Living Together Among the Events
Context and Reflection
We have set up games and parties that take place one after another throughout the year—special, wonderful, and everyday fun-filled entertainment that drives away sorrow. The significance of the city generates all the resources of the earth, and we enjoy the production of both the world and of our country. Ours is a city that is open to all. At the time of action, we rely more on our own courage than on preparations and ruses of war.
My father disappeared a week before the tragedy that struck his city. He carried with him the fears of a child persecuted during the Nazi and collaborationist occupation, the pride of being the son of a great history of progress, freedom, and tolerance, and the honor to believe that his generation faced its challenges—the economic and political reconstruction of Europe, the overcoming of ideological and national differences, and decolonization. This allowed future generations to carry out their own tasks. Is this optimism still in season?
The Paris Attacks
While preparing to host a conference on the future of our climate, Paris became the City of Martyrs due to a highly modern form of political violence: a coordinated ground attack by enemy commandos. This operation required permeability between international jihadist networks and the operational ground—a mission for French agents. If the suicide bombers at the Stade de France had succeeded in entering without tickets, their attack would have occurred during the televised France-Germany match, attended by the French President and the German Minister Steinmaier.
The Paris attacks are reprisals, a response to the ability of Western countries to undertake missions far from their homeland. Daech’s strategy lies in targeting town centers and vulnerable places, asserting power, motivating recruits, and dividing opponents. Their victory in Paris foreshadows tragic consequences despite diplomatic adjustments favoring Bachar el-Assad. The attackers, like the 9/11 pilots, come from Europe. What will be their next target? A central infrastructure, a train station, subway corridors, or a museum? Their goal is achieved if attendance at concert halls and public places declines, altering our way of life. We become the Bataclan Generation after standing up for Charlie.
Sacrifice and Violence
Whether European or returning from Syria, some individuals sacrifice themselves by assassinating dozens of young people in cold blood. Their decision is influenced by obscure motivations and personal experiences. Their act is an irrevocable oath of violence leading to suicide. The mercenaries of the Bataclan carried out a military operation, and the machine-gunners from the terraces attacked the freedom of an urban lifestyle. Their nihilism targets a society built on tolerance and free communication.
André Glucksmann, the theorist of war, noted: « He who is prepared to sacrifice himself considers himself worthy of sacrificing others. Terrorism amounts to a sort of "mysticism," an "absolute self-possession," a "downward ecstasy." » René Girard, who also recently died, expressed his failure to understand this in 2008: « The novelty involves imposing suffering and death, allowing oneself to undergo them. This "extreme rise" in violence stems from our world. Terrorism is beyond us; we feel we can no longer think. It is a threat precisely because it is not understood. There is no negotiating. »
Girard remains Clausewitzian: political goals can only be attained by controlling the wave of violence. Suicide bombers force a merciless battle, expecting to widen tactical differences between opponents of the Islamic State and render them incapable of collaboration.
Philosophical Perspectives
In response to those who believe the movement of people and ideas promotes peace, we must create emergency laboratories for « living together in harmony. » Sartre, in 1947, objected to any fascination with isolated acts or commando actions. Some imagine creating conditions for radical salvation, an Apocalypse, but this idea remains abstract. Sacrificial acts cannot lead to a new era. About the Stern Group, he noted: « Terrorist. Nevertheless, it does not focus on human liberation but on Palestine and neutralizing the Middle East. Violence is justified from a strictly defined business point of view. »
Exerting violence is justified as counter-violence. This creates a set of standards making it a world order, not just a means of pressure: « Violence implies nihilism. It believes in a world order manipulated by ill-will. You just need to destroy the obstruction for the order to appear. » Perpetrating extreme violence means compromising the end pursued by viewing it as an absolute. The historical moral dilemma is that the means are not appropriate for attaining the end. The pursuit of ends in history involves accepting temporary failure, not making violence absolute.
The Event and Its Impact
Sartre emphasized the multi-dimensionality of the event, which « goes through thousand consciousnesses at a time. » The full meaning of the event is outside its authors’ control. « The way to experience the event is part of the event itself. The public outrage under a decree falls under the event of the decree. The event is a decentred proliferation, impossible to fully assemble. »
The Bataclan attacks surprised everyone, forcing each person to take a stance. The separation of consciousness that breaks up the event encourages outreach, transforming the experience into a historical fact. The immediate reactions of witnesses and direct victims, particularly hospital staff, highlight resilience. Bruno Riou, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, stated: « We stood together in horrendous conditions. It was an unusual situation, with war wounds. Ten to twelve operating room staff worked side by side. The solidarity was incredible. Interns, department heads, surgeons came to help. I am very proud of this mobilization. »
The solidarity extended worldwide through social networks and gatherings. Jean-François Bayart links these attacks to the « boomerang effect » of misguided policies since the 1973 oil crisis. While dreaming of a magically unified public opinion is unrealistic, supporting democratic actions and fostering the « Republican pathway » remains essential. The Bataclan Generation will rise to this challenge.
Historical and Political Context
The risk of such an attack has been known for some time. Diplomatic inability to counter Assad and the open conflict with Daech made it inevitable. When arrested in August, a jihadist mentioned Abdelhamid Abaaoud’s plan to attack a concert hall.