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Jan 7th, 2019 | By
Category: Notes and Comment Blog
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France24 tells us the Charlie Hebdo people say things have only gotten worse.

Charlie Hebdo’s commemorative cover this week depicts both a Catholic bishop and a Muslim imam blowing out a candle flame that represents the light of reason. The headline bemoans a French society it says has become anti-enlightenment (“anti-lumières“).

In an interview with AFP, Charlie Hebdo’s editor-in-chief Riss, who was the artist behind the cover drawing, said public attitudes had only grown less tolerant since the attacks.

Not only has the tragedy faded from memory but so has the social significance of the event, he said.

“One gets the impression that we have turned our backs to it, so in our opinion the antiquated attitudes are still there, even more so than four or five years ago.”

“The hostility no longer only comes from religious extremists but now also from intellectuals,” he observed.

In an editorial for the memorial edition – entitled “Are you still there?” – Riss put it even more bluntly: “Everything has become blasphemous.”

On its double-page centrefold spread this week, the magazine depicted a host of world figures (whom it called “obscurantistes”) celebrating the anniversary of the attacks, from far-right leader Marine Le Pen to Pope Francis to US President Donald Trump.

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