Charlie Hebdo: when instrumentalization prevails over commemorations

« I am not going to fight to defend the spirit of Charlie which is an anarcho-Trotskyist spirit perfectly dissolving political morality. » This is how the mentor of the French extreme right, Jean-Marie Le Pen, reacted ten years, to the day, before his death, this Tuesday, January 7, to the crimes committed by Islamist terrorists against the editorial staff of Charlie Hebdo.

He is dead and it is undoubtedly a relief for all of his political heirs as well as for those who, for a decade, at least, ended up trivializing his speech. They can now exploit the death of satirical, secular and anti-fascist journalists, without fearing that the old torturer, the unifier of the most reactionary right, will slip up. And they didn't shy away from it.

When Bardella intends to “protect” and “ensure” the right to caricature

Thus, shortly before saluting the memory of the founder of the party of which he is president, seeing in him a man who “has always served France, defended its identity and sovereignty”Jordan Bardella, posted a message on the social network owned by Elon Musk, declaring: “Freedom of expression, the right to caricature, “the desire to laugh”, are today still under the threat of terror: it is our duty to protect them and keep them alive. »

Not sure, however, that at the funeral of the father of his favorite candidate for the next presidential election, the leader of the Lepéniste party is calling on his activists to brandish the works evoking the deceased produced by the massacred cartoonists…

The editorial of the far-right monthly l’Incorrect is another beautiful illustration of the rhetorical sleight of hand employed, on this tenth anniversary, by the heirs of the one-eyed man. Its author still managed to combine, in a few lines, anti-republicanism, Islamophobia and homage to Charlie.

“‘Je suis Charlie’ signs stood in the streets, Marseillaises not very Charlie flew into the sad sky and a pigeon shit on François Hollande's shoulder, he jokes shamelessly. Not holding a grudge, Notre-Dame, still in its juice, sounded the death knell for Charb, Cabu, Maris, Tignous, Wolinski and all the others. France stood up against the fighters of Islam, still unaware that it had already lost. Are we Charlie ? Yes. (…) Whether we like it or not, Charlie is a piece of our identity. » For those who shared the values ​​and struggles of the murdered cartoonists, these lines resonate like a dangerous memorial insult.

Retailleau engaged in a “battle against Islamic totalitarianism”

If the indecency had remained in the camp of the direct heirs of old Le Pen, there would ultimately have been nothing surprising about the ignominy. But, at the head of state, it is ultimately the same logic that motivated the leaders of the executive branch on January 7.

Thus, Bruno Retailleau did not hesitate to also use this day of commemoration to defend his Islamophobic vision of the policies to be implemented. Raising the specter of a “terrorist threat” who would not have “never been so present” that today, the Minister of the Interior said he was engaged in a “battle against Islamic totalitarianism” in the name of which it would be appropriate to prohibit the wearing of the veil to mothers accompanying school outings and to students within French universities, since this would, according to him, be a “standard of Islamism. » In their respective coffins, there is no real reason to wonder who, Charb or Le Pen, turns around or applauds such declarations…

The very lonely Emmanuel Macron also found something to talk about on the occasion of this day, by pulling out his project for a Terrorism memorial museum. Its creation, costing 95 million euros, was shut down in December 2024 for reasons of “budget cuts”. Jupiter ultimately wishes to reprogram it, without changing, moreover, the place of construction, planned on Mount Valérien, dedicated to the memory of resistance to Nazism. A shocking mix of genres…

At the end of the day, at the head of the Lepenist movement as at that of the State, on this sad anniversary, we will have finally played on all the amalgamations with the sole objectives of the political ambitions of one and the other… Far from the spirit which animated the writing of Charlie Hebdo until the ignoble irruption of bloodthirsty madmen who decimated it.