The latest edition of Charlie Hebdo has sparked a bit of an outrage after it featured a cartoon suggesting drowned three-year-old Aylan Kurdi would have grown up to become a sexual abuser like those immigrants allegedly involved in the NYE sex assaults in Cologne.
Featured Image VIA
Here’s the image:
https://twitter.com/NesrineMalik/status/687274636938186752?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The question at the top of the drawing is “What would little Aylan have grown up to be?”, and the answer at the bottom is “Ass groper in Germany”.
The suggestion is that refugees grow up to be gropers, though opinion is split on whether this is merely a satire on media perceptions of refugees.
Disgusting, no defending this. Charlie Hebdo cartoon on dead Syrian child sparks anger @AJENews https://t.co/1p8bFhVDTT
— Gerry Moloney (@gerrymoloney) January 14, 2016
https://twitter.com/Berk_On_A_Bike/status/687541756901093376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
I'm all for satire but there needs to be a line somewhere-this cover is tasteless and disgusting! #CharlieHebdo https://t.co/pCEO3c72Mh
— Ramona Aning (@RamonaAning) January 14, 2016
https://twitter.com/the_itch1980/status/687365205580484609?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
@NesrineMalik Or it could be satirizing sweeping stereotypes about migrants, i.e. not racist at all. Just saying. It's a possibility.
— Christopher Thompson (@CGAThompson) January 13, 2016
The magazine insists it is indeed satirising Islamophobes and people who oppose migration, but at the same time you have to wonder if this is just controversy for controversy’s sake.
The cartoon was published a week after the anniversary of the attacks on Charlie Hebdo officers, with free speech organisations coming together to highlight the importance of protecting dissenting voices.
For a real, sincere tribute to young Aylan, check out these creations made the week following his death.