Staff of satirical French newspaper 'Charlie Hebdo' killed in extremist attack

It were the Ancient Greeks who invented the word ‘irony’, its roots in the Greek word for sarcasm: eironeia. Given their Mediterranean proximity, other European cultures have grown certain reputations for pushing the ironic concept to its limits. But no sender of The Ironic Message has been more tragically affected by its misperceived readings than satirical French newspaper Charlie Hebdo.

Renowned for its incessant publication of cartoons depicting religious and political leaders in absurd guises and poses, the paper came under attack even by its own government recently, deemed “irresponsible” in its “unnecessary provocation” of politics and religion.

This provocation came to a head yesterday when three terrorists stormed the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, armed with explosives and guns, and killing at least 12 people including 10 journalists and cartoonists, and two police officers.

One of the staff killed was the paper’s editorial director Stephane Charbonnier, otherwise known as ‘Charb’, who only recent posted a cartoon showing a man with a shoulder gun with a caption that read: “Still no attack in France? Wait, we have until late January to present our wishes.”

According to police sources, Charb was directly targeted in yesterday’s attack, with shooters allegedly shouting “Where is Charb?” as they barged into the newsroom. Charb had been in strife with the extremists before, after depicting the Islamic god Allah in over-the-top situations, while extremist Islamic belief insists that no human has the “right” to draw said god with his own hand.

It’s not the first time Charlie Hebdo has come under attack from extremists. In December 2011, the paper’s headquarters was firebombed after it announced that the Prophet Muhammad would be “guest editor-in-chief” of its next issue. A Molotov cocktail was thrown through the office window, setting fire to the computer system and, while no fatalities occurred, the damage was extensive and the message of threat quite clear.

Still, the authors of the newspaper were insistent on their provocation, no more than Charb himself. In a 2012 interview with ABC News he said: “We are provocative today. We will be provocative tomorrow… Our job is not to defend freedom of speech, but without freedom of speech we are dead… I prefer to die than live like a rat. I haven’t time to be afraid; I have a paper to do.”

Words he indeed lived and died by.  Michael Mastess