{"id":185646,"date":"2025-09-27T16:14:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T16:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/185646\/"},"modified":"2025-09-27T16:14:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T16:14:09","slug":"10-years-ago-i-am-charlie-was-born-now-it-means-something-very-different","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/185646\/","title":{"rendered":"10 years ago \u2018I am Charlie\u2019 was born. Now it means something very different"},"content":{"rendered":"

After terrorists\u2019 bullets tore through the staff of France\u2019s satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo magazine 10 years ago<\/a>, the people of France spoke with one voice: \u201cJe suis Charlie.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the days since an assassin silenced the voice of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the words \u201cI am Charlie\u201d have echoed too across the United States. Both fell victims to political violence. And in death, their reputations for kindling outrage, whether publishing controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad or stoking viral arguments on college campuses \u2013 made defending freedom of speech a national priority.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were killed by the same bullet,\u201d Nicolas Conquer, spokesperson for the American Republican Party in France told CNN.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t be Charlie yesterday and not be Charlie Kirk today,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

But G\u00e9rard Biard, editor in chief of Charlie Hebdo magazine today, sees an \u201cenormous confusion\u201d on this point among Americans.<\/p>\n

\u201cCharlie Kirk was an influencer and above all a political personality,\u201d he told CNN, \u201cWe do satire and cartoons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both killings turned the victims \u2013 the staff of Charlie Hebdo and Charlie Kirk \u2013 into \u201cmartyrs for freedom of speech,\u201d Anna Arzoumanov, an expert on freedom of expression from Paris\u2019 Sorbonne University told CNN.<\/p>\n

\"Founder<\/p>\n

Founder and executive director of Turning Point USA Charlie Kirk speaks at the opening of the Turning Point Action conference on July 15, 2023 in West Palm Beach, Florida. – Joe Raedle\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

In 2015, writers, politicians and above all cartoonists flocked to portray Charlie Hebdo\u2019s artists as guardians of democracy \u2013 their pens mightier than any sword.<\/p>\n

Charlie Kirk too has won praise for his commitment to the battle of ideas.<\/p>\n

But the free speech his eulogists avow now bears little similarity to what Charlie Hebdo stands for in France.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn one hand it\u2019s the freedom to blaspheme to serve the debate of general interest,\u201d said Arzoumanov, referencing most Muslims\u2019 belief that depicting Islam\u2019s prophet is blasphemy.<\/p>\n

But the freedom of speech of Charlie Kirk, she said, is \u201cthe freedom to hold masculinist discourses against abortion\u201d or against minority communities. The free speech his camp championed can even border on discourses that would be forbidden as hate speech in many European countries, she added.<\/p>\n

Charlie Hebdo ridiculed racism, the far right and religious fundamentalism, Arzoumanov said. By contrast, Kirk and his supporters often disparaged racial and religious minorities and the LGBTQ+ community, and promoted populist right-wing views.<\/a><\/p>\n

These two \u201cCharlies\u201d were radically opposed, Arzoumanov said.<\/p>\n

Signpost for division<\/p>\n

Thousands upon thousands of people tramped through Paris in 2015, grieving the 11 journalists and one police officer killed in the attack on Charlie Hebdo and promising to safeguard its mission.<\/p>\n

They huddled over candles lain at the bronze feet of Marianne, the spirit of the French Revolution and the republic it gave birth to. In death, Charlie Hebdo, which had long courted controversy, became an unexpected figurehead of unity against terror and for the freedom of expression.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn France, there was the idea that we just don\u2019t kill people for drawings or writings,\u201d Thomas Hochmann, professor of public law at Paris Nanterre University told CNN. Whereas in the US, \u201cit seems that what dominates among those who say \u2018I am Charlie\u2019 is more agreement with the substance of (Kirk\u2019s arguments).\u201d<\/p>\n

Whereas \u201cJe suis Charlie\u201d signaled solidarity, \u201cI am Charlie\u201d is a signpost for division<\/a>, he added.<\/p>\n

The difference in response from the two countries\u2019 leaders was also telling.<\/p>\n

Let there be \u201cno conflation\u201d between the terrorists and Islam, France\u2019s then-President Francois Hollande hammered home in the wake of the 2015 attacks.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A woman poses with her copy of the French satirical magazine ‘Charlie Hebdo’ in front of the ‘Rue Nicolas Appert’ on January 14, 2015 in Paris, France. – Marc Piasecki\/French Select\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

