Charb Explained

Stéphane Charbonnier
Birth Name:Stéphane Jean-Abel Michel Charbonnier
Birth Date:21 August 1967
Birth Place:Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, France
Death Place:Paris 11e, France
Death Cause:Homicide by shooting
Nationality:French
Belief:Atheism
Alias:Charb
Area:Cartoonist, journalist
Cartoonist:y
Notable Works:Charle Hebdo
Signature:Signature charb.png

Stéphane Jean-Abel Michel Charbonnier (in French ʃaʁbɔnje/; 21 August 1967 – 7 January 2015), better known as Charb (in French pronounced as /ʃaʁb/), was a French satirical caricaturist and journalist. He was assassinated during the Charlie Hebdo shooting on 7 January 2015.[1] [2]

He worked for several newspapers and magazines, joining Charlie Hebdo in 1992 and becoming the director of publication in 2009.[3] Due to the publication of Muhammad cartoons, Charb became subject to death threats from extremist Muslims. From the time the magazine was firebombed in 2011, he lived under police protection until his assassination. The police officer protecting Charb on 7 January 2015 was also killed by the shooters.

Early life

Stéphane Charbonnier was born in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine on 21 August 1967[4] and raised in Pontoise, the son of Michel Jean-Marie Charbonnier. His mother, Denise Renée-Marie Charbonnier, née Ouvrard, worked as a secretary and his father worked as a technician for Postes, télégraphes et téléphones.[5] His grandparents, Jean and Lucette Marie-Andrée (née Brunet) owned a grocery store in Pontoise. Stéphane's talent for drawing was discovered in school and he published his first drawings in Echo des collégiens at the age of fourteen. He continued to draw while studying at Lycée Camille Pissarro.

Career

In the late 1980s he started working as a cartoonist. His work included creating cartoons for the newspaper Les Nouvelles du Val-d'Oise and a magazine for the in Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône.[6]

Later freelance work by Charb included cartoons for L'Écho des savanes, Télérama, and L'Humanité.[7] He joined Charlie Hebdo in 1992 and was its director of publication from 2009 until his death on 7 January 2015.[8]

Charb's comic strip, Maurice et Patapon featured Maurice, a dog described by the newspaper Libération as leftist, pacifist, outgoing, and omnisexual, and a cat, Patapon, who is conservative, violent, asexual, and perverse. Libération described the series as philosophical and scatological.[5] Charb also drew the character "Marcel Keuf, le flic" ("Marcel Pig, the cop") in Fluide Glacial.[9] Charb's column in Charlie Hebdo was titled "Charb n'aime pas les gens" ("Charb does not like people"). One of his regular pieces was the monthly La fatwa de l'Ayatollah Charb (The Fatwa of the Ayatollah Charb) in Fluide Glacial.[10]

In 2007 and 2008, he was a set cartoonist on the talk show T'empêches tout le monde de dormir on television channel M6.[11] He was a long-time supporter of the French Communist Party.[12]

He also drew cartoons for anti-racism organizations such as MRAP.[13]

2011 bomb attack and subsequent threats

On 2 November 2011, Charlie Hebdo was firebombed just before its 3 November issue was due to be published; the issue was entitled Charia Hebdo and satirically featured the Islamic prophet, Muhammad as guest-editor.[14] [15] Charb and two of his co-workers at Charlie Hebdo subsequently received police protection.[16]

In September 2012, a man was arrested in La Rochelle, allegedly for having called for the beheading of Charb on a Jihadist website.[17]

In a 2012 interview Charb was quoted as saying, "I am not afraid of reprisals, I have no children, no wife, no car, no debt. It might sound a bit pompous, but I'd prefer to die on my feet than to live on my knees."[18]

In 2013 he illustrated the book "The Life of Muhammad", depicting the Muslim Prophet Muhammad.[19]

Al-Qaeda put Charb on their "most-wanted list" in 2013, after he edited an edition of Charlie Hebdo that satirised radical muslims.[20] Also on that list was Lars Vilks, as well as three Jyllands-Posten staff members: Kurt Westergaard (whose cartoons Charlie Hebdo had published), Carsten Juste, and Flemming Rose.[21] [22] [23] Being a sport shooter, Charb applied for permit to be able to carry a firearm for self-defence. The application was, however, not approved.[24]

On the week of the Charlie Hebdo shooting, a Charb illustration in issue for that week observed that there had not been any terrorist attacks in France, with a caricatured armed jihadist fighter turning a customary French phrase to malicious use: "Wait! ... we still have until the end of January to present our wishes" — a reference to the French tradition of offering New Year's greetings until the end of January.[25]

Beliefs

Charbonnier was an atheist and pacifist.[10] [26] [27]

Two days prior to his death, Charb had completed an essay on Islamophobia.[28] One year after the massacre, it was translated to and published in English, with a foreword by Adam Gopnik, under the title Open Letter: On Blasphemy, Islamophobia, and the True Enemies of Free Expression.

