I’ve no doubt that there are some “Charlies” who are friendly and full of good intentions. I’m inundated, like everybody, with their indignant emails. I am not him.
I’m not Charlie, because I know that the vast majority of these people have never been Charlie nor Mohammed nor Zouad, ie none of the hundreds of young people killed in the suburbs by “our” police officers (cops of all faiths!) paid with “our” taxes. In using the tools of sociologists, I understand why it is more immediately easy for white petit-bourgeoises to identify with a well-known intellectual and white artist, than with a child of immigrant workers in the Maghreb. But understanding is neither to excuse it nor to adhere to it.
I’m not Charlie, because I refuse to “assemble”, at the behest of the tenant of the Elysee, with politicos, cops and extreme right activists. I am not speaking up in the air: an acquaintance tells me that at his place of work, there were homophobic catholic activists from the “Demonstrations for all” who were involved in the organization of a minute’s silence for the Charlie Hebdo team.
I’m not Charlie, because I refuse to cry over the dead bodies of Charlie Hebdo with François Hollande who has just announced that the airport in Notre-Dame-des-Landes will be built, ie that there will be others seriously injured by rubber bullets and probably other Rémi Fraisses.
I’m not Charlie, because I am viscerally – and culturally – hostile to any kind of “sacred union”. Even the stupid journalists from Le Monde have understood that it’s a question of this; they simply ask how long this “union” can last. To “assemble” behind François Hollande against “Islamist barbarism” is no less stupid than to make a sacred union against “German barbarism” in 1914. Some anarchists took up this union during that epoch ; it’s good like that, we were given!
I’m not Charlie, because the “gathering” is the name of neo-liberal class collaboration. Some of you might think that classes don’t exist any more and even less that they are still fighting each other. If you are a boss or leader of something (office, workshop …), it is normal that you claim that (and yet! – there are exceptions), or you could believe it. If you are a worker, working, forced to do tasks or are unemployed , I advise you to inform yourself.
I’m not Charlie, because if I share the grief of friends and relatives of those killed, I do not recognize in any way what had become, and for the last few decades, of the newspaper “Charlie Hebdo”. Having started as an anarchist rant, this newspaper turned – notably under the direction of Philippe Val – against the audience it had at the beginning. It remained anticlerical. Does that count? Yes. Is that enough? Certainly not. I learnt that Houellebecq [cynical semi-fascist Islamophobe, immersed in a wretchedly arrogant attitude of pathological contempt] and Bernard Maris [one of those killed, an economist-cum-journalist, regular contributor to Charlie Hebdo, who was part of the Directorate of the neo-liberal Banque de France – equivalent of the Bank of England – for some time, whilst also being part of ATTAC – semi-Keynesian advocates of the Tobin tax] had become great friends, and that the former “suspended” the promotion of his book “Submission” (which will cost him nothing) in homage to the latter. This proves that even in the worst of situations, there are still opportunities to have a laugh.
I’m not Charlie, because I am a militant revolutionary who tries to keep abreast of the progress of the capitalist world in which he lives. Therefore, I am aware that the country I am a citizen of is at war, certainly in “theaters of war” distant and changing. In the worst possible way possible, since all over the world and even in my neighborhood, the enemies of France can consider me as their enemy. This is sometimes true, sometimes not. At least, knowing that France is at war, I did not experience the same astonishment as many Charlies did to learn that an act of war was committed in central Paris against humourists disrespectful towards religions.
I’m not Charlie, because, given the absence of details, and the very fact of the anonymization produced by the formula “I’m Charlie,” it necessarily implies some “anti-terrorist” unanimity coming from probably very different positions of this person or that. In other words, as a plebiscite of the so-called “anti-terrorist” legislative apparatus, which is an instrument for what I call democratic terrorisation.
I’m not Charlie. I am Claude. Revolutionary anarchist, anti-capitalist, supporter of the libertarian communist project, mortal enemy of all monotheistic religions – but I sacrifice to Aphrodite! – And not to any State. This is enough to make me a target for religious fanatics and cops (I’ve paid to find out).
I am willing, as a form of gregarious emotion, to debate with those for whom the killing of “Charlie Hebdo” is one of the horrors of this world, to which it is useless to add even more confusion.
Mon texte a été aimablement traduit/adapté sur Dialectical delinquents. Merci à ces camarades.
Lignes de force 