Charlie Hebdo: A million copies to show strength

A campaign 'Je suis Charlie' that translates to 'I am Charlie' is trending on twitter. This follows a headline published by Le Monde after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks in the United States which read 'We are all Americans'.

More than 5.7 million Twitter messages using the hashtags #JeSuisCharlie and #CharlieHebdo have been posted since the attack. Even Charlie Hebdo's website echoes the same words.

Undeterred by this attack on freedom of speech, Charlie Hebdo will publish a million copies of its satirical magazine, known for its unapologetically irreverent cartoons on January 14. This is in reaction to eight of its journalists being massacred earlier this week by the gunmen in Paris.

"We will not let them win" said Richard Malka, the firm's lawyer, on France Info radio on Thursday while referring to the terrorists who attacked the office after a cartoon of Prophet Mohammed was published. He also informed that the next issue shall have eight pages instead of the usual 16. The magazine, which has a circulation of 16,000, is going to take help from different French media firms to be able to publish its target of a million copies.

Earlier on Wednesday, 12 people were killed in an attack on the magazine by suspected Islamist assailants. Five best known cartoonists including Cabu, Honore, Tignous, Wolinski and Charb were killed at the weekly.

Patrick Pelloux, a columnist at Charlie Hebdo, in an interview to iTele said that it shall not be easy to continue publishing cartoons after losing these people.

Wednesday's terror attack has put France on a high alert. Thousands gathered across various cities in the country to express solidarity and support.

Charlie Hebdo was not the first cartoon magazine to play with fire. In 2012, Doonesbury by cartoonist Garry Trudeau whipped up a storm with illustrations showing a woman seeking abortion enquiring about a sonogram. Trudeau played on the issue of a Texas law that requires women seeking abortions to receive sonograms with a cartoon that featured a woman being asked to wait in the 'shaming room' of a clinic. A middle-aged male later joins her only to call her a 'slut'. While this rattled most of the conservative American newspapers, the illustration was pointed and destined to generate a controversy.

Also, the famous cartoon strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz's has become very important. Introducing Franklin in 1968, it marked the beginning of an era of black characters in cartoon strips.

Even India has seen its fair share of cartoons against politicians. In 2012, an anti-corruption cartoon by political cartoonist and activist Aseem Trivedi showed how the Indian public was being hurt by politicians. This led to a case of sedition filed against Trivedi.