Death

See also: Charlie Hebdo shooting. Charb was killed, with seven of his colleagues, two police officers, and two other people on 7 January 2015 when a pair of gunmen stormed the Charlie Hebdo newspaper offices in Paris.[29] [30] One of the police officers killed, Franck Brinsolaro, was Charb's bodyguard.[31]

His funeral was held in Pontoise and included speeches by Luz, Patrick Pelloux, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, and Pierre Laurent. The government ministers Christiane Taubira, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, and Fleur Pellerin also attended the funeral.[32]

Personal life

Jeannette Bougrab, a human rights attorney and former Minister for Youth and Community Life, indicated after his death that she had been Charb's life partner.[33] [34] [35] His family disputed this and, in a statement issued by his brother on 10 January 2015, denied the existence of any "interpersonal commitment" between Charb and Jeannette Bougrab[36] while, on the other side, several of his colleagues confirmed the relationship between Charb and Jeanette Bougrab.

Publications

See also

Notes and References

  1. http://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/2015/01/07/97001-20150107FILWWW00188--charlie-hebdo-les-dessinateurs-cabu-charb-tignous-et-wolinski-sont-morts.php Charlie Hebdo : les dessinateurs Cabu, Charb et Wolinski sont morts
  2. News: Obituary: Charb. The Economist. 17 January 2015. 18 January 2015. Stéphane Charbonnier ("Charb"), cartoonist and editor of Charlie Hebdo, was murdered on January 7th, aged 47.
  3. Web site: Encyclopédie Larousse . Stéphane Charbonnier, dit Charb . French . 7 January 2015.
  4. News: Anne Penketh. Stéphane Charbonnier: Cartoonist and editor of Charlie Hebdo. 28 April 2015. The Independent. 9 January 2015.
  5. [Luc Le Vaillant]
  6. Pauline Conradsson and Marie Persidat (7 January 2015) Attentat à Charlie Hebdo : Pontoise pleure Charb Le Parisien.
  7. Olivier Delcroix (7 January 2015) Charb, insolent volontaire Le Figaro.
  8. News: Who were the victims of the Paris terror attack?. 8 January 2015. The Local. 7 January 2015.
  9. Fabien Deglise (8 January 2015) Mort au combat Le Devoir
  10. Web site: Stéphane Charbonnier obituary. The Guardian. 13 January 2015. 13 January 2015.
  11. http://www.planet.fr/societe-mort-de-cabu-charb-tignous-et-wolinski-qui-etaient-ces-dessinateurs.760242.29336.html Mort de Cabu, Charb, Tignous et Wolinski : qui étaient ces dessinateurs ?
  12. S. Z., « Le soutien des intellectuels divise la gauche de la gauche », Le Monde, 4 June 2009, p. 11.
  13. Nabil Wakim Seven Questions My American Friends Ask About the Charlie Hebdo shootings Medium.com. Retrieved 25 January 2015
  14. Web site: 'Charlie Hebdo' Editor in Chief: 'A Drawing Has Never Killed Anyone'. Spiegel Online. Stefan Simons. 20 September 2012.
  15. Anaëlle Grondin (7 January 2015) «Charlie Hebdo»: Charb, le directeur de la publication du journal satirique, a été assassiné 20 Minutes; accessed 7 January 2015.
  16. http://www.liberation.fr/medias/2011/11/03/trois-charlie-sous-protection-policiere_772318 Trois «Charlie» sous protection policière
  17. http://www.20minutes.fr/societe/1008383-20120922-homme-appele-decapiter-directeur-charlie-hebdo-interpelle Un homme ayant appelé à décapiter le directeur de «Charlie Hebdo» interpellé
  18. Web site: "Charlie Hebdo": Charb, Cabu, Tignous et Wolinski morts dans la fusillade. lepoint.fr. 7 January 2015. "Je n'ai pas peur des représailles. Je n'ai pas de gosses, pas de femme, pas de voiture, pas de crédit. Ça fait sûrement un peu pompeux, mais je préfère mourir debout que vivre à genoux.".
  19. News: French weekly prints Prophet Muhammad drawing. Al Jazeera. 2 January 2013.
