French author Michel Houellebecq has defended satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo for publishing a cartoon of the prophet Mohammed on its cover a week after being attacked by Islamist terrorists.
“Yes, it’s what should have been done, it’s the right choice,” Houellebecq told Italian daily Corriere della Sera in an interview published Wednesday.
“Under its masthead, Charlie Hebdo has written ‘irresponsible paper’. That’s their motto, it’s right that they remain faithful to their principles,” he said.
On January 7, the day 12 of its staff were murdered, Charlie Hebdo had a cartoon of Houellebecq on its cover, connected to his latest novel.
Houellebecq’s Submission is a work of political fiction which imagines a Muslim winning the 2022 French presidential elections against a far-right candidate from the National Front.
He predicted that despite the massive outpouring of solidarity with Charlie Hebdo, there would be negative repercussions for freedom of expression.
“Nothing will be like before. It will definitely be harder, for instance for a cartoonist starting out now,” he said.
Houellebecq said that if French President Francois Hollande were re-elected in 2017 then “perhaps many people will emigrate.” He also said the political establishment was wrong to marginalize the National Front.
“The National Front has a force in society that is not at all reflected in its parliamentary representation,” he said, noting that the party has only two seats, despite representing between a fifth and a quarter of the electorate.
“I wonder the extent which such a situation can be sustained,” he said.
The writer, who had once called Islam “the most stupid religion in the world,” admitted to reconsidering his views after “carefully” re-reading the Koran and concluding that it could peacefully co-exist with other monotheistic religions.
“Violence is not intrinsic to Islam. Islam’s problem is that it does not have a leader like the pope in the Catholic Church, who would point to the right path once and for all,” he said.
GNA
