Stephane Charbonnier, Jean Cabut Among Charlie Hebdo Shooting Victims
A terrorist attack against a Paris magazine claimed the lives of four of France's best-known satirical cartoonists. Police had identified at least five victims in the Charlie Hebdo shooting Wednesday, including editor and cartoonist Stéphane Charbonnier, also known as Charb; Bernard Maris, an economist, columnist and the magazine’s deputy editor; and cartoonists Jean Cabut (known as Cabu), Georges Wolinski and Bernard Verlhac, known as Tignous. Five other magazine staff members were also believed killed in the attack, as well as two police officers who had not been named.
Charbonnier, 47, was editor-in-chief of Charlie Hebdo in 2011, when it was firebombed for running a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad. Charbonnier was included in a 2013 "Wanted Dead or Alive For Crimes Against Islam" list published by the al Qaeda magazine Inspire. Since the 2011 arson attack, Charb and two other co-workers had been under police protection, according to the BBC. He was quoted telling the French press in 2012 after the firebomb attempt: "I am not afraid of reprisals. I have no children, no wife, no car, no debt. It might sound a bit pompous, but I prefer to die on my feet rather than living on my knees."
Cabut, 76, had worked for several French newspapers and reportedly was the highest-paid cartoonist in the world, according to the Independent. Cabu contributed to the satirical monthly Hara-Kiri until it was banned in 1970. He had previously run a cartoon in 2006 on the cover of Charlie Hebdo in response to the Danish cartoon controversy depicting Prophet Muhammad with his own depiction of the prophet. Cabu was also known for popularizing the phrase “beauf,” short for “beau-frere” or “brother-in-law,” caricaturizing the average, racist and sexist Frenchman.
Maris, 68, was an economist and a journalist who wrote Charlie Hebdo’s weekly column Oncle Bernard (Uncle Bernard). A fan of Keynesian economics, Maris worked for several journals and was deputy editorial director and shareholder of Charlie Hebdo. Maris was also known to be a prolific television economics debater and an opponent of the globalization movement, according to the Guardian. "Bernard Maris was a cultured, kind and very tolerant man. He will be much missed," said Christian Noyer, Bank of France governor, in a statement, according to NBC News.
Wolinski, 80, co-founded one of the most mordant satirical magazines ever, L'Enragé (the Enraged), during the May 1968 student strikes, according to Lambiek, a comic encyclopedia. Wolinski started out as a cartoonist producing strips with political or erotic themes for satirical monthly Hara-Kiri. His works eventually became a frequent feature at daily paper Libération, and weekly publications Paris-Match, L'Écho des Savanes and Charlie Hebdo.
Verlhac, 57, had been a cartoonist since the 1980s. He has produced political cartoon books such as "Five Years Under Sarkozy" and was part of a cartooning network known as Cartooning for Peace. Besides being featured in Charlie Hebdo, his works were appeared in the weekly magazine Marianne and in the Franco-Belgian monthly comic magazine Fluide Glacial.
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