French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo is under fire once again for mocking three-year-old drowned Syrian refugee Aylan Kurdi, this time depicting him as a would-be rapist in Cologne, Germany.
Social media reacted with outrage to the latest edition of the magazine, which has a history of mocking the dispossessed and disenfranchised in France and beyond.
Pure fascism from Charlie Hebdo today "What would Aylan have become if he'd grown up? A bum groper in Germany" pic.twitter.com/d4Maenj5T6
— Qutaiba Idlbi (@Qattouby)
January 13, 2016
The black-and-white illustration features a sketch of the image that attracted global media attention last year, with Aylan lying face down on a Turkish beach. Next to the image is a highly racialized, adult version of Aylan chasing a woman. Titled “Migrants,” the cartoon features a caption asking: “What would little Aylan have grown up to be?”
The fact #CharlieHebdo can publish their Alan Kurdi smear speaks volumes about the climate of racism in France - which they are escalating.
— Ewa Jasiewicz (@ewajasiewicz)
January 14, 2016
It is not the first time Charlie Hebdo has featured Aylan in its magazine after it mocked the toddler last September in a separate cartoon. Aylan was again depicted as lying face down, only then the cartoon’s caption read “So close.”
You just don't get it. In order to understand just how non-racist #CharlieHebdo is, you have to be a French racist.
— George Ciccariello (@ciccmaher)
January 14, 2016
The cartoon released Wednesday has been described as “pure fascism” and “racist” by Twitter users, with many arguing it is reflective of France’s “climate of racism.”
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