Home > Terms > English (EN) > Charlie Hebdo

Charlie Hebdo

Charlie Hebdo is a French satirical weekly newspaper that regularly publishes provocative cartoons, reports, polemics, and jokes against various religions such as Catholicism, Islam, Judaism, as well as politics and culture. Known for its irreverent, crass, and stridently non-conforming tone, the publication has been the target of Islamist rage for almost a decade.

In 2012, Charlie Hebdo published a cartoon depicting the prophet Muhammad naked and crouching. Depictions of the prophet are strictly prohibited in the Islamic faith. It was a message that the weekly newspaper used to show it would not be intimidated into softening its critiques of extremists. It's editor-in-chief Stéphane Charbonnier at the time told Le Monde that he would rather "die standing than live on my knees." In 2013, Charlie Hebdo's headquarters were destroyed in a firebomb attack.

In 2007, two French Muslim groups sued the Charlie Hebdo for its decision to publish about a dozen Danish cartoons of Muhammad. The case was rejected in French courts, which determined that the cartoons were covered by freedom of expression laws and were not an attack on Islam, but fundamentalists.

In January 2015, armed gunmen killed twelve at Charlie Hebdo Paris’ office including Jean Cabut, aka Cabu, and Stéphane Charbonnier, aka Charb, two of France’s best-known and most talented comic strip artists and caricaturists. Charbonnier was also publisher of the magazine.

Charlie Hebdo first appeared from 1969 to 1981. It went out of business for ten years before it was brought back in 1992. Charb was the most recent editor, holding the post from 2009 until his death in the attack on the magazine's offices in 2015. His predecessors were François Cavanna (1969–1981) and Philippe Val (1992–2009). The magazine is published every Wednesday, with special editions issued on an unscheduled basis.

0
Collect to Blossary

Member comments

You have to log in to post to discussions.

Terms in the News

Billy Morgan

Sports; Snowboarding

The British snowboarder Billy Morgan has landed the sport’s first ever 1800 quadruple cork. The rider, who represented Great Britain in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, was in Livigno, Italy, when he achieved the man-oeuvre. It involves flipping four times, while body also spins with five complete rotations on a sideways or downward-facing axis. The trick ...

Marzieh Afkham

Broadcasting & receiving; News

Marzieh Afkham, who is the country’s first foreign ministry spokeswoman, will head a mission in east Asia, the state news agency reported. It is not clear to which country she will be posted as her appointment has yet to be announced officially. Afkham will only be the second female ambassador Iran has had. Under the last shah’s rule, Mehrangiz Dolatshahi, a ...

Weekly Packet

Language; Online services; Slang; Internet

Weekly Packet or "Paquete Semanal" as it is known in Cuba is a term used by Cubans to describe the information that is gathered from the internet outside of Cuba and saved onto hard drives to be transported into Cuba itself. Weekly Packets are then sold to Cuban's without internet access, allowing them to obtain information just days - and sometimes hours - after it ...

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)

Banking; Investment banking

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is an international financial institution established to address the need in Asia for infrastructure development. According to the Asian Development Bank, Asia needs $800 billion each year for roads, ports, power plants or other infrastructure projects before 2020. Originally proposed by China in 2013, a signing ...

Spartan

Online services; Internet

Spartan is the codename given to the new Microsoft Windows 10 browser that will replace Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer. The new browser will be built from the ground up and disregard any code from the IE platform. It has a new rendering engine that is built to be compatible with how the web is written today. The name Spartan is named after the ...

Featured Terms

Becker John
  • 0

    Terms

  • 1

    Blossaries

  • 0

    Followers

Industry/Domain: Technology Category: Information technology

Tips to develop a killer mobile app.

Developing a killer mobile application for a startup is a great achievement. For any novice, it is very difficult to achieve, however, with the ...

Featured blossaries

The Best Fitness Tracker You Can Buy

Category: Technology   2 5 Terms

Best Zoo in the World

Category: Animals   2 8 Terms