Le Droit d'Emmerder Dieu by Richard Malka

 Le droit D' Emmerder Dieu

by Richard Malka is a new book by Grasset and maybe one of the most intense and revelatory ones that I have read till now on the story of Charlie Hebdo.

 If you want to understand what happened and why, in the newsroom of Charlie Hebdo that January 7 when 12 people of the staff of Charlie, a satirist magazine, were brutally killed and four ones survived, this book is for you. 

This one, published by Grasset, is the plaidoire, harangue of mr.Malka at the end of the trial. 

His speech represents, the most, the essence of the spirit of french people. 

A spirit where freedoms are more than welcomed; where freedom of expression, freedom of speech, freedom of writing, freedom of drawing what a person wants, is considered incredibly important and of great value; like also the laicité, laicity of the State, so a strong disconnection from the various religions installed in France, starting from the Catholic one. The French President in general doesn't tend, for example, to visit when in Italy, the Pope, (he can does it, of course), because he doesn't recognize to him any authority, keeping well divided the role of the State and the one of the church. 

France, also removed blasphemy as penal offence in the distant 1790: so everyone can express, pretty largely, thoughts, ideas, also using irriverent, blasphemic methods without any kind of incrimination; Charlie Hebdo for these fanatics was "The Other" underlines the attorney. 

An Other, Charlie that had to be "killed" and suppressed because freely telling what that dessiners, drawers, wanted. The point is this one and the attorney is clear: it is not possible to think that a religion would be put aside because doesn't tolerate some laughs, while other ones could be portrayed blasphemically also. There is a right, an important adds strongly the attorney, right: the one of emmerder, to put some poo on God. Maybe it is a strong metaphore, but real freedom is the creation not the suppression. 

It's impossible, for french population, to lose that freedoms conquered a lot of centuries ago, remarks Malka and from a certain time the nation assisted at several atrocious terrorist attacks: I want to remember the decapitation of Samuel Paty a teacher who just told to his students during his lessons the importance of being free, thinking free, and living in a free land. 

Millions of muslins, millions of thinkers, journalists, writers, common people wants these freedoms and search for these freedoms everyday, says Malka: it is impossible to renounce at important freedoms like these ones, that give a certainty: people can experience real freedoms! There wouldn't be any hope, in different case.

The attorney then, reconstructs the long series of battles fought by Charlie Hebdo when at first were published in 2006 the  drawings till at the moment of the terrorist attacks, with considerations also on Theo Van Gogh and what happened in Netherlands.

Malka focuses the attention on all that people who were sometimes unsupporting with the satirical magazine, searching for a compromise, that to him is just one: the right of telling, reporting, writing down and drawing whatever people want, because these ones are freedoms that can't be lost.

Beautiful and moving, you must read it.

Highly recommended.

I thank L'Editions Grasset for the physical copy of the book.

Anna Maria Polidori