Whether they experienced the crisis of the caricatures at Charlie Hebdo or in Denmark, whether they carry high the fight for freedom of the press in Occitania or across the world, they all have a message to convey today.
Where is the fight for freedom of the press, ten years after the Charlie Hebdo attacks? ? They speak out in Midi Libre.
Richard Malka, Charlie Hebdo's lawyer: “A newspaper with an unknown address, bunkered, it's crazy”
Exactly one year ago, Richard Malka's Traité sur l'intolérance (Grasset) powerfully restored his plea from the appeal trial of the January 2015 attacks, recalling the full acuity of the fight for freedom of expression that he carries high in the courtrooms.
Since Charlie, France has suffered an unprecedented wave of terrorist attacks, and has seen two of its servants fall, professors Samuel Paty (2020) and Dominique Bernard (2023).
“We have left teachers alone for too long when they confront questions of secularism, fear has gained ground, underlines the emblematic lawyer of Charlie Hebdo. I think that it is in this world of Education, which is destabilized today, that we must make a major effort to restore the authority of the teaching profession with regard to students and parents and that no more attacks are accepted, but, for that, absolute solidarity is still required from the entire hierarchical chain in the event of a problem. Today things are changing, we no longer bury problems, but it took time and drama.”
Richard Malka MAXPPP – Vincent Isore
Society is also changing, according to a recent opinion poll that is still under embargo. “We had an Ifop poll conducted with the Jean-Jaurès Foundation which will be unveiled on January 7, , confides Richard Malka, It is quite encouraging because support for caricature, including blasphemy, is growing massively, contrary to popular belief. He concludes that our fight is successful. There is, however, a generational divide. Among the youngest, support for freedom of expression as defined by the 1881 law is lower and it is rejected in particular by members of LFI, a left-wing party, it is completely incredible! There is an academic, cultural, journalistic France that is sometimes more divided on these subjects, but we will continue to take the iron where it is necessary”, he emphasizes. Ten years after the attack, the state of mind of Charlie survivors is “combative“, confides Me Malka.
“The best way to pay tribute to those who are no longer here is to continue to defend their ideas and the values for which they were killed”, he observes.
The front page of Charlie Hebdo's return to newsstands. Historic. DR
Even if it means paying for freedom of expression at the price of their own physical freedom ? “This is objectively the case, recognizes Richard Malka, who is also under police protection. Fate has put us in this situation, we have made the choice to continue to fight for these ideas, when we think of our friends how else to do it ?”
What are the conditions under which Charlie's team works today? ? “It's a bunkerized editorial team, unfortunately that hasn't changed and it probably won't change any time soon and from time to time it makes us furious, he emphasizes. That's where we sometimes feel a little alone, it should be a daily source of indignation for the entire profession and well beyond for the entire country that a newspaper is forced to work at an unknown address, bunkerized, it's completely crazy.”
Thibaut Bruttin, head of Reporters Without Borders: “Space for drawing is shrinking in the newspapers”
Behind the Charlie symbol, “we must not make invisible all the consequences of the event, observes Thibaut Bruttin, director general of Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Today, the space for press cartoons is shrinking in newspapers and we see many cartoonists taking refuge on social networks. This is worrying, because we must defend journalists who are always under threat, but also the need to keep an important place for current affairs commentary through cartoons in the press,” he explains to us.
“We commemorate the massacre of January 7 and we also celebrate the historic mobilization of January 11, and we would like to see the heads of state who were present in Paris in the photo united today in the fight for a free press. On the general public's side, we must also make it heard that we need an irreverent press. We see that Charlie Hebdo's publications still annoy a certain number of people who would like to see blasphemy banned. A battle is being fought on this point at the level of international law, because governments are seeking to ban what they consider to be a kind of defamation of religions. This is in contradiction with everything we defend,” the journalist emphasizes.
Thibaut Bruttin KEYSTONE – MARTIAL TREZZINI
“Charlie Hebdo has not given up and continues to embody this permanent transgression. But there are also all the Charlies of the world. Cartoonist Prageeth Eknaligoda has been missing for fifteen years in Sri Lanka, we still don't know what happened to him”, continues the head of RSF.
Another emblematic case, Ashraf Omar has been in pre-trial detention in Egypt since July 22, “all because he did press cartoons, and it's very worrying to see how little international solidarity there is beyond the question of Charlie”, points out Thibaut Bruttin.
Where is the situation most worrying today? ? “I would say that it is in countries that have a tradition of press cartoons, now diminished by repression. I am thinking in particular of India and Bangladesh,” replies the head of RSF.Next week, we will publish with Cartooning for Peace a joint list of iconic cases of the current situation. They are actually located rather in Southeast Asia and South Asia, where there was historically a place for the press that we no longer find today.”
