Showing posts sorted by relevance for query #jesuischarlie. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query #jesuischarlie. Sort by date Show all posts

Thursday, January 8, 2015

#JeSuisCharlie

Thousands rapidly gathered in a massive Paris demonstration against recent jihadist killings of 4 Charlie Hebdo cartoonists, including the editor, plus two police officers and at least six others.  Protest photos below.  Coverage and analysis here at Democracy Now!  

Paris protesters displayed signs saying, "Je Suis Charlie," which means, "I am Charlie," many holding up pens to symbolize the point that the journalists died for freedom of speech and expression.  The crowd also displayed signs stating, "We Are Not Afraid."


Charlie Hebdo is a French weekly satirical newspaper that frequently features political cartoons as shown in the protest tweet below. 


Some twitter statements defiantly included more cartooning:



Protests were held outside France;  for example, in the U.S., New York City:
 

And below, from the Newseum (First Amendment journalism museum) in Washington D.C.,  where a vigil was held for the slain journalists:


More photos from the protests here. 

The newspaper itself has posted a website announcement,  "Je Suis Charlie - parce que le crayon sera toujours au dessus de la barberie .. parce que la liberté est un droit universel .. parce que vous nous soutenez... nous, Charlie, Sortirons votre journal mercredi prochain!" Roughly translated, that means, "I am Charlie - because the pen is always greater than barbarism ... because liberty is a universal right .. because you support us .. we, at Charlie, will be bringing you, your next Wednesday newspaper!" 

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Thursday, January 15, 2015

N'existe Pas

More #JeSuisCharlie.  Salmon Rushdie delivered pointed remarks in Vermont on the importance of an absolute right to freedom of speech.  He criticized voices on both sides of the American political spectrum who judged the appropriateness of the magazine's material, and without familiarity or context.  Rushdie pointed to a merciless French satirical tradition, and the need for artists to be free to explore expressive limits. 

From the Guardian:
[Rushdie] said the role of art was to go to the edge, open the universe and expand minds. But doing that was not easy and artists could not occupy a middle ground.
"And so artists who go to that edge and push outwards often find very powerful forces pushing back. They find the forces of silence opposing the forces of speech. The forces of censorship against the forces of utterance,” he said.
"At that boundary is that push-and-pull between more and less. And that push and pull can be very dangerous to the artist. And many artists have suffered terribly for that.”
Weirdly, one of the killers was a rap artist, so (we would gather) he regularly engaged with, and felt passionate about, an art form that has historically pushed the limitations of free speech, and put a high premium on its absolute right to offend. 

In the meantime, thousands lined up in Paris to purchase the latest Charlie Hebdo, print runs rising to 5 million as the magazine quickly sold out, more than ever now interested in the magazine's comics, and following the largest march in French history on Sunday, January 11th, and against the violence.  At the demonstration, protesters also displayed the eyes of the popular editor and one of the cartoonists killed in the attack, the way American demonstrators carried banners showing Mike Brown's eyes bearing down upon the U.S. ... with the gaze of truth and confrontation as to the injustice of his death.

 "You can kill a man, but not an idea," said many, once again, showing, rather, the multiplicative effect.


World leaders, shown in the above tweet, marched arm in arm at the massive rally, leading some to wryly comment on the implied hypocrisy of politicians who orchestrate one form of terrorism in other nations, then leading a demonstration against another form of what basically amounts to the same barbarism.

Readers of the ultra orthodox Jewish newspaper HaMevaser (published in Israel) read an edition with all female world leaders photoshopped out of the image (and by a woman editor).  (There weren't that many, however, so, it still looked like a lot of world leaders were there): 

Missing in action:  German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Anne Hidalgo, the first female mayor of Paris, European Union foreign affairs and security chief Federica Mogherini.  The original photo, is from Benjamin Netanjahu's twitter stream. 

Really, I found this offensive, that is, western allies, our country, have no explanation as to how they fail to produce more front line women leaders in the 21st century.  Though the newspaper provides one, it was not their intention to offend, je comprends, women are holy, they cannot be depicted, at all, just like Mohammad, so let's just keep it outta sight.  And, in the case of the newspaper, it is not something like a death threat, posted, in one case, recently on twitter, by once again photoshopping imagery onto or off of bodies, including the faces of public officials.  

As per that (original) photo above, Barack Obama and John Kerry really weren't at the march, a point of criticism for (Republicans, especially), though some say John may have been breaking at one of the cafes, sipping a bit o white wine and singing. (La Marseillaise.)  The U.S. French Ambassador, Jane Hartley, attended.

 Major U.S. newspapers discussed the new Charlie Hebdo edition without showing its front page cover, describing (for our image-deprived, innocent American public) a cartoon drawing that depicted Mohammad in white robes holding a "Je Suis Charlie" sign while weeping, under a large headliner/caption that says, English translation, "All Is Forgiven."  (The cartoonist said that the robes hid human genitalia, as do Michelangelo's renderings of God on the ceiling of the Sistene Chapel.)  I myself read about this in a cafe in a copy of the NY Times print edition left by the last reader, a number of interesting pieces that day .. though I couldn't .. see for myself what any of the writers were talking about .. (the online edition has a link to bold imagery at the French Libération, a paper that counts Jean-Paul Sartre among its founders).  

 The Jerusalem Post showed a copy of the latest issue on a newsstand in Israel where people were similarly lining up to get one, many for the first time (and which is where I first caught up with what the cover looked like).
Charlie Hebdo


Tell people they can't and they will! 

A bit of the U.S.:

Meanwhile, as below, a grocery check-out for American shoppers and their kids.  (The owner, upon complaint, reportedly moved it over a couple of feet.)
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This is when I browse the Trident:

 


















Though Trident wrapper is pretty thin reading alternative. 

Oh look, breaking:


N'existe pas.
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Sunday, January 18, 2015

The Confessions Of Robert Crumb (1987)

[Guest contributor crossposting from the Ptarmigan]

Simply heartbroken by the #jesuischarlie cartoonist news.  Me too ... in honor of satiric artists everywhere, free thought & speech, and the eternal (French, s'il vous plaît ) spirit of résistance ... posting The Confessions of Robert Crumb (1987) ...



More at Paris Review with American cartoonist Robert Crumb, last seen about the south of France (shhhh!)  ..

Below, another Cheap Suit Serenaders chanson, Crying My Blues Away:




Oh, here is the cover, if you're still searching ... (pricey though) along with more no one is showing you ...

For sale in Chicago, though.
 

*crossposted at Old Sauk River, amongst the many fondly regarded contributors, with that Hunter-Gatherer news site.  As for the curiosity shop, it is still out for the time being.  We are still working on that coming back, reincarnated better than ever before, soon (we hope)  ...

----------------

1.21.2015 crossposted Editor's Note.  The satiric comment about a pricey Ebay Charlie Hebdo copy was made with the writer's off-the-cuff perception (and possible misunderstanding) that an unknown individual was selling theirs (in the Charlie Hebdo magazine-deprived U.S.A.) for something like 30,000 dollars .. and the way others, say, have Ebay or amazon-posted their favorite 10.00 dollar novel or CD for similar profits with a "Hey, ya never know," "might as well." 

It has since come to our attention that the magazine is donating proceeds to the families of the victims and that may be a genuine fundraising attempt.  We, of course, fully support such fundraising on behalf of the families of the  victims;  however, we do not research these channels one way or the other.  Therefore, if you wish to donate funds for the Charlie Hebdo families of the victims, we recommend contacting the newspaper directly for further information as to where and how you can do that over the internet.
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