The 2015 Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks made the front pages of all major French newspapers on Tuesday, as the country marked the tenth anniversary of the tragic events in which 17 people were killed. Torn between paying tribute to the victims and reflecting on how France has changed, all agree that the right to freedom of expression is one that society must continue to defend.
Charlie Hebdo
The French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo unveiled a special edition to mark 10 years since the attack on its offices by Islamist gunmen.
The front-page features a cartoon celebrating the atheist paper's existence with the caption "Indestructible!", while four inside pages show the results of a caricature contest to mock God and religious leaders.
"Satire has a virtue that has enabled us to get through these tragic years: optimism," said an editorial from director Riss, who survived the 7 January 2015, massacre that left 12 people, including eight editorial staff, dead.
"If you want to laugh, it means you want to live. Laughing, irony, and caricatures are manifestations of optimism. Whatever happens, dramatic or happy, the desire to laugh will never cease."
Charlie Hebdo vaunts its 'indestructibility' 10 years after massacre
Le Monde
Conservative daily Le Monde ran with the headline “Charlie Hebdo, Hypercacher, 10 years on” accompanied by a 2015 cartoon by Boligan from Mexico for the Cartooning for Peace collective.
It depicts Marianne – the symbol of Liberty – in reference to the 1830 painting by Eugène Delacroix. She is portrayed here as a young woman with her chest partially exposed, waving a blood-splattered French flag. In her other hand she holds a copy of Charlie Hebdo.
“France, still in shock” reads the editorial, which goes on to compare the attacks in Paris and Montrouge to the 9/11 attacks in the United States in terms of how they reshaped a nation.
Instead of targeting a financial symbol such as the World Trade Center, the editor suggests it was freedom of expression and the Jewish community’s right to practice their faith in peace, which came under fire in France.
The anniversary of the events is a reminder of the fragility of these rights within French democracy, and that society must remain vigilant to protect them, it reads.
Journalists also collected archives under the title "Cher Charlie" – examples of the thousands of letters and drawings sent from the public to the Charlie Hebdo team after the attacks.
French court hands guilty verdicts to all Charlie Hebdo accomplices
La Croix
The front page of Catholic daily La Croix reads “Charlie Hebdo, 10 years” and features a cartoon image of an upright pencil and an eraser with a bullet hole through it. The shadows created by the pencil on blank pieces of paper form the number 10.
In her editorial “I am the Republic”, Fabienne Lemahieu points to the fact that every aspect of French life was affected by the 7 January attacks, regardless of whether people identified with the satirical spirit of Charlie Hebdo or not.
She underlines the importance of remembering all the victims, before and goes on to list them.
Lemahieu also points to the extensive work of the French justice system in dealing with the criminal acts themselves and the need to have faith in Republican values.
L’Humanité
“They were Charlie” reads the headline of the communist daily L'Humanité with an illustration of the cartoonists killed in the Charlie Hebdo attacks against a pale yellow background. They are smiling and drawing and going about their day as usual.
Inside the newspaper pays tribute to the team members killed on 7 January as well as those who survived and how they manage day to day.
Editor Fabien Gay writes that journalists across France are "still standing" (“Toujours debout”).
“The Charlie spirit is that of irreverent art, it is up to us to carry it,” he says, saluting those who had the courage to make subversive works, designed to provoke debate.
When it comes to the press, he bemoans the fact that in ten years, public debate has diminished, and hate speech and “alternative” truths now abound thanks to algorithms on social media.
For Gay, the 7 January marked a distinct attack on secular values of France, and the right to practice one's religion peacefully. More than ever, he says, the nation must stand united and avoid making links between Islamist terrorists and ordinary Muslims.
Paty murder puts focus on role of teachers in passing on French values
Le Figaro
The conservative daily Le Figaro runs with the headline “Ten years on, France is still under Islamist threat”. Next to it is a photo of the fresco on the wall of the former Charlie Hebdo office in Paris, featuring the faces of the dead cartoonists.
In his editorial entitled “Freedom, sweet freedom” (Liberté, liberté chérie), Vincent Trémollet de Villers begins by listing the names of those who died in the three day killing spree.
He refers to the slogan that emerges almost immediately, along with an outpouring of solidarity for the victims with the word“Je suis Charlie, je suis juif, je suis flic” translated as "I am Charlie, I am Jewish, I am a police officer".
However, Trémollet de Villers is critical of the fact that a spontaneous show of national solidarity was “taken over” and transformed by leftwing groups such as France Unbowed, and what he calls the “Islamo-leftist movement”.
He goes on to say that ten years on, France is still threatened by Islamist terror attacks, through both a physical toll as well as psychological one. He blames this on unbridled immigration policies and the explosion of “free speech” on the internet, which allows hate speech to thrive, while traditional media has been weakened in its quest for “inclusion and diversity”.
For him, artists and writers will remain the “lighthouses” in the prevailing darkness of modern times.
Libération
The left-wing daily Libération published a special edition featuring the text "7 January, 10 years on, special edition" printed on a bright red background.
The illustration is by Coco, one of the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists who survived the attacks in 2015. The caption “Liberté, liberté Charlie” ("Freedom, freedom Charlie") is carried by a figure exploding out of a turban worn by an Islamic mullah.
A piece of the exploding turban has speared the eye of a figure representing Jesus, with the crown of thorns and a crucifixion hole in his wrist.
In his editorial, Paul Quinio encourages readers to take a minute to remember the dead and what they stood for, not spend time focusing on the killers and their "ideologies of death". He insists on not letting "our humanity be stolen by those who wish to spread hate". The terrorists did not win, he says, but the “yes, but” is growing, as is self-censure.
For him it is of utmost importance to protect the right of freedom of expression, forever under threat.
Le Parisien
"Ten years on from 'Charlie', the terrorist threat has never been so present" warns the headline for the Le Parisien daily.
It features a photo of Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau who gave an exclusive interview about the number of terror attacks thwarted in the past year.
Marie-Christine Tabet's editorial “The end of carefree days” looks back at how the "cultural battle" within France actually began back in 2012 with the attacks by Mohamed Merah. It wasn't until 2015 and the string of terror attacks that France began to understand that it was in the midst of "blind terrorism" and a climate of daily fear, with regular reminders from Strasbourg to New Orleans.
However, referring to the interview with the interior minister, she concludes that despite the situation, France has learned how to deal with the threats and is thus better equipped.
