It bears recalling a well-publicized case some years ago that showed the limits of even Charlie Hebdo’s free speech. In 2008, the French political cartoonist Siné, an octogenarian anti-capitalist and anarchist who had been contributing to Charlie Hebdo every week for decades, published a cartoon about Nicolas Sarkozys son, Jean. Jean Sarkozy was marrying the heiress to the French electronics chain Darty, which is a Jewish family business. In his cartoon, Siné noted—without any evidence to support this—that the young Sarkozy was going to convert to Judaism, the religion of his wife. Siné wrote, “Hell go a long way in life, this lad!” Charlie Hebdo’s editor at the time, Philippe Val, who had printed the cartoon, faced objection, agreed it was offensive, and asked the artist to apologize. Siné said he would prefer to cut his own nuts off. He got axed from the paper. The cartoonist founded his own magazine—Siné Hebdo—took the journalist who first accused him of anti-Semitism to court for slander, and was put on trial himself for charges of anti-Semitism. Even at Charlie Hebdo, free speech in France is not impermeable. Even Le Monde, a more mainstream publication, in 2005 had to cough up cash—to the tune of one euro—for defaming Jews in an op-ed.
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 02:52:30 +0000
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