US President Donald Trump wasn\u2019t afraid to paint his enemies as guilty for Kirk\u2019s murder.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world\u2019s worst mass murderers and criminals,\u201d Trump said in a video statement posted to social media in the hours following Kirk\u2019s killing on September 10.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we\u2019re seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

For Charlie Hebdo\u2019s Biard, Kirk\u2019s killing is inseparable from the gun violence that haunts American society and its politics. The legal tradition of each country no doubt also played its part. In France, he sees the threat of prosecution for hate as a guard rail for public debate. In the US\u2019 absolute attachment to freedom of speech, he sees no such limit.<\/p>\n

\"Attendees<\/p>\n

Attendees hold up Turning Point USA signs at the memorial service for political activist Charlie Kirk at State Farm Stadium on September 21, 2025 in Glendale, Arizona. – Eric Thayer\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Times have changed<\/p>\n

In the 10 years that separate the killings at Charlie Hebdo and the shooting of Charlie Kirk, thinking around free speech has evolved.<\/p>\n

In 2015, the idea of a French universalism around key Republican values wasn\u2019t controversial, Arzoumanov said, and there was largely a consensus around freedom of speech.<\/p>\n

Today, Charlie Hebdo\u2019s blasphemy would be more contested by a France more wary of Islamophobia, Arzoumanov said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a question that troubles French Republican Party official Conquer, \u201cIf today Charlie Hebdo fell under the bullets of Islamist terrorists, would there by the same unanimous support et especially from the Left and Far-Left camps?\u201d<\/p>\n

Polling conducted by IFOP<\/a> and the Jean Jaures Foundation last year in France, suggests 76% of French people view freedom of expression as a fundamental right, against 58% in 2012.<\/p>\n

The polling indicates that just over 30% of those aged under 35 consider it unacceptable to say and caricature whatever one likes under the guise of freedom of expression, compared to just over 20% of those aged 35 and older.<\/p>\n

For those coming of age post-Me Too, Black Lives Matter, even the war in Gaza, the right to offend, especially against minorities, is perhaps less cherished.<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

People visit a makeshift memorial for Charlie Kirk outside Turning Point USA headquarters on September 20 in Phoenix, Arizona. – John Locher\/AP<\/p>\n

Trump has loomed large over much of the last decade\u2019s intense
political and social upheaval, and his influence can be seen in moves within corporate America to shut down voices considered unflattering to Kirk and his conservative views.<\/p>\n

ABC\u2019s decision to temporarily pull<\/a> comedian Jimmy Kimmel\u2019s late-night show off air, a move for which Trump claimed credit, was the starkest example. The president\u2019s threats to silence journalists and other commentators with whose views he disagrees suggest it may not be the last.<\/p>\n

In France, some have set their compasses to Trump\u2019s lodestar. Hochman has charted moves by French far-right media outlets like the far-right sympathetic CNews, part of the portfolio of
oligarch Vincent Bollor\u00e9, to seize on Kirk\u2019s death to cloak France\u2019s far-right in a cloak of victimhood, besieged by repressive limits on free speech.<\/p>\n

\"Members<\/p>\n

Members of public the light candles in tribute near the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on January 10, 2015 in Paris, France. – Jeff J Mitchell\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

With the temporary silencing of Kimmel, some saw attacks on free speech as having come full circle.<\/p>\n

Late night comedy is quintessentially American. The cutting, purposely offensive lampooning of French comic strips is typically French. They\u2019re distant cousins of sorts.<\/p>\n

\u201cDumb and nasty\u201d is how the minds behind Hebdo sloganed their own magazine. Outrage was their fuel, piercing ridicule their objective. Kimmel, like his counterparts behind other late-night desks, has rarely held back from roasting the rich and powerful.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is important is that we get to live in a country which allows us to have a show like this,\u201d Kimmel said as he returned to the airwaves Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

For the director of Charlie Hebdo, known by his pen name \u201cRiss,\u201d who survived the horrific attack of 2015, there\u2019s a message that is even more important.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t shoot people who don\u2019t have the same opinion as us,\u201d he told CNN.<\/p>\n

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After terrorists\u2019 bullets tore through the staff of France\u2019s satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo magazine 10 years ago, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":185647,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[236,109150,49204,12,88,594,25709,109151,593],"class_list":{"0":"post-185646","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-charlie-hebdo","10":"tag-charlie-kirk","11":"tag-donald-trump","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-france","14":"tag-freedom-of-speech","15":"tag-je-suis-charlie","16":"tag-paris"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185646\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}