French Magazine Firebombed After Muhammad Cover

The Paris offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo were firebombed last night. That’s just one day after the editors put an image of Muhammad on the cover and said the prophet of Islam had guest-edited the issue. Marco Werman speaks with Carol Hills about the latest row over cartoons and Muhammad.

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Lisa Mullins: And in Paris, a French satirical newspaper’s offices were firebombed just one day after putting a cartoon of the prophet Muhammad on the cover of the paper’s latest issue. The World’s Carol Hills is our resident cartoon editor. Carol, when we hear the words Muhammad and cartoons in the same sentence usually there’s trouble. What happened this time?

Carol Hills: Well, this time this satirical newspaper, it’s a weekly, it’s called Charlie Hebdo, and it prides itself on being incredibly juvenile, incredibly in your face, and kind of na-na-na-na-na, beating up on powerful figures. It’s left leaning. They do this whole issue, which came out yesterday, about what it would be like with Sharia Law in certain countries. And the cover is an image, it’s a cartoon, it’s a man, presumably the prophet Muhammad, who you are not supposed to represent ever. And he is saying, the bubble above him is “100 lashes if you don’t die of laughter.” And it continues inside with Muhammad being named the guest editor, a special section called Sharia Madam with cartoons featuring women in burkhas. And so they obviously knew this would create some sort of furor, or they got some internet threats. And then late last night when no one was there, so no one was injured, presumably someone threw in a Molotov cocktail and basically the offices are destroyed.

Mullins: So the editors have Charled Hebdo, which actually looks more like a comic book than a newspaper, what are they saying about why they even chose the topic of the prophet Muhammad for this issue?

Hills: Well, they say it was a joke. They say they’re responding to events in Tunisia and Libya, both countries that have had their Arab Spring. And Tunisia, the first election it holds, it elects a leader from the Islamist party. And Libya, the new leadership emerging in Libya is saying that Sharia Law may be okay and they might tolerate polygamy. So, Charlie Hebdo, those editors are saying well, they’re just kind of having fun with that. And again, this is just a really kind of raunchy, in your face juvenile kind of comic strip, so this is sort of what they do.

Mullins: And is that how other cartoonists in France now feel about what they’re doing? I mean is there any sympathy for their plight since they are clearly intending to be provocative?

Hills: There is. There is a lot of freedom of expression, freedom of the press, we can’t bow to pressure kind of stuff. And French officials are saying we’re going to investigate this, we’re gonna bring these people to justice, this is awful. And cartoonists around the world, some are drawing cartoons in solidarity with free expression. But there’s sort of a back story, I mean France has the largest number of Muslims in Europe. Many of them are poor and underrepresented in government. And this same satirical newspaper republished those famous Danish cartoons a number of years ago; those cartoons which caused protests in the Muslim world. Fifty people died in those protests, and so they already peaked the ire of a number of French Muslims.

Mullins: And some wonder what purpose it serves to offend believers of a mainstream religion. How about for those behind the newspaper, Charlie Hebdo, themselves? Are they going to be publishing again?

Hills: They say that they are undeterred. They have been offered office space by a left leaning newspaper, Libernation, and that newspaper also says, Libernation says they will publish the cartoons that the staff of Charlie Hebdo have already produced about the upcoming G20 meeting, which is a big deal in Paris.

Mullins: Okay, The World’s Carol Hills is our cartoon editor. Thank you.

Hills: Thank you, Lisa.

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