The new edition this week’s French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo will show on its cover a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad of Islam holding a “Je suis Charlie” sign with a tear drop coming out his eye. The cover of Charlie Hebdo has been published in advance by French media.
12 workers including 4 top cartoonists of Charlie Hebdo were killed in the Paris office last week, a reprehensible event that got global solidarity and attracted 40 world leader who attended a Unity rally.
Where does free speech become hate speech
Charlie Hebdo was attacked by terrorists for its publications of cartoons deemed offensive; however the question has been raised about the difference between so-called free speech and hate speech.
Cartoons and comments about certain sensibilities like the Jewish Holocaust for instance or homosexual life style are widely regarded as offensive and can attract jail terms in Europe. The past Iranian president got his nation sanctioned the worst sanctions in human history for ‘merely’ promoting an academic debate on the true facts of the Holocaust.
#IAmNotCharlie
Many question where the line is and who determines what is hate speech and what acts are unduly provocative and encroach on people’s sensibilities.
Meanwhile a new hashtag #IamNotCharlie is trending apparently by people who condemn the terror but reject hate-speech.