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former leader of Denmark: “The most precious freedom in our society”
He had managed, as Prime Minister of Denmark, the first crisis of the caricatures of Mohammed, published on September 30, 2005 in the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten, before being taken up by Charlie.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen EPA – STEPHANIE LECOCQ
“Freedom of expression includes the right to criticize,” reaffirms the former head of NATO, contacted by Midi Libre. We would never accept being forbidden from criticizing the president, the government or the policies of large companies. It should not be any different for religion. The cowardly attack against Charlie Hebdo was an attack on the most precious freedom in our society. Today I am thinking of the victims and their families.”
Carole Delga, President of the Occitanie Region: “Do not show any weakness”
In 2020, Carole Delga had Charlie Hebdo caricatures projected onto hotels in the Toulouse and Montpellier regions in tribute to Samuel Paty, a gesture welcomed by Riss, director of the satirical newspaper. Paying tribute to Charlie, “is also continuing, at all costs, the fight against racism, anti-Semitism, fundamentalism, and conspiracy theories. It is showing no weakness in the face of the enemies of the Republic and those who distort religions to make them tools of oppression. We have a duty to tirelessly pursue the mission of awakening the consciousness and critical spirit of new generations”,underlines the president of the Occitanie Region in a press release.
Agnès Maurin, director of the Occitanie Press Club: “Helping young people to understand the information”
On January 7, 2015, Agnès Maurin was present in the offices of the Occitanie Press Club, which she directs in Montpellier, when the information broke. The Place du Nombre d’Or was “filled up,” she recalls, “people came from all the neighborhoods to express their shock, it was very spontaneous and that’s what gave us the strength to organize the march (of January 11, 2015, Editor’s note).Unlike many other cities where the political class organized the demonstrations, here it was the journalists who took charge and it brought together 100,000 people, it was a continuous flow of people, a human tide, it was unimaginable.”
Ten years after this historic march, this fight for freedom of expression is ongoing. “We organized internships for journalists in residence in Lunel for several months”, which had seen around twenty of its children leave to fight Jihad in the Middle East, between 2014 and 2015.
Agnes Maurin Midi Libre – MICHAEL ESDOURRUBAILH
“From these exchanges was born the Esprit Critique program, which still allows us to help young people understand information on social networks,” explains Agnès Maurin. It works well, we have seen almost 9,000 young people since 2017.”
In the coming days, the Press Club will increase its actions and exhibitions in the region (see previous page) in tribute to the victims of Charlie. “Cartoonists will also meet travelers on a train that will leave Montpellier on January 8 and stop at 13 stations until Toulouse. announces Agnès Maurin. This will be a world first.”
Plantu, figure of the press cartoon: “I am ashamed of my democracy, we must reinvent secularism”
“Of course, I knew them all, and I remember being frozen in front of my television and seeing these banners scrolling across the bottom of the screen. “Cabu wounded”, and then… “Cabu assassinated”, “Death of Wolinski””, recalls Plantu, one of the world's leading figures in press cartooning.
“I was very close to Tignous who had accompanied us to our various press cartoonist meetings in Colombia and elsewhere. They were simply a group of specialists in skidding, and when I went to see them at Charlie, anything was possible”, explains the former historic cartoonist of the daily newspaper Le Monde and the weekly L’Express.
“Since January 7, 2015, I continue to draw exactly as before, but like many journalists, teachers, religious people, intellectuals, we are accompanied by police officers: I thank these police officers but I am ashamed for my democracy. For things to improve, everyone will have to go back to school to revive the debates so that the ignorant of all stripes and beards can understand what secularism is”, he continues.
“The wife of Dominique Bernard, the teacher murdered in Arras, told me that the murderer had approached the teachers saying: “You'll see what I do with your Marianne!”, confides the cartoonist. Hannah Arendt says: “We must think as if no one had ever thought.” Secularism is the same, we must reinvent it and defend it as if we had never done anything.”
Plantu Midi Libre – MICHAEL ESDOURRUBAILH
Plantu, who founded the international association Cartooning for Peace with former UN Secretary General and Nobel Peace Prize winner Kofi Annan, remains a tireless defender of freedom of expression. “For a few days now, on a wall of a building in the 13th arrondissement, in agreement with the town hall, there is one of my drawings that was redrawn by the graffiti artist Nilko. And when I saw it on the wall, the tenants of the building and the people of the neighborhood spontaneously came up to me to tell me how much they admired the madness of the disrespectful images of these deceased cartoonists”, he relates.
Plantu's tribute to press cartoons and, in particular, to Tignous, Charb, Honoré, Wolinski and Cabu, the cartoonists killed on January 7. Plantu
Today, in schools, “we must learn and relearn how to use social networks. There are too many grumpy people who, in packs, pollute the debate. But the ignorant and hate-filled had better watch out: secularism and democracy will win this fight for Freedom”, assures the cartoonist.
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