With the sociologist Jean Viard, research director at the CNRS, today we are talking about one of the most terrible days in recent French history. It was six years ago, to the day, the attacks of November 13, 2015. The attacks on the Bataclan and the Stade de France terraces were neither the first nor the last terrorist attacks in France.
franceinfo: Jean Viard, is there a before and after November 13, 2015 for our country?
Jean Viard: Look, I wouldn’t say that. I don’t think we can say that. I believe that the confrontation with radical Islamism is terrible. We can see what is happening in Afghanistan, where women are locked up, etc. and in other places, I honestly think you can’t say that. We are in a long cycle of violence and terrorism and we are preparing for it.
On the other hand, what we can say, I believe, is that after the Bataclan attacks, etc. it seems to me that the security forces have really put the package together, and that from this point of view, we are better protected. But after all, we are only partially protected, because it is partially uncontrollable.
This Saturday is a day of remembrance, the sixth day of remembrance, and it falls in the midst of these attacks of November 13, 2015. A trial for history, say almost all observers. This justifies, among other things, the testimony of the former President of the Republic, François Hollande, this week …
It is true that it is a monstrosity, even worse than Nice or worse than Charlie, in a way, in number of victims, the fact of killing only young people who are partying, well all that we we like, and that these radical Islamists do not like. Sure.
And then, it was a real trauma. Huge. So the fact that the President of the Republic at the time intervenes, it gives on the one hand solemnity to the subject. And it had happened outside the radars, both in Belgium and France. These terrorists were organized, we had not seen them coming, etc. It is up to him to recognize it in the name of the State. I would say it has nothing to do with it personally.
And then, it must be said one thing I think that President Hollande is criticized a lot, but his reaction to the attacks each time, has always been recognized as positive, strong and rewarding. I think that puts a little peace. It can also help families to be recognized by the Republic in their pain.
Precisely, the recognition of the Republic, the role that the President of the Republic can also play in the recent history of our country, there is François Hollande who therefore testifies at this trial.
There is also another intervention that can be cited this week, that of Emmanuel Macron, who spoke during the commemoration ceremonies of November 11 to pay tribute to Hubert Germain, the last Companion of the Liberation who is dead at 101.
Is the presidential word necessary in our Republic to register precisely this memory in the great history of our country?
We are a country with a strong power, and I was going to say a people in permanent revolt, one could say it like that. It is the myth of the Gaul against the central power, and the Fifth Republic reinforced this myth. Afterwards, I think we have to say a very simple thing: what Emmanuel Macron did was what General de Gaulle had decided; when he created the Companions of the Liberation, and he buried the first at Mont Valérien, he said: the last, we will take the same procedure exactly: the rise of the Champs-Elysées, the Republican Guard, the speech indeed at the Arc de Triomphe. And then the burial at Mont Valérien.
Basically, President Macron is replaying, if we can say de Gaulle, to the letter, to the minute, but it was General de Gaulle’s decision to mark the historical time of this period, and to transmit the torch of resistance to subsequent generations. It is also true that during an election period, President Macron, respecting the wishes of General de Gaulle and fitting into his character, of course, while everyone is in Colombey trying to find a small place in the cemetery, it indeed has, in a certain way, the beautiful political role.
And more broadly Jean Viard, all these solemn moments of commemoration of vocations, we can also think of all the national tributes, the enthronements in the Pantheon, etc. What place does this play in our history?
But there are many. There are more of them than before, and it seems to me that there is a kind of identity concern that grips French society. It has entered centrally into political discourse, whether with far-right candidates, but the others as well. France is uncertain, I would say in its support, and therefore suddenly, we seek to base our identity in totems or in the past. I hope that we will establish our identity in the future. It always seems more positive to me.