Margny-lès-Compiègne. Tribute to the victims of Charlie Hebdo, ten years later

“We are here to pay tribute to those who died for our freedom,” underline the organizers of this ceremony. There were a hundred of them at this cold end of the morning on the Secularism Square, in front of the city ​​hall of Margny-lès-Compiègne, to pay tribute to the victims ofattack on Charlie Hebdo.

They responded to the call of Mayor Bernard Hellal and Jean-Pierre Weisselberg, former president and founder of the Agora 21 association. For the ten years of this attack after which we see that this fight for freedom of expression must be permanent.

Charlie Hebdo, Montrouge, Hyper Cacher

The organizers listed the names of the victims of the editorial staff of Charlie Hebdo, Montrouge, and Hyper Cacher. Among his victims of Islamist barbarism, there were the cartoonists Cabu, Charb, Honoré, Wolinski, Tignous…

Jean-Pierre Weisselberg tells us. “I remember, around noon on January 7, 2015, a friend called me: “Do you know?” No. “Turn on the TV.” I collapse. My friend Bernard Maris, who regularly came to debate at Agora 21, had just been assassinated with several of his colleagues at Charlie Hebdo. By assassinating them, we were trying to assassinate our freedom of expression. I had already experienced great distress in 2012 following the attacks in Toulouse and Montauban. I felt the same distress each time.”

“Thanks to the law on secularism, we come together”

“We are gathered this Sunday at this Republican rally in tribute to all those who left in these terrible conditions,” recalls the founder of Agora 2. “We, citizens from all walks of life. Our country is like a family. We don’t have the same ideas, but thanks to the law on secularism, we end up looking alike. If you are here this morning, it is because for you, the republican trilogy, to which I add secularism, is essential.

Jean-Pierre Weisselberg associates in this citizen tribute the teachers Samuel Paty and Dominique Bernard, both also victims of Islamist intolerance.

For him, it is important to sow the seeds that will help prepare for a more fraternal future. “Knowing the past, teaching it, this is how we can envisage this future.”