“These images have never left me”, tells on “ici Limousin”, formerly France Bleu Limousin, François Hollande, President of the Republic during the attack against the editorial staff of Charlie Hebdo, ten years ago. “I have the image of this place where the editorial staff of Charlie Hebdowhich was an ordinary place, except that the terrorists entered it and killed so many cartoonists, caricaturists, journalists, a police officer and a building guard. I have all that memory in my mind.”
François Hollande also remembers the survivors, encountered in the hours that followed: “They entrusted me with only one thing : that the terrorists do not win. Their fear was terrible; their memory, fresh, was monstrous.
“They didn’t want freedom of expression, what their colleagues had died for, to be undermined in any way. Ten years later, I still have it in my head.”
François Hollandeto “here Limousin”
“When there is a terrorist act of this magnitude against a newspaper, police officers, Jews at Hypercacher, there is bound to be astonishment and shock”analyzes the former President of the Republic. “This is what happened on January 11, 2015. We must be proud of it, that a people, our people, does not give in to revenge, indifference, or silence , nor to fear There were these demonstrations with 4 million people and heads of state from all over the world who came.
“And then it gets diluted : life resumes, and fear also sets in, because there were other terrorist acts which followed. We think of November 13 or the two teachers who were murdered. At that moment we have the idea that we have to live with perhaps some concessions : why so much freedom of expression ?”
“Why say everything, especially about religions and Islam in particular? Why make fun, publish books or images? There is a form of acceptance of the situation, and I believe that this is not a good sign .”
François Hollandeto “here Limousin”
“Society must remain on alert so that nothing can be yielded to this pressure, these threats and these fanatical forces,” insists the former president.
“Secularism has not failed. It is there, these are our laws”, but it may be weakened, fears François Hollande. “When teachers are under pressure, when the death of two of them is on everyone’s minds, when there are parents who do not want this or that part of the curriculum to be taught, children who do not understand the rules of secularism or find that it is discrimination against Muslims, then secularism is in retreat. It is therefore very important to remember the principles and rules.
Many young people may not have experienced the period of the attacks in 2015. “Secularism is not like freedom or equality; it is not necessarily what we feel is an essential value when we are young. We must therefore make them understand what life is in common. Today, the risk is that we live next to each other without necessarily sharing the same thoughts, the same relationship with others. This is why it is very important to form a society. “
