Charlie Hebdo depicts drowned refugee child as sex abuser
French mag raises ire by implying Aylan Kurdi, whose death put spotlight on refugees' plight, would have become a sexual offender
The French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo is under fire for a cartoon implying that a Syrian refugee child whose death shocked many around the world would have grown up to be a sex offender — like those who harassed dozens of women on New Year’s Eve in Cologne, Germany.
The cartoon depicts Aylan Kurdi, a toddler who died en route from war-torn Syria to Europe. Images of Kurdi, lying face-down in the surf brought the plight of refugees to the fore of Western discourse.
“What would little Aylan have become had he grown up?” asks a caption, under which two men are drawn chasing after a woman. The men are drawn with porcine features and tongues sticking out, drooling. Underneath them is a phrase that translates roughly as “chasing ass in Germany.”
According to a report in The Guardian, the cartoon raised a storm on social media.
Some critics said the magazine was abusing freedom of expression and satire to hide anti-Muslim racism; others countered that the cartoon was itself a caricature of racists in Europe, ridiculing an argument against refugees that could potentially be made by anti-Muslim far-right supporters in European countries.
Charlie Hebdo’s editorial offices were the target of a terror attack a year and a week ago. Twelve people were killed in the attack and eleven were wounded.