Interview with Joachim Roncin, creator of the slogan “Je suis Charlie”, author of the book “A crazy story, how I created Je suis Charlie and the journey into absurdity that followed” (Grasset).
How was this slogan “Je suis Charlie”, “A Crazy Story” to use the title of your work published by Grasset born?
At the time, I had a magazine called Stylist and on January 7, 2015, we were at an editorial conference when the deputy editor-in-chief received a push on his phone, I tried in the first minutes to minimize because there had already been a firebomb attack on Charlie Hebdo shortly before.
But as the minutes progressed, we all realized that it was serious, we were behind the Twitter feed, we saw a lot of messages falling.
I am an artistic director, so I express myself with images, I created “Je suis Charlie” by taking the Charlie Hebdo logo and asking myself what it inspired me. It's my childhood, a whole period of carefree time with my father who read Hara-Kiri, Charlie Hebdo, Le Canard Enchaîné, all these slightly protest titles.
I said “Je suis Charlie” because I felt like I was part of this whole universe. By attacking Charlie, I had the impression that I too was being touched in a certain way. It's that simple.
I put it on Twitter without any intention of going viral, knowing that I had 400 followers at the time on Twitter. This is how it was born.
You didn't expect it to become a global rallying cry.
No. I just wanted to express myself. At no time did I want it to become a slogan and go around the planet four times.
At what point do you realize the dimension that this slogan is taking on?
When media like AFP start calling me. And when I went to the rally that same evening at Place de la République, I saw that people had already printed it on sheets of paper and were holding it up, to my great astonishment. Confirmation, then, on January 11, I see people marching in the streets of Paris with this slogan in pins, in t-shirts, in caps, in signs…
That's when I realize that this thing no longer belongs to me, that it has gone completely viral. And that it is the message that best expresses the pain, our thoughts for the victims and the fact that we are not afraid in the face of attacks, that we want to defend one of our bases of our country, namely freedom of expression, freedom of the press, of caricature.
It became a rallying cry, a phenomenon, and in the days that followed, many people took ownership of the slogan. He found himself at the center of many debates. To be or not to be Charlie, that became the big question.
This slogan has been taken up by many personalities around the world, sometimes quite unexpectedly…
Just a few days ago, I was behind my computer and I saw George Clooney repeating something I just did, at the Golden Globes, it's improbable! At the end of the Simpsons credits, there is also this “Je suis Charlie” which appears as I drew it.
When the Ukrainian president at the time, Petro Poroshenko, invited me to chat with him, I was suddenly propelled into a bizarre universe.
How was this meeting with Poroshenko organized?
The day before the January 11 march, I received a phone call from the Ukrainian president's chief of staff who asked me to meet him. At first, I thought it was a joke. I am in complete disbelief. I'm nobody, a little Parisian graphic designer. When does a Ukrainian president want to meet me? He insists and I'm going to go see him at the Ukrainian embassy after the march.
He will tell me very touching things, I am half Ukrainian, he tells me that I am a real Cossack, it touches the Ukrainian fiber in me. He will give me the keys to the city of kyiv. This will be the only distinction I will have following this whole story. It's quite funny that it comes not from the country where I did it but from Ukraine. I am an honorary citizen of the city of kyiv.
You speak in your work of a form of “journey into absurdity”.
Meeting the Ukrainian president and then having him offer to be a communicator to try to improve Ukraine's image in Europe is completely absurd. I also receive messages every day from all directions, thanks, congratulations but also threats.
People also call me to tell me that there have been more than 120 trademark registrations around the slogan to make a business out of it. I find myself asking the Minister of the Economy at the time, who was none other than Emmanuel Macron, to block these trademark applications from the INPI, which he did.
This book “A Crazy Story” also testifies to this absurdity in the world in which we live due to social networks and the race for information.
Everything is disproportionate and everything is accelerating. I am one of the most important tweets in the history of the platform. I find myself with my face between the Pope and Obama in the Twitter offices at the time. Just because I wrote “Je suis Charlie” for a cause that is dear to me.
This remains one of the most used slogans in Twitter history. Is this a source of pride for you today?
No way. It would be extremely cynical to be proud of a slogan that has its roots in such a heinous and terrible act. But I am happy that people found themselves behind a single sentence to defend a certain number of values.
The situation then slipped into something you didn't like.
Yes, that's also why I made this book, I saw that these three words became something that does not completely fulfill the initial values, namely freedom of expression, fraternity.
At the time, some people saw in “Je suis Charlie” a defense of the editorial line, which is not the case, it was just an expression of the right to blasphemy. But there have been “Je ne suis pas Charlie” proclaimed by Muslims, I am completely OK with that thing, otherwise the very essence of “Je suis Charlie” would not exist. Freedom of speech goes both ways.
But, for some time now, the far right has been using “Je suis Charlie” to assert a French side. During the European elections, Jordan Bardella took up my slogan: “I am a farmer, therefore I vote Bardella”, “I am a police officer, therefore I vote Bardella”. And for the first time, I filed a complaint.
The action is underway and I now wish to take legal action each time a use does not, in my opinion, fulfill the values of the slogan.
Is your slogan protected today in any way?
No, but it risks being so by case law. Because if we go through with this legal action against the RN, the slogan will be de facto protected. The procedure is in progress. And I gave my moral rights to Reporters Without Borders, which can use them to finance their actions.
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