CFI has a statement on the Charlie Hebdo murders.
In response to the murders of journalists at the French magazine Charlie Hebdo by terrorists in Paris today, Center for Inquiry president and CEO Ronald A. Lindsay issued this statement:
We are heartbroken by the unthinkable and cowardly attack at the magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris today, and outraged that such a barbaric act was a response to journalists and satirists exercising their right to free expression.
As publishers of Free Inquiry, the first (and for some time, the only) U.S. publication willing to publish the cartoons of Muhammad that sparked riots in 2005 after they appeared in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, we stand in resolute solidarity with the people of Charlie Hebdo, and all those writers, thinkers, and satirists who know that no idea or individual ought to be immune from criticism, and have the courage to point out the flaws and fallacies of even the most deeply-held beliefs.
As a show of support for free expression and the staff of Charlie Hebdo, CFI plans to prominently display on our website (http://www.centerforinquiry.net) the cartoon of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi that apparently was one of the motivations for the attack. We will not be cowed by the savagery of those few who would like to see the world dragged back to the Dark Ages, who will kill to protect their backward ideologies from criticism, and we will continue to fight for the right of all people to dissent, to satirize, and to freely speak their minds.
The original Free Inquiry article with the Muhammed cartoons is available at bit.ly/CFIDanishCartoon
The Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi cartoon is on the main page.
No words. I just keep swallowing.
Are you saying it was the cartoon in this post that got them riled? Huuuh? I don’t even get it. French in-joke? The title is just, “Wishes . Al-Baghdadi also.” And then the balloon, “And above all, health!”
His New Year wishes for the world? (With heavy lashings of irony.)
His demands for what people should wish him? (Likewise.)
What am I missing?
No. I don’t know what got them riled.
That particular cartoon was almost too recent to be the reason for the attack. This was clearly a carefully planned attack.
The Islamic State had indicated an intention to go after them just days ago, and they were intending to publish this in mocking answer as in ‘Happy New Year to you too’
A bitter irony. No doubt they were targeted in part for the cartoons in Ophelia’s previous post.