After the attack on the Charlie Hebdo headquarters in Paris, the University of Manitoba’s (U of M) university newspaper the Manitoban has decided to republish the French satirical newspaper’s controversial depictions of the Muslim prophet Muhammad.
The newspaper published the illustrations, along with a commentary piece on their website headlined “Time to Stand Up to Radical Islamism.”
The article’s author, Ethan Cabel, wrote “in the wake of the heinous massacre in Paris at the offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, it is time for Western democratic nations to acknowledge that . . . we are at war with radical Islamism.”
The article concluded by saying “terrorism only works to intimidate free citizens so long as we allow it to do so. If we all stand up, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, they will be hard-pressed to force us to our knees again.”
Upon publishing, the Manitoban came under fire.
“I received a contribution from one of our staff members, and between a few of us we determined that we should print the cartoon along with the article, so we brought the matter to the editorial board. As a board, we debated the issue for several days before holding a vote at our weekly meeting, and the vote was in favour of publishing the image,” comment editor Tom Ingram said.
Ingram said it was “not a unanimous vote,” but he personally supported publishing the image.
Arts and culture editor Lauren Siddall said she also supported it.
“The reprinting of the Charlie Hebdo cover becomes complicated due to the politically-charged nature of the act,” Siddall said. “Deciding to include, or not include, the graphic goes beyond the issue at hand . . . It is our duty to inform our readership, act as an agent of social change, and defend our democratic right to freedom of expression.”
Zeeshan Zamir, president oU of M’s Muslim Students’ Association, told CBC it was the picture which he felt was most offensive.
Kashif Ahmed, chairman of the National Council for Canadian Muslims (NCCM), said the university paper, just like all media outlets in Canada, “has the right to make an editorial decision on whether to republish the cartoons.”
“We respect the right to make either decision,” he said. “The NCCM does point out, however, that free expression comes with responsibility.”
