JE SUIS CHARLIE: BLACK WEDNESDAY

Traditionally, the editorial of the New Year is my prerogative. In it, I announce our programme for the coming months. And I had a good number of things I wanted to mention: books, conferences, commemorations, our new websites, and many other things too. I would have liked to express our delight and satisfaction, first for H.I.H. the Princess Napoléon's promotion to the rank of Officer, and second for our Director, Thierry Lentz's appointment as “chevalier” of the “Légion d'Honneur”. I had also wanted to pay my homage to the Duke of Wellington, who died a few days ago aged 99, a man I knew well.
And then, we had our black Wednesday, black as blind stupidity, black as death, black as the flag of those who want to deprive us of our liberties, black as our society would be without respect for one another and our respective ideas.
The Fondation Napoléon is “of the city” and composed of citizens. It lives in its times and knows the excesses and dangers of its era. It is not “alongside” daily life, but “in” it. It must, via the voice of its president, and in the name of all those who work there, express its sadness, its solidarity with the victims and their families, but also underline its support for all those who keep our democracy alive and for those who protect our society.
This dramatic event hits us all, concerns us all, indeed has taken the wind out of all our sails. However, “they” have attacked us, and “they” want to deprive us of our freedom of opinion. We must be stronger than this enemy, whose sole glory will only ever be that it has fired on the defenceless and executed the wounded. Yes, we will be strong! Strong against those who have struck us, strong to fight tirelessly to preserve that which sets us apart from such self-appointed “warriors”, strong to resist our own demons.
I never thought that I would write, with so many others: « Je suis Charlie ». But I do it today, without hesitation.
 
Victor-André Masséna
President