Once a Slogan of Unity, âJe Suis Charlieâ Now Divides France
After the 2015 terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo, âI am Charlieâ became a unifying slogan of free speech. Now it fuels divisions in an increasingly polarized country.
A stencil of the âJe Suis Charlieâ slogan and a handwritten âpasâ (not) on a wall in a southern Paris suburb.Credit...Dmitry Kostyukov for The New York Times
PARIS â In the hours after the 2015 Islamist terrorist attack on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, a slogan emerged to mourn the dead and defend free speech, spreading like magic across France and the globe through its unifying force.