I am french. I've lived in Orlando from 1993 to 2005. On 9/11/2001, I was in France, and I actually received my updated american visa on that ever lasting Tuesday, while I was watching war scenes on tv. I was able to get back to my home and my friends the week after that, full of sorrow, yet so full of an incredible hope, as all over the world people were uniting to condemn the murderous acts and grieve. Maybe we would all work toward a solution?
Bush betrayed that hope. I still hate his gutts for that. All of them. I told myself in 2004 that I would leave America if Americans re-elected him: I moved back to France in 2005.
Fast forward to last week. Thousands of people were killed again in several african countries. We don't hear as much about islamist killings in Pakistan and Afghanistan: it is not news, because it happens every day. I feel anguish that I brought 3 kids into that kind of world. Yet islamist morons killed 17 people, and here, we hope again to be living a historical moment.
I have read several of the diaries debating about whether being Charlie was a worthy aspiration... I feel that tekno2600's gets the closest to the Hebdo's spirit. I was not a fan, the humour could get crass. But it was humour. It is what is supposed to bring people together. Whatever your faith, your social condition, your country: a good laugh is free, can be shared, and brings moments of plain happiness to people. I think it is particularly important in France: a lot of debates or business reunions (who said this could be the problem??...) end with a light joke... and we don't have to add 'just kidding' afterwards, because everybody knows you are!
The people they killed were not always subtle, but their heart was at the right place. They enjoyed life and humanity, with its weaknesses. They were honnest and straightforward. And they were not afraid. The idiots killed a good thing that they were told threatened the islamist movement.
The killers were orphans. They were a pizza delivery guy. They had nothing better to do in their life than to kill and be killed. It is so heart wrenching to imagine that across the world, there are so many people that because: they lack education and a proper thinking process they have lost everything they loved they have never had anything to love in the first place they are on drugs (not the soft kind) life around them has so little value because death comes so easy ok, I suppose that there are also quite a few psychopaths in their lot too... that they would enjoy butchering other human beings, even sending little girls to explode. How inhumane.... The opposite to Charlie Hebdo. Yet, they have followers, even within France.
However, yesterday we called it another 9/11. People were shaken and united. From all over the world. I want to hope again that this time the answer won't be a profitable war (profitable to a few, like Halliburton, Xe, and Daesh). This time, I have no answer, but we should all unite to discourage the cowards. They will not win, and I hope that they understand that as soon as possible. For my kids' world.
So for the first time in my life, I joined a march yesterday, here in Bordeaux, with my daughter. Hopefully, we participated in a historical moment. And it will have good, lasting results.
My 2 favorite signs: 'Je suis Charlie / Je suis Ahmed' (Ahmed is the name of the muslim policeman that was executed in the name of the prophet)
'I am.... Sad' (je suis triste)
I forgot to add a thought: the message from Anonymous could also be mere bravado and resonate empty at the end... but yet maybe they could manage to disrupt their network and empty their coffers. I really hope we are at that moment.
