“A drawing has never killed anyone”

But editor in chief Charbonnier, who is known to his colleagues as “Charb,” appears relaxed despite the uproar. Surrounded by TV crews from Japan, Qatar, Belgium and South Africa, as well as French journalists, he sits at his desk in the corner of a large room, where he creates his cartoons. He sees himself mainly as a journalist who is just doing his job. “The accusation that we are pouring oil on the flames in the current situation really gets on my nerves,” says Charbonnier. “After the publication of this absurd and grotesque film about Muhammad in the US, other newspapers have responded to the protests with cover stories. We are doing the same thing, but with drawings. And a drawing has never killed anyone.”

The cartoonist claims he doesn’t want to deliberately provoke anyone. “We publish caricatures every week, but people only describe them as declarations of war when it’s about the person of the Prophet or radical Islam,” says Charbonnier. “When you start saying that you can’t create such drawings, then the same thing will soon apply to other, more harmless representations.”