ten years later, this promise from Macron has still not materialized

CULTURE – It’s a promise that dates back to 2020. During its presidential wishes for the new year, Emmanuel Macron announced the creation of a “ House of press cartoons and satirical drawings. A commitment to defend freedom of expression, all the more symbolic as it came five years after the attack on Charlie Hebdo. However, while this Tuesday, January 7 marks the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attack, the House of Press Cartoons has still not seen the light of day.

Initially, the idea did not come from the President of the Republic but from Georges Wolinski, an emblematic figure in the editorial staff of Charlie Hebdo. The cartoonist had called for the creation of a place dedicated to press cartoons in 2007, in a report submitted to the Ministry of Culture.

This project, which remained a dead letter at the time, resurfaced five years later, after the attack against Charlie Hebdoin which Georges Wolinski is killed along with four other press cartoonists: Cabu, Charb, Honoré and Tignous. In total, this targeted attack left twelve dead, and caused a shock wave and debates on freedom of expression in France.

The project was delayed, but not abandoned

The Minister of Culture Rachida Dati thus confirmed her intention to continue the project at the end of November… more than ten months after taking office. During this period, the meetings stopped, causing concern for the Cartooning for Peace, Dessinez Création Liberté and France Cartoons associations., participating in the steering committee. Especially since at the same time, the Terrorism Memorial Museum project, which was also due to open in 2027, was abandoned by Matignon because of “budget cuts”, then finally put back on the table.

Eventually, “after several months of dormancy, the Maison du press cartoon project is now back on track”, rejoices Xavier Gorce, contacted at the end of December. For her part, Rachida Dati announced that she would present the architectural project to an orientation council on February 7. “The launch of the work will follow”she assured.

Beyond political negotiations, this museum asks “a lot of reflection and perspective”, argues Philippe Barbat, forerunner of the project at the Ministry of Culture. The location chosen to host this museum is in fact a building in the heart of the capital, in the 6th arrondissement of Paris.

“Even if the Paris police chief Laurent Nuñez defends the project, the Ministry of the Interior has always been very reluctant in the face, in particular, of the risk of an attack,” a entrusted to Monde a source close to the file on this subject. A security system is being developed, inspired by those of the Jewish museums or the Shoah memorial, also located in the center of Paris.

“It won’t be a “Charlie” House”

Although the work will not begin until the end of 2025, we already know what this House will look like. Over an area of ​​1,500 m2, a permanent exhibition will retrace the history of press drawings and caricatures in France, from the French Revolution to today. Temporary exhibitions, meetings and drawing workshops are also intended to be organized there.

“It will not be a House Charlieit has a broader vocation than that”describes Xavier Gorce. “However, we cannot ignore Charlie and about what happened. Never in history have we experienced such a violent assassination of cartoonists: an entire editorial team decimated by people who felt that press cartoons were so detrimental to their values ​​that it was necessary to go and kill.” supports the designer.

The attacks of 2015 will thus occupy an important place in the permanent journey. “This place must show that the murdered cartoonists served the cause of democracy”, wishes Philippe Barbat, director of the House of Press Cartoons. “The idea is not to propose whether or not to adhere to the political ideas behind the works, but to show that it is pleasant to live in a country where newspapers like Charlie Hebdo existent », he continues.

Once the work is completed and the permanent exhibition installed, the place will be open to everyone, and in particular to school groups. “Among young people, we realize that humor goes down less well, that irony is less tolerated,” observe Xavier Gorce, “we must succeed in showing them why it is desirable that in a society, any subject can be subjected to criticism, irony and humor.”