Following last week’s horrific attack on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo’s headquarters in Paris, the weekly publication have released their historic “Survivors” Issue, with copies selling out in news outlets across France on Wednesday morning. The Independent reports that the magazine’s distributors, who initially announced a print release of 1 million (significantly expanding on their usual 60,000 print run), will be releasing 500,000 copies for ten days.
According to Reuters, supporters of the memorial issue began queuing at dawn to secure a copy of Charlie Hebdo. The cover, defiantly and controversially featuring the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, has drawn mixed criticism and support worldwide. The cover cartoon depicts Muhammad, with a single tear, holding a “Je suis Charlie” sign and is emblazoned with the text “Tout est pardonné” (“all is forgiven”) – a bold move that has been defended by the surviving journalists and cartoonists of Charlie Hebdo: “It’s not the front page that the world wanted but it’s the one we wanted,” front cover cartoonist Luz has said in a statement.
Criticism of the magazine has developed internationally since the Paris massacre, with the symbolic hashtag #jenesuispascharlie (“I am not charlie”) gaining momentum – a movement that supports the freedom of expression held by the cartoonists of Charlie Hebdo, but interrogates the magazine’s history of causing genuine offense. The Indpendent has labelled the Survivors Issue as “a festival of bad taste.”
In Sydney, The Guardian reports that Abbey’s Bookshop will be organising a shipment of the issues through “French contacts” as they become available.
Meanwhile, on ebay UK and ebay France, opportunists have begun listing the issue for hundreds of pounds, a tasteless act that will likely become fruitless as more issues are released in France and worldwide over the next 10 days.
Lead image by Pascal Guyot via Getty.