  20. Web site: French satirical paper Charlie Hebdo attacked in Paris . 2 November 2011 . BBC News.
  21. Paris Police Say 12 Dead After Shooting at Charlie Hebdo . Witnesses said that the gunmen had called out the names of individual from the magazine. French media report that Charb, the Charlie Hebdo cartoonist who was on al Qaeda most wanted list in 2013, was seriously injured. . Conal Urquhart . Time . 7 January 2015.
  22. Web site: Murdered Charlie Hebdo cartoonist was on al Qaeda wanted list . Victoria Ward . The Telegraph . 8 January 2015 . 7 January 2015.
  23. Web site: Look Who's on Al Qaeda's Most-Wanted List. Dashiell Bennet. 1 March 2013. The Wire. 8 January 2015. 17 November 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151117025952/http://www.thewire.com/global/2013/03/al-qaeda-most-wanted-list/62673/. dead.
  24. News: Antonio Fischetti : "Bien sûr, on s'engueulait, à 'Charlie'" . Nicolas . Delesalle . 2 September 2015 . Telerama.fr . 16 January 2015 . French.
  25. News: Charlie Hebdo: l'incroyable prémonition du dessinateur Charb. Charlie Hebdo: illustrator Charb's incredible premonition. La Libre . France. 2 January 2015. French. 2 January 2015.
  26. News: Obituary Charb . The Economist. 15 January 2015. 17 January 2015.
  27. News: REFILE-No rules, no regrets for French cartoonists in Mohammad storm. 19 September 2012. Reuters. 20 January 2015. 17 November 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151117033121/http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/19/film-protests-charlie-idUSL5E8KJE6320120919. live.
  28. News: From beyond grave, how Charlie Hebdo editor's last manifesto preaches against hate . Cavna, Michael . Washington Post . 16 December 2015 . 7 January 2016 .
  29. News: Les dessinateurs Charb et Cabu seraient morts . French . L'Essentiel . France . L'Essentiel . 7 January 2015 . 7 January 2015 . Le directeur de la publication et dessinateur satirique Charb (Stéphane Charbonnier) et Cabu seraient morts selon les informations du Point (via un tweet). Charb avait été annoncé gravement blessé selon plusieurs sources, que relayaient Le Monde et Le Figaro..
  30. News: EN DIRECT. Massacre chez "Charlie Hebdo": 12 morts, dont Charb et Cabu (LIVE. Massacre in "Charlie Hebdo": 12 dead, including Charb and Cabu) . Le Point.fr . 7 January 2015 . French . 10 January 2015.
  31. https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.tendanceouest.com/actualite-89870-attentat-de-charlie-hebdo-un-des-policiers-tues-demeurait-en-normandie.html&prev=search Attentat de Charlie Hebdo, l'un des policiers tués demeurait en Normandie
  32. http://www.lemonde.fr/actualite-medias/article/2015/01/16/dernier-hommage-a-charb-ancien-redacteur-en-chef-de-charlie-hebdo_4557654_3236.html Dernier hommage à Charb, ancien directeur de la publication de « Charlie Hebdo »
  33. Samuel Auffray, Ariane Kujawski, En Direct – Jeannette Bougrab, compagne de Charb: "ils méritent le Panthéon", BFM TV, 8 January 2015
  34. http://www.sudouest.fr/2015/01/08/charlie-hebdo-jeannette-bougrab-compagne-de-charb-il-a-ete-execute-1790560-6092.php Charlie Hebdo: Jeannette Bougrab, compagne de Charb: "Il a été exécuté"
  35. http://www.francetvinfo.fr/faits-divers/attaque-au-siege-de-charlie-hebdo/charlie-hebdo-charb-merite-le-pantheon-selon-jeannette-bougrab-sa-compagne_791941.html "Charlie Hebdo": Charb "mérite le Panthéon", selon Jeannette Bougrab, sa compagne
  36. http://www.liberation.fr/societe/2015/01/10/la-famille-de-charb-dement-l-engagement-relationnel-du-dessinateur-avec-jeannette-bougrab_1177966 La famille de Charb dément l'"engagement relationnel" du dessinateur avec Jeannette Bougrab

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