Open Letter: On Blasphemy, Islamophobia, and the True Enemies of Free Expression

by Charb, Adam Gopnik Narrated by Dean Olsher

Overview

An impassioned defense of the freedom of speech, from Stéphane Charbonnier, a journalist murdered for his convictions.

On January 7, 2015, two gunmen stormed the offices of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. They took the lives of twelve men and women, but they called for one man by name: "Charb."

Known by his pen name, Stèphane Charbonnier was editor in chief of Charlie Hebdo, an outspoken critic of religious fundamentalism, and a renowned political cartoonist in his own right. In the past, he had received death threats and had even earned a place on Al Qaeda's Most Wanted List. On January 7 it seemed that Charb's enemies had finally succeeded in silencing him. But in a twist of fate befitting Charb's defiant nature, it was soon revealed that he had finished a book just two days before his murder on the very issues at the heart of the attacks: blasphemy, Islamophobia, and the necessary courage of satirists.

Here, published for the first time in English, is Charb's final work. A searing criticism of hypocrisy and racism, and a rousing, eloquent defense of free speech, Open Letter shows Charb's words to be as powerful and provocative as his art. This is an essential book about race, religion, the voice of ethnic minorities and majorities in a pluralistic society, and above all, the right to free expression and the surprising challenges being leveled at it in our fraught and dangerous time.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

01/25/2016
Before Islamic militants murdered 12 staff members of the French magazine Charlie Hebdo in January 2015, many Americans had never heard of the satirical publication. The text of this provocative book-length essay by Stéphane Charbonnier, the former editor-in-chief of Charlie Hebdo, who went by the pen name "Charb," was finalized only two days before his assassination. The very existence of this slim book will be considered inflammatory or scandalous by some, but those who read it will find that Charb lays out his antireligious opinions in a clear and concise manner. One of Charb's primary goals in the essay is to distinguish racism from Islamophobia. Why is there no corresponding extremist violence in retaliation for "Judeophobia" or "Cathophobia," since Charlie Hebdo also mocks Catholic and Jewish ideas? Charb asserts that, in a secular republic, ideas must be scrutinized, and that religions are sets of ideas rather than people. Moreover, nonbelievers are incapable of committing blasphemy. Adam Gopnik's foreword provides an overview of Charlie Hebdo and some historical context for American readers. Gopnik concludes that "Faith is not the enemy. Fanaticism is the enemy." Charb pulls no punches and makes no apologies. He makes a bold case for the necessity of free expression, even in the face of real threats and death itself. Agent: Les Echappés. (Jan.)

From the Publisher

"As the first anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo massacre approaches—fresh off the recent attacks in Paris, new cries of Islamophobia and new debates over Muslim immigration —Charb's final words will have to stand in for him. They do so, ably."—Michael Cavna, Washington Post

Kirkus Reviews

2015-11-18
The late Charlie Hebdo editor, murdered two days after completing this book, speaks about self-censorship, oppression, and religious zealotry. France has no direct equivalent of the First Amendment, and so a satirical publication such as Charlie is subject to attack on all sides, official and otherwise. Catholic clerics blustered against the magazine as much as any imam did, while the ruling government, which treats France like "a salami that the Socialist Party has the annoying tendency of slicing up into special-interest groups," was never quick to defend Charlie's right to be a gadfly. So writes "Charb" Charbonnier, who is quick to assert his atheism and leftism and to stick it to whatever deity one wishes to propose: to be a believer, he insists, is "above all, to fear," while a God with the powers ascribed to him "is big enough to take care of himself" and does not require the interventions of mullahs or bishops. Charb's nose-tweaking sometimes drifts into the juvenile, obscuring his more serious message: namely, that people who hate Islam really hate Muslims. As a thought experiment, he invites us to consider who would lose his job first, a European convert to Islam or an Arab immigrant—and that bigotry is bigotry no matter whom it is directed against. Professing irritated amusement with the spectacle of death threats being issued against cartoonists, Charb takes on "God's wingnuts," a vision of a supreme being as someone who is "mean as fuck and dumb as a plank," and "a few purportedly Muslim wackos" with gleeful abandon, even as he acknowledges—and as events proved—how dangerous his stance is. The logic is sometimes wobbly: to criticize Charlie is not necessarily to side with radical Islam any more than criticizing America, contra Bush, meant siding with al-Qaida. And, being so brief, the book is cursory, sometimes too much so. Nevertheless, this is a welcome and necessary essay in provocation—a lively, readable hornet-stirring in defense of free expression.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940173405289
Publisher:	Hachette Audio
Publication date:	01/05/2016
Edition description:	Unabridged

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