closely the progress that is made in relation with the media and freedom of speech, but also what will happen with the future of Charlie Hebdo. I wish them to rise back stronger than before, and, as much as possible... try to stay safe. 

          Aujourd'hui nous sommes tous Charlie!