The Jan. 7, 2015, attack on the Paris offices of French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo deeply shocked France. It was as much an attack on Charlie Hebdo cartoonists as it was an attack on French values: satire, freedom of expression, and secularism, or laïcité.
But the French debate over whether to show images of the prophet Muhammad, which many Muslims view as sacrilegious, is still being waged today. So too do the French disagree on the limits of satire and blasphemy, despite their honored places in French culture.
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What’s more important, the freedom to mock, or protection of what many hold sacrosanct? After the Charlie Hebdo massacre, France firmly opted for the former. But now, 10 years later, attitudes may be shifting.
Following the Charlie Hebdo attack, 71% said humorists should be allowed to publish what they like in the name of freedom of expression.
But there is evidence that French society is shifting on the acceptance of blasphemy, particularly among France’s Muslim population and its young people. A June 2024 poll found that 31% of people ages 18 to 24 said Charlie Hebdo shouldn’t have published cartoons of Muhammad.
Still, readers of Charlie Hebdo say that it is the paper’s role to be a provocative voice.
“The new generation of caricature artists are continuing the tradition of those who paid with their lives,” says Yves Bergé, a Charlie Hebdo reader. “We need to defend satire.”
On Jan. 7, 2015, two radical Islamist gunmen stormed the Paris offices of French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, killing 12, after the paper published provocative cartoons about the prophet Muhammad. Among the dead were some of France’s most high-profile cartoonists, including Charb, Cabu, and Tignous.
The event deeply shocked France. It was as much an attack on Charlie Hebdo cartoonists as it was an attack on French values: satire, freedom of expression, and secularism, or laïcité. In the immediate aftermath, the French united behind the slogan #JeSuisCharlie – which translates to “I am Charlie.” The message on Charlie Hebdo’s latest front cover, released Tuesday, 10 years after the massacre, echoes the same defiance and hope as a decade ago: “indestructible.”
But the French debate over whether to show images of Muhammad, which many Muslims view as sacrilegious, is still being waged today. So too do the French disagree on the limits of satire and blasphemy, despite their honored places in French culture.
Why We Wrote This
A story focused on
What’s more important, the freedom to mock, or protection of what many hold sacrosanct? After the Charlie Hebdo massacre, France firmly opted for the former. But now, 10 years later, attitudes may be shifting.
As they look back at a decade since the Charlie Hebdo attack – which set the stage for subsequent terrorist attacks in France – the art of cartooning remains sacred, but under threat.
“As cartoonists, we’re on the front line for attack. People read caricatures even before they read the news,” says Mykaïa, a freelance cartoonist who educates young people on the art of caricature with the nonprofit Cartooning for Peace. (Like many French cartoonists, including those killed in the 2015 attack, he works under a pen name.) “I’d be lying if I said that the Charlie Hebdo attacks had no impact on my work. But it’s important for us to continue. Above all else, cartoons bring laughter and laughter is life.”
“All ideas have the right to be debated”
Following the Charlie Hebdo attack, some said cartoonists had gone too far by publishing mocking images of the prophet. But a majority felt a sense of defiance. According to a poll by the OpinionWay market research agency in October 2015, some 71% of the French said humorists should be allowed to publish what they like in the name of freedom of expression.
That sentiment has only grown over the past decade, as France has weathered more jihadist violence than any other European country – 53 attacks since 2013. A poll by the Ifop agency in June 2024 found that 76% of French people say the use of caricature is a fundamental right.
Still, the French remain divided over which subjects are deemed lampoonable. A majority say that death, nationality, and Christianity are fair game, while the Holocaust and genocide are off limits.
A large majority of Charlie Hebdo readers (70%) are far-left voters, and caricatures mocking far-right figures like Marine Le Pen and her father, Jean-Marie – whose death Tuesday coincided with the 10-year anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attack – regularly grace the weekly’s pages.
But cartoonists say they don’t pick and choose what they satirize.
“We talk about something because it’s in the news,” says Mykaïa. “We don’t wake up and decide to write about Islam.”
While Charlie Hebdo has dedicated hundreds of pages to mocking Islam – in just one 2006 example, cartoonist Cabu published a cartoon featuring the prophet alongside the words “loved by idiots” – it has satirized religion more broadly as well. Its latest commemorative issue features a four-page spread of some of the 350 caricatures submitted to the paper’s recent international competition for “cartoons mocking God.”
The right to blaspheme is protected within France’s 1881 freedom of the press law, despite more recent laws against insulting, defaming, or inciting hatred against individuals. That has allowed Charlie Hebdo to skirt legal infractions and continue to anchor its content on religious provocation.
“God is an idea, and all ideas have the right to be debated, criticized, or mocked,” said Gérard Biard, the editor-in-chief of Charlie Hebdo, during a televised commemoration of the Jan. 7 attack. “We can’t say that some people’s ideas have more value than others. If we start accepting that, we’re no longer in a democracy.”
A growing desire for respect?
But there is evidence that French society is shifting on the acceptance of blasphemy, particularly among France’s 5-million-strong Muslim population and the younger generation. The June 2024 Ifop poll found that 31% of people ages 18 to 24 said Charlie Hebdo shouldn’t have published cartoons of Muhammad.
France saw a similar disconnect in 2020, when French junior high school teacher Samuel Paty was murdered by an Islamist extremist, after showing images of the prophet in class. At the time, over half of high schoolers polled said that teachers shouldn’t use images of religion to illustrate freedom of expression in class. Many of Mr. Paty’s own students accused him of being Islamophobic.
But readers of Charlie Hebdo say the ability to mock religion is uniquely French, dating back to the people’s uprising against the monarchy during the French Revolution, and that it is the paper’s role to be a provocative voice.
“The new generation of caricature artists are continuing the tradition of those who paid with their lives,” says Yves Bergé, a Charlie Hebdo reader who traveled three hours from Marseille to attend the Jan. 7 commemorations. “We need to defend satire and laïcité. We can’t give up.”
As France continues to navigate the limits of caricature in French culture, and the line between satire and disrespect, the country is not alone in its struggle. This week, a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist at The Washington Post resigned after the paper refused to publish a satirical cartoon about its owner, Jeff Bezos.
And while some French cartoonists speak of self-censorship since the Charlie Hebdo attack, others feel more motivated than ever to ferociously poke fun and provoke.
“The attack shook me to the core. I’m still not healed,” says Hélène Marciano, a French poet and artist who often worked alongside cartoonist Tignous, killed in the attack. “But I haven’t changed a thing about my work. I refuse to be afraid.”
