Charlie Hebdo gets PEN freedom of expression award

PanARMENIAN.Net - Under heavy security and a cloud of conflicted opinions and emotions, the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo was presented a freedom of expression award on Tuesday, May 5 night from the PEN American Center.

Editor-in-chief Gerard Biard and critic and essayist Jean-Baptiste Thore accepted the Freedom of Expression Courage Award to a standing ovation following a weeklong debate — alternately thoughtful and divisive — over whether the honor was deserved.

Salman Rushdie and Neil Gaiman were among hundreds of writers, editors and others from the publishing world cheering for Hebdo at PEN's gala at the American Museum of Natural History, where awards were also given to playwright Tom Stoppard, Azerbaijani investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova and Penguin Random House CEO Markus Dohle.

Just as notable were those who would not, and could not, be there.

Michael Ondaatje, Peter Carey and four other writers scheduled to be table hosts withdrew because of objections to what they considered the magazine's offensive cartoons of Muslims. More than 200 writers, among them Joyce Carol Oates and Michael Cunningham, signed an open letter criticizing PEN.

The gathering Tuesday night was overwhelmingly supportive of Hebdo if only because of the absence of so many opponents, some by choice, some citing scheduling conflicts.

Ismayilova, given the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award, has been imprisoned since December. Biard and Thore spoke on behalf of colleagues killed in the January shooting at the magazine's Paris offices that left 12 dead.

In accepting the award, Biard noted the magazine's history of shocking readers with its irreverent drawings of religious figures.

"Growing up to be a citizen is to learn that some ideas, some words, some images, can be shocking," he said. "Being shocked is a part of democratic debate. Being shot is not."

The Hebdo award made the PEN gala the most controversial in recent memory, but also the best attended. More than 800 came for the event, at $1,250 a ticket, compared with around 700 a year ago. Those showing up faced tight security, passing through metal detectors and watched by armed police officials.