Every day, a personality invites itself into the world of Élodie Suigo. Tuesday October 3: actor and former member of GIGN, Philippe B. alias ATON. He published a book that he co-wrote with Jean-Luc Riva, a former soldier, “Prepare for the worst!” published by Éditions Albin Michel.
Philippe B. alias ATON is today an actor and author. Not long ago he was a member of GIGN. An elite police officer, his 15 years of good and loyal service, as well as his feats of arms, earned him the Legion of Honor.
It was while watching television, in 1994, when he was only 16 years old, that his life changed with the attack of the GIGN which was trying to thwart the taking of hostages on a plane at the airport of Marignane. His adolescence was also marked by classmates who were not kind to him. He experienced school bullying, with this desire to become something else, to become a terror in order to be able to defend himself, since the institution did not respond to his reports.
With Jean-Luc Riva, a former soldier who spent 25 years abroad in intelligence, he published today Prepare for the worst! published by Éditions Albin Michel.
franceinfo: Prepare for the worst! is scary and when you open this work, you understand the subtitle Dealing with violence, you offer alternatives if we are faced with dramatic situations. Why this book?
ATON: It came as a witness to all the violence that we can see on a daily basis, I refer to my past, to my experience, to my experience, where I managed to find some solutions. So sometimes they are suitable, sometimes they require a little work, a little practice. But in fact, when we get started, when we are interested in the subject, when we are not just waiting for the government, for the police, well we can, individually or collectively, take a certain number of measures that can effectively protect us. In view of current events, we are overloaded with violence, so we said to ourselves with Jean-Luc Riva that we had to do this book.
You talk about harassment which has become a real scourge. Not long ago, young Nicolas committed suicide in Poissy, a victim of school bullying. A huge controversy has just been triggered following the publication of a letter sent by the rectorate of Versailles to Nicolas’s parents before he ended his life. More and more and for a very long time, we have been encouraging young people to speak. But we have the feeling that nothing is happening and that talking becomes something unhealthy. Is that the feeling they have?
Yes, because there is no listening. A letter is not a response to a harassed child. Where is the human in there? In the book, we decided to treat school bullying from the point of view of the bully. Parents who read this book will perhaps be able to identify a child bully and say: Well, my son, I thought he had character, he doesn’t give in. No, in fact, he goes further than that, his character is something he imposes on others. And perhaps even this child, if he is a bully, it may be because he is not comfortable in his own skin either.
“We are trying to find the origin of the problem. If we only treat the harassed, without treating the harassers, I think we are on the wrong track.”
You yourself were affected by school bullying when you were a child.
Yes, very young. I was an only child, a little naive, obviously very attracted to others. When I was alone in the evening, I only wanted to go back to school the next day to meet my classmates. I had behavior that could lead to ridicule and it followed me through primary school. I was ashamed to explain it to my father, that’s why I understand why many people don’t talk about it and even commit suicide. I wasn’t thinking about suicide, but it was really extremely hard.
“I likened it to a stoning and in fact, everyone is going to throw their stone. It is the succession of all these small stones which, at a given moment, will create big wounds and big faults.”
When we are alone in bed at night, we say to ourselves: I am weak, and it is true that we come to ask ourselves questions about our usefulness, about what we can do in this world and is- what will we be able to grow and evolve there? My father turned me towards American films at a fairly young age, towards the heroes of Stallone, Schwarzenegger and Jean-Claude Vandamme, and I actually found a refuge there. And for me, when you were physically strong, when you were muscular, that already created a shell to withstand the blows and on top of that, it could scare others. I did it on purpose so that the fear would really change sides. And it worked.
You wanted to get out of it and something clicked. This is the assault launched by the GIGN in Marignane. Was it an open door to a possibility, a better future, a future that suited you more?
Ah yes, for me, it was necessary to channel a little this violence, this feeling of injustice which sometimes pushed me to be violent. And it’s true that with the GIGN, I found the cause to be noble.
“I found that the GIGN was fighting injustice, violence and for me, it really sparked a vocation and a feeling of usefulness. It was really for the population. I had found my place.”
In 2015, during the “Charlie Hebdo” attacks, you were on the ground, with the mission of neutralizing the two terrorists responsible for the killings, the Kouachi brothers. You received the Legion of Honor to recognize your entire career and then you left the GIGN. Do you miss it?
No, I don’t really miss it. I feel nostalgic for certain moments sometimes. It’s the spirit of camaraderie, when we were at the gym, getting together, picking on each other. It’s that spirit of healthy competition. I didn’t feel that in civilian life. In any case, not for the moment, but I’m still a young civilian!
Watch this interview on video: