After the gunmen stormed the offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, the American Booksellers Association and the American Booksellers for Free Expression condemned the terrorist attack on free speech. Now the ABA is asking booksellers to show their support for the magazine's staff by, among other things, selling copies of Charlie Hebdo.
While the ABA has been working to obtain copies of the upcoming issue of Charlie Hebdo to distribute to independent bookstores, ABA CEO Oren Teicher e-mailed booksellers on Monday to encourage them to show solidarity with the staff in France in other ways.
ABA has asked its members to post a picture of store staff holding the sign “Je suis Charlie” on their social media accounts, with the hashtag #JeSuisCharlie. The association is planning a follow-up email with information about how to make a donation to a fund that has been established on behalf of the families of those killed in Paris last week.
“The hope,” wrote Teicher, “is that the campaign will grow quickly and will help demonstrate that violence and intimidation cannot stifle debate, discussion, and freedom of expression.”
