Prime Minister at the time of the attacks which struck France in 2015, Manuel Valls reacts to the attack perpetrated Friday near the former premises of Charlie Hebdo and calls for a national "jump" against Islamism.
He warns against a "relaxation" of vigilance in our society.
The former Prime Minister notes an acceptance of violence or anti-Semitism, in particular on social networks.
He also asks Emmanuel Macron to "clearly designate Islamism as the enemy".
Finally, he maintains that on this subject there are always "two irreconcilable lefts.
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What was your reaction when you learned that a new attack had taken place near the former Charlie Hebdo premises?
MANUEL VALLS.
I felt a lot of emotion, like a deep pain, because I live with the memory of the attacks but also and especially of the victims.
I experienced it as a nightmare.
Is it possible to guard against such attacks, which have changed in their form, which are less organized?
It's difficult, let's face it.
But let's not pretend to ignore the terrorist threat, because it has been around for a long time.
It is a serious threat because it comes from outside, but also from inside society.
There are thousands of individuals who can take action, as we have seen on Friday or in recent months, because of more or less rapid radicalization in our neighborhoods, on the Internet or in our prisons.
Islamism must be clearly identified as the enemy and the challenge of the turn of the century.
Do you have the impression that the company has evolved since 2015, on the subject?
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The French have become aware of the risk, but the terrorist enemy feeds on our weaknesses, our naivety, our half-measures.
I want to be clear: for several weeks there has been a buzz about the risks that weigh.
The whole of French society is placed by the jihadists as a priority target, and in particular those who embody the fight against political Islam.
It is intolerable and it requires a start.
What a start?
Islamism wants to fracture us, to break us.
And finally, it poses a considerable challenge to us.
What is the collective response that we can bring to this violence?
What security response, citizen, what are our values?
The challenge must be taken seriously.
Society has relaxed, we have become accustomed to violence or virulent anti-Semitism on the networks.
I call for a change of mindset.
We must clearly designate the enemy: it is Islamism, Salafism, the Muslim Brotherhood, this political Islam which is a new fascism.
We must fight it through the rule of law, our security forces and intelligence but also by a deep mobilization of society, in the street, in public services, at school, in companies, in sports clubs. , on social networks.
It is a political, ideological, cultural battle which will be long and difficult, which we will win if we are united and if we believe in our own values.
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Politically, what can we do?
Everything is possible.
The first emergency is the remobilization of the republican and secular camp.
Political parties, unions, associations, teachers, intellectuals must be mobilized.
A not insignificant part of the Moslem youth does not condemn the attacks of Charlie, and puts the religion above the Republic.
It's good that we failed, that the education system was not there.
We need unprecedented civic mobilization.
François Hollande said that it was necessary to "give priority to education" so that the values of the Republic are respected.
Are you on the same line?
Yes.
We must especially listen to Jean-Pierre Obin
(Editor's note: ex-inspector of national education, author of the book "How we let Islamism penetrate the school")
, a left-wing republican like me, on the blindness of National Education in the face of Islamism.
But also stop apologizing.
It is a debate that I had with Emmanuel Macron in 2015. He considered that there was an explanation that could be given to understand the passage to the terrorist act.
There is no explanation.
I use Charles Peguy's words: "All explanations are capitulations, and all capitulations are full of explanations".
We must stop apologizing for being French and republican.
Let us be proud of our history and our culture.
You said “understanding is already wanting to excuse terrorism a little.
But understanding in order to know, isn't that the best way to prevent and protect yourself from it?
But we already know!
Islamism - which disfigures Islam and silences millions of peaceful Muslims - has a political project: to end our model and our secularism.
We know where the terrorist attacks come from, that Salafism has progressed in our neighborhoods, that it has accomplices in part of the left.
We also know the work that must be carried out from a political, cultural and educational point of view.
This does not mean that we should not wage the economic and social battle - moreover I still did not understand why we had torpedoed the Borloo report on working-class neighborhoods - but I repeat it is a political battle that must be carried out.
Emmanuel Macron takes a too angelic look on the subject?
No, I think he has changed.
He is fully aware, with the function which is his, of reality, far from this liberal libertarian discourse which was his before.
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Yet you feel that his use of the word “separatism” is irrelevant.
We must fight against all separatism or communitarianism, but on condition that we name them correctly.
The big topic of this moment is the battle against Islamism.
I also consider that we must study, as I had proposed, the prohibition of Salafism, a real threat to our country.
And act: for school trips and university, the 2002 law prohibiting religious symbols must fully apply.
The presidential majority seems divided on the subject ...
At LREM, there were the same debates that I had known within the left.
But I am convinced that the majority of French people are for this republican, civic and moral rearmament.
With this support from the French, the President of the Republic must exalt republican patriotism, respect for the rule, the application of the law.
Does the left still seem so divided to you?
The fundamental mistake of a part of the political, intellectual and media left was to consider that the Muslims constituted a new proletariat, that they represented a shapeless and global mass, and that everything that came from them was just .
When I spoke of Islamo-leftism, I denounced the accomplices of Islamism, those who want to impose their religion.
There are indeed two irreconcilable lefts.
