The Citizen has taken an editorial decision not to republish the outrageously insensitive cartoons, but I can provide further context through the history of the publication that is Charlie Hebdo. Kurdi paid tribute to her nephew by signing the wall and leaving a message in both English and Arabic, reading: “Rest in peace”.
The drowned three-year-old toddler has become the symbol of the refugee crisis after haunting pictures appeared showing his body being carried off a Turkish beach last week. “Afterward, over a million marched in Paris and the Internet erupted with the hashtag “#jesuischarlie”, or “I am Charlie”.
One depicts drowned Syrian boy, Aylan Kurdi, with the caption, “So close to his goal.” written above. So near the aim”, subsequent to a pretend commercial for McDonald’s that learn “Youngsters Meal: “Two For One Deal”.
Their second edition featured another cartoon with a drowned kid next to Jesus Christ standing on water. The caption learn: “Christians stroll on water, and Muslim youngsters sink”. But barrister Peter Herbert, Chair of the Society of Black Lawyers and former vice chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority, was among many who said Charlie Hebdo had overstepped the mark.
On Twitter, some claim Charlie Hebdo meant to comment on Europe’s delayed response to the catastrophe around its borders. He added: ‘The Society of Black Lawyers will consider reporting this as incitement to hate crime & persecution before the worldwide Criminal Court’.
Numerous other outraged posts attacked the “disgusting cartoons”, while others said it was an example of how Hebdo attacked the “powerless” rather than the “powerful”. Aylan’s five-year-old brother Galip and his mother also died when the boat the family was traveling in capsized while trying to reach the Greek island of Kos.
While it is common knowledge that Charlie Hebdo’s content is replete with satire, and their style is to present shocking imagery laden with irony, doing so at the expense of the most hard-hitting incident that has emerged from the refugee crisis, is in poor taste. Her brother Abdullah survived.
This isn’t the Charlie Hebdo we identified and stood in solidarity with earlier this year. The magazine’s editorial column, which defends secularism and the right to criticize all religions, also mocked Pope Francis and Catholic priests.
