Four years on from the massacre, charlie hebdo's satire is still stinging | thearticle

Since November 2018, Paris has played witness to nine ‘Acts’ of fierce _Gilets Jaunes _street protests, and the fourth anniversary of the 7 January 2015 _Charlie Hebdo _Islamist massacres.

The _Gilets Jaunes _have been physically, and in some cases, violently occupying the public space: at roundabouts, motorway toll booths and on the Champs Elysées. Meanwhile _Charlie _has

been attempting to keep alive its brand of belligerent humour from its anonymous, heavily protected bunker. The anniversary of the attacks has brought forth fresh commentary on the

newspaper. Nonetheless, it is hard, even four years later, to pigeonhole this once-marginal newspaper that found itself a reluctant poster child for freedom of expression in France. The _Je

Suis Charlie _movement that brought it in from the margins of the French press has, at least abroad, occluded the fact that its pages are filled with swipes at France’s ruling classes. Many

among the _Gilets Jaunes_,_ _meanwhile_, _have been attacking the mainstream media for being in cahoots with the ruling elite, but this hasn’t included _Charlie:_ still too small and too

marginal. But how has _Charlie_ been responding to the populist, heterogeneous movement, and its bids to disrupt Macron’s presidency? French sociologist Jean-Pierre Le Goff has branded the

social media-fuelled, largely leaderless _Gilets Jaunes _movement as the “revenge of the _beauf”_. Cartoonist Cabu, a victim in the _Charlie Hebdo _attacks, created the _beauf _character in

the 1970s. It roughly translates as ‘my bruv-in-law’, and is comparable to the ‘gammon’ insult in Brexit Britain, implying a lowbrow, chauvinistic, borderline racist Frenchman. Has _Charlie 

_also consecrated the _Gilets Jaunes _movement as a bunch of _beaufs_? In a word: no. _Charlie’s _longstanding environmentalism put something of a brake on it supporting the _Gilets Jaunes_’

opposition to Macron’s now-cancelled fuel tax hikes. On November 28, the ever-acidic cartoonist, Salch, contributed a caustic sketch of Delacroix’s _Liberty Leading the People_, with the 

_Gilets Jaunes _being ‘led’ atop a car. But as early as November 11, contributor Jean-Yves Camus warned not to “dismiss the legitimate feeling of marginalisation, impoverishment and class

contempt” underpinning the movement.  While _Charlie_’s trademark loud cartooning has poked fun at some of the _Gilets Jaunes’ _stunts, its articles have been much more responsive to the

complexity of the cause. _Charlie _has used black humour to pillory Macron’s plight, frequently with anti-monarchist verve. A cartoon by Foolz on 12 December depicts Macron’s guillotined

head addressing the nation, while Coco sketched Macron using a _Gilet Jaune _protester as an eco-friendly rental scooter. Gérard Biard has quipped that the technocratic Macron who wanted a

startup nation now has an exceptionally dynamic one camped outside the Elysée. _Charlie _has certainly echoed, humorously or otherwise, critiques of the _Gilets Jaunes _movement: in thrall

to social media rumour, incoherent in its objectives or mindlessly destructive. Yet contributors have also expressed solidarity. Journalist Fabrice Nicolino has said: “How easy is it to

sneer at the _gilets jaunes _and write them off as _beaufs _[…] Insulting the real people who have been worn down by decades of unbearable economic and territorial policies […] Count me

out”. _Charlie Hebdo _has also sent its contributors around the country to interview and sketch the protesters. Cartoonist Juin celebrates the solidarity he found at a _Gilets Jaunes _camp

in Lorraine, quoting a retiree, Chantal: “We only used to know each other by sight. Now we’re getting to know each other, it’s so nice!” ‘Félix’, reporting from Le Pouzin in the Ardèche,

evokes Asterix, calling the camp an indomitable, ungovernable village resisting the centralised powers of Macron as Cesar. Antonio Fischetti enjoyed spending time alongside protesters in

wealthy western Paris: “Of course, it’s not very nice to break windows. But if it meant freaking out the bourgeoisie just for the afternoon, good gracious, it was a memorable moment”. In its

patchwork coverage of the _Gilets Jaunes_, in its playfulness, _Charlie Hebdo _continues its off-beat dance with current affairs. Its cartoon lines whisper that there can and should be more

than one way to look at the news; more than one way to draw it, to interact with it. Inviting the reader to step in closer, beyond the rowdy front page, to see that the written editorials

are the subtle notes that add the music to the staccato beat of the cartoons. Its continued intermingling of voices, silenced though many were, does not seek to force readers into sharing a

particular viewpoint. It does invite them to notice and, indeed, stick up for the incongruous: for that which does not quite add up, for everything that cannot be stuck into a spreadsheet in

the very technocratic manner one might associate with Macron. Although undeniably ambivalent, _Charlie_ seems to instinctively grasp the unruliness of the _Gilets Jaunes _movement. It does

not write them off as _beaufs_, while standing at one pace removed, keeping some critical and satirical distance. It may have tentatively migrated onto the internet and even onto social

media, but four years after the massacre, _Charlie_‘s attachment to pen and ink, to paper and people, appears stronger than ever. _Dr Jane Weston Vauclair is the author of De Charlie Hebdo à

Charlie: Enjeux, histoire, perspectives. _