Titre : The Book of Daniel
Auteur : Chris de Stoop
Edit: Christian Bourgeois Editor
Collection : Satellites
Publication date: September 12, 2024
Genre of the book: Narrative
Our compatriot, Chris de Stoop, is not his first attempt at investigation. He is in fact the author of numerous resounding articles and works, particularly on the trafficking of human beings and undocumented immigrants.
In The Book of Danielhe covers a trial in which he became a civil party, given the very personal nature of the case: the murder of his uncle by five young people. The case took place in 2014 in a Walloon town near the French border and Roubaix. Daniel de Stoop, 84, lives alone on his farm which he continues to operate. In the space of a week, a gang of young people will come several times to the old man's house to attack him, knock him to death, steal his money while taking care to film the old man's agony. They will finish the job by burning down the farm to erase all traces of the murder.
Faced with such savagery, it is very difficult not to take sides. On the one hand for Daniel, a courageous and caring man. Living on the fringes of society, he had no car, no bank account, no smartphone or social life. So what? This is what his nephew is trying to make us understand: are we guilty of living like a hermit? The villagers and the trial psychologists seem to think so anyway…
And on the other hand, how can we not take sides against these young people who feel the need to film the beating to death of an old man? to show off to friends? Young people who feel justified in stealing and killing for money, the only lifeline that will allow them to rise in this consumer society which is corrupting their brain. We're not talking about a mountain of money, no, but rather a few thousand euros, which they quickly spent to buy iPhones, designer clothes and motorbikes. Young people who have no idea where to reasonably place the cursor between good and evil.
Yet Chris de Stoop plays devil's advocate by taking the trouble to retrace their short life journey, the beginnings of which combine with the absence of parents and dropping out of school. Without reference points, bad company ends up locking them into petty crime and the whole thing ends in an unspeakable tragedy. He also analyzes briefly (and in a very digestible way) the poverty of the cities from which these young men come, for whom the terms unemployment and poverty line have always been part of everyday life.
Whatever the case, Chris de Stoop wanted through this story to do justice to his uncle, but also to rehumanize him among an entire community who “kindly” called him the filthy old man, evoking in particular his parents, his brother, his kindness and his love of animals and work on the farm.
However, the most shocking thing in this work remains the lack of reaction from the mayor and the police towards this pack of young people who are causing terror in the hamlet, but also from the parents who are letting their authority fall as their children grow up…and scare them.
The wisest thing would be to move past this gratuitous violence without pointing the finger exclusively at the culprits, and to rethink society, education and justice. But at the risk of concluding pessimistically: is this not a pipe dream?
