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Open Letter
On Blasphemy, Islamophobia, and the True Enemies of Free Expression
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- $ 39.900,00
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- $ 39.900,00
Descripción editorial
An impassioned defense of the freedom of speech, from Stéphane Charbonnier, a journalist murdered for his convictions.
On January 7, 2015, two gunmen stormed the offices of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. They took the lives of twelve men and women, but they called for one man by name: "Charb."
Known by his pen name, Stèphane Charbonnier was editor in chief of Charlie Hebdo, an outspoken critic of religious fundamentalism, and a renowned political cartoonist in his own right. In the past, he had received death threats and had even earned a place on Al Qaeda's Most Wanted List. On January 7 it seemed that Charb's enemies had finally succeeded in silencing him. But in a twist of fate befitting Charb's defiant nature, it was soon revealed that he had finished a book just two days before his murder on the very issues at the heart of the attacks: blasphemy, Islamophobia, and the necessary courage of satirists.
Here, published for the first time in English, is Charb's final work. A searing criticism of hypocrisy and racism, and a rousing, eloquent defense of free speech, Open Letter shows Charb's words to be as powerful and provocative as his art. This is an essential book about race, religion, the voice of ethnic minorities and majorities in a pluralistic society, and above all, the right to free expression and the surprising challenges being leveled at it in our fraught and dangerous time.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Before Islamic militants murdered 12 staff members of the French magazine Charlie Hebdo in January 2015, many Americans had never heard of the satirical publication. The text of this provocative book-length essay by St phane Charbonnier, the former editor-in-chief of Charlie Hebdo, who went by the pen name "Charb," was finalized only two days before his assassination. The very existence of this slim book will be considered inflammatory or scandalous by some, but those who read it will find that Charb lays out his antireligious opinions in a clear and concise manner. One of Charb's primary goals in the essay is to distinguish racism from Islamophobia. Why is there no corresponding extremist violence in retaliation for "Judeophobia" or "Cathophobia," since Charlie Hebdo also mocks Catholic and Jewish ideas? Charb asserts that, in a secular republic, ideas must be scrutinized, and that religions are sets of ideas rather than people. Moreover, nonbelievers are incapable of committing blasphemy. Adam Gopnik's foreword provides an overview of Charlie Hebdo and some historical context for American readers. Gopnik concludes that "Faith is not the enemy. Fanaticism is the enemy." Charb pulls no punches and makes no apologies. He makes a bold case for the necessity of free expression, even in the face of real threats and death itself.