The attack on Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine on 7 January 2015 triggered a wave of violence against Muslims across France and called into question the country's approach to freedom of expression.
The 2015 attack by the Paris-born Kouachi brothers, of Algerian descent, was said to be revenge for Charlie Hebdo's decision to publish caricatures lampooning the Prophet Mohammed, Islam's most revered figure.
The attacks prompted a rise in anti-Muslim sentiments, culminating in a record 429 incidents of discrimination in 2015 alone, as reported by France's National Consultative Commission on Human Rights.
The perception that Muslims were collectively culpable for the actions of a few continue to resonate 10 years on.
The Charlie Hebdo killings fuelled an outpouring of public sympathy expressed through the slogan "Je Suis Charlie" ("I Am Charlie") not only in solidarity with its lost cartoonists, but in favour of freedom of expression in general and the long-standing French tradition of caricaturing.
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Beyond 'Je suis Charlie'
For Dominque Sopo, President of the NGO SOS Racisme, there was a reaction “in favour of press freedom, which itself came under attack following the events of 7 January”.
“On freedom of expression more generally … the attacks may have served as a trigger for the release of stigmatising language about Muslims. But it should be noted that the attack did not have a direct or immediate effect,” he told RFI.
He says that those in power – embodied at the time by president François Hollande – reacted with “hauteur” to the attack and those attacks that followed.
“There were words of cohesion and appeasement that were spoken and generally followed by the rest of the political class, with the obvious exception of the far right.
“However, in the longer term, we are seeing a political discourse that is trying to capitalise on what politicians perceive to be anti-Muslim concerns within the French population.”
For Sopo, this is all linked to a reactionary discourse that emerged in the media and politics around the globe following the 9/11 attacks of 2001.
“The situation is ambiguous,” he says. “Political leaders constantly and quite strongly condemn any attack on Muslims or their places of worship. On the other hand, they can convey or allow to be conveyed a discourse of suspicion.”
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Since the Charlie Hebdo massacre, the nature of satire in France has grown more complex, with cartoonists navigating a society shaped by both fear and indifference.
Haounes Senigeur, senior lecturer in political science at Sciences-Po Lyon maintains there are two aspects that need to be considered beyond the legitimate emotion surrounding the 7 January attack.
“On the one hand,” he told RFI, “[Charlie Hebdo] was targeted because of its cartoons of the Prophet of Islam, which were considered sacrilegious by individuals – in this case the Kouachi brothers – acting on behalf of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
“This may have led to a form of self-censorship on the part of certain French journalists and cartoonists, but it did not lead to a definitive renunciation of the publication of new cartoons of sacred figures in Islam,” he explains.
He goes on to say that threats and fear – for the lives of those targeted or those close to them – have certainly not disappeared, especially since the murder of French teacher Samuel Paty in October 2020.
“On the other hand – following this attack and others of the same type – we have seen the development of a kind of widespread suspicion, explicit or more diffuse, of Islam and Muslims, from the very top of the State to the very depths of society, via the 24-hour news channels that carry and exacerbate it," Senigeur says.
Rise of social media
The emergence of social networks has transformed the dynamics of satire, Senigeur says, with international audiences not necessarily sharing the same cultural context in which to interpret the information.
He suggests that this type of media readily picks up on news stories and tragedies, “all the more so if the people behind the misdeeds are of foreign origin – of Muslim culture or religion – and if they target ‘white’ people”.
“Social networking sites and 24-hour news channels are increasingly used to disseminate so-called ‘alternative’ views, in which events are interpreted through the filter of extremist ideologies, which claim to be committed to freedom of expression only to attack all kinds of minorities, whether ethnic, religious or sexual,” according to Senigeur.
From this point of view, the ethics of responsibility tend to be eroded in favour of a “freedom to say anything” – including things that are reprehensible under the law.
This shift has also led to concerns about self-censorship among artists who fear reprisal for their work.
The tools of satire – once seen as effective in challenging authority and societal norms – now often contend with not just legal constraints, but also with the pervasive threat of violence and social backlash.
French court hands guilty verdicts to all Charlie Hebdo accomplices
Shift in political discourse
The year 2015 marked a dramatic shift in political discourse, particularly following the subsequent 13 November Paris attacks that resulted in 130 deaths.
A state of emergency saw Muslim neighbourhoods subjected to increased surveillance and administrative searches.
A trend of stigmatisation was perpetuated by political debates and legislation targeting Muslim practices over issues such as women wearing the veil in public spaces.
