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The New Issue of Charlie Hebdo

CharlieHebdoCover
This is the cover of the Charlie Hebdo issue that was released after the attack. The full issue is in the pdf below. They printed 50 times more copies than usual, and still sold out right away.

The new issue of Charlie Hebdo just came out in France, greeted by long lines at newsstands; it reportedly sold out right away. Thanks to my alert buddy, Alan Gardner at thedailycartoonist.com, I’ve posted a downloadable pdf of the whole issue below.

I’m ashamed of my American journalist colleagues who refuse to show the Charlie Hebdo cover, among them The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press and CNN.

The New York Times executive editor, Dean Baquet, explained his decision to characterize the cartoons in words rather than show them: “We have a standard that is long held and that serves us well: that there is a line between gratuitous insult and satire. Most of these [cartoons] are gratuitous insult.” Brooke Baldwin on CNN described CNN’s decision as partly based on considerations for their employees’ safety.

I would describe the New York Times’ many false articles about “weapons of mass destruction,” running up to the war with Iraq, as a “gratuitous insults” also.

CNN’s explanation is just cowardice.

Charlie Hebdo

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Obama and the Arab Spring in Egypt

135235 600 Obama and the Arab Spring in Egypt cartoons

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France Closes 20 Embassies Over New Muhammad Cartoons

Less than a year after their offices were firebombed for publishing a caricature of the prophet Muhammad, the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has created a controversy in France for publishing cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad naked in their latest issue.

Stephane Charbonnier, the editor of Charlie Hebdo, says the cartoons were an attempt to poke fun at the furor over the anti-Muslim film causing protests throughout the Arab world, and will “shock those who will want to be shocked.”

According to the French newspaper Le Monde, one of the cartoons inside the magazine, entitled “Muhammad: a star is born,” depicts a bearded figure crouching over to display his buttocks and genitals.

The front-page of the magazine features a cartoon of an Orthodox Jew pushing a Muslim man in a wheelchair, who is saying, “You mustn’t mock us!” under the headline “Untouchable 2,” a reference to a popular French film about a paralyzed rich man and his black assistant.

NBCNews.com has reported that France is temporarily closing its embassies and schools in 20 countries, fearing a violent backlash from protestors over the cartoons. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on France Info radio, “Is it relevant and intelligent in this environment to add fuel to the fire?”

Charlie Hebdo is available on news stands all over France and is a top publishing venue for many top, French gag cartoonists. “Hebdo” is French for “weekly” and “Charlie” is a reference to the iconic cartoon character, Charlie Brown.

Charlie Hebdo’s web site went down yesterday because of a hacker attack. Our own site at cagle.com went down for a time yesterday in response to an unusually sophisticated, denial of service attack.