Dutch political cartoonist Ruben L. Oppenheimer reacted to Wednesday’s Paris massacre with a cartoon that illustrates the power of the pencil
In response to the cowardly actions of the armed gunmen who attacked the satirical French newspaper Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday, cartoonists around the world have produced a series of powerful drawings. The best, in our view, was created by a Dutch political cartoonist named Ruben L. Oppenheimer.
Our Picture of the Week, which was shared by Oppenheimer on Twitter, shows a gun pointed at thirteen sharpened pencils along with the hashtag #CharlieHebdo. It clearly shows the defiance of the press against terrorists and the need to stand upto those who attempt to silence free speech and expression.
Of the ruthless cowards behind this most heinous crime, United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki-moon commented:
“It was a direct assault on a cornerstone of democracy, on the media and on freedom of expression”.
He is right and part of our liberty is the right to mock, offend and question the beliefs of others within the limits of democractically decided law. This is exactly what the staff of Charlie Hebdo stood for and the actions of these barbarous murderers will never extinguish that.
The pencil is indeed mightier than the gun and today we join with all who are of that belief. The twelve innocent victims of yesterday’s massacre will not be forgotten.
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These bastards will NEVER stop attacking us. We are at their mercy.
We must be mad to imagine that out of more than two billion Muslims there will be none who disagree with western policy
This is a trial of strength with the element of surprise weighing heavily in their favour
We expect others to fight fair……wake up to the fact that they will not
We need to be clever, diligent ,strong and as fair as we can
What is it; hope for the best and expect the worst
Its an invasion of Europe by ISIS troops just like Nostrodamus said would happen.
The power of the pencil my arse! It should be more like the power of the baynet! If you ask me.