The Slain Editor Of Charlie Hebdo's Last Cartoon Is Tragically Prescient
"Still no terrorist attacks in France," the top of the cartoon drawn for Charlie Hebdo, the magazine whose offices were attacked in Paris, reads.
The subject of the cartoon, a befuddled man with loopy eyes and what appears to be an AK-47 on his back, butts in: "Wait! We have until the end of January to present our wishes."
AK-47s were used on the attack targeting Charlie Hebdomadaire's offices in eastern Paris. The three gunmen killed twelve people - including two police officers - and injured five before fleeing the scene.
In 2012, Charbonnier, also known as "Charb," told Le Monde he was "not afraid of retaliation. I have no kids, no wife, no car, no mortgage. It may come off as a bit arrogant but I'd rather die on my feet than live on my knees."
Le Monde, France's newspaper of record, had been interviewing Charlie Hebdo's staff after a surge in police protection in the wake of their office's firebombing in 2011. Le Monde republished the article online today in response to the attack.
Charb went into his motivation, crediting satire for breaking the taboos of "Eros and Thanatos" (concepts dating from ancient Greek thought regarding sex and death, respectively). "But there remains that of religions," Charbonnier said. "We have to go on until Islam is made as ho-hum as Catholicism."