Charlie Hebdo, the satirical French magazine, has published a cartoon depicting Aylan Kurdi — the drowned Syria child who made emotive headlines last year — as a grown man committing sexual harassment on the streets of Germany.
“What would Aylan have become if he’d grown up? A bum groper in Germany”, reads the caption of the cartoon which appeared in this weeks edition, making an obvious reference to the migrant sex mobs in Cologne.
The Magazine found itself at the centre of a free speech row last year, when Islamist gunman murdered 12 of its journalist after they published depictions of Muhammad, the Muslim prophet.
The left wing, anti-racist magazine has a long history of pouring scorn on both sides of various sensitive debates. They have depicted the Pope kissing a man, Jesus having sex, and Condoleezza Rice as a monkey.
This recent cartoon, however, has caused considerable outrage.
Charlie Hebdo implying a child is better off dead after linking his non existant future to sexual assualts in Germany. I am not Charlie.
— asshat (@swat_wilson) January 13, 2016
I'm really appalled anyone is trying to defend the Charlie Hebdo cartoon. There's clearly no satirical angle here. It's just crass racism.
— Sarah Jones (@onesarahjones) January 13, 2016
https://twitter.com/levantina_/status/687329972013383680
The magazine first satirised the image Aylan Kurdi in an edition in September 2015, shortly after it made headlines around the world. That cartoon mocked the European reaction to the migrant crisis, however, rather that the migrants themselves – a nuance lost on the pro-migration, outrage brigade.
A McDonald’s sign read, “Two children’s menus for the price of one”, to mock Europe’s obsession with consumerism. Jesus was also shown behind the dead child, saying, “Christians walk on water… Muslim kids sink”, in a thinly veiled attack on Christian Europe’s apparent indifference to Muslim migrants.
Although many online were outraged by the more recent cartoon, others said it is completely predictable – given the magazine attacks both sides of every debate, and they have already defended the child.
If you're too stupid to understand satire, better shut it & ask someone who does. #CharlieHebdo.
— Iranian Atheist (@Atheist_Iran) September 14, 2015
If you're used to cherry-picking bits of texts that affirm your politics & interpret them literally, you'll prob do same for #CharlieHebdo
— Jonathan Russell (@JRussellEsq) January 13, 2016
https://twitter.com/Oh__Isabelle/status/687331157403418624
Others have suggested that the cartoon is an attack on the press, who jumped to defend mass migration when the image of Aylan Kurdi first appeared, and then condemned the mass movement when problems such as Cologne occurred.
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