Strasbourg (AFP)

Nearly five years after the assassination of the Kouachi brothers, Charlie Hebdo's editorial team has released a special issue on Wednesday that draws a gloomy picture of the press drawing situation before taking part in a debate in Strasbourg on Saturday, its first collective public intervention. since January 2015.

A few days before this debate, organized in the framework of the World Forum for Democracy, the director of the satirical weekly, Riss, emphasizes that the caricature remains a "combat sport".

Question: In this special issue "Caricature, user manual", you deplore that at the time of social networks all powerful, irony is no longer possible, each erecting moral authority. Is press drawing an endangered animal?

Answer: "Do not be pessimistic at this point, it was never easy to do satire, there was never a time when it was easier than now, it's always a kind that must struggle to exist.When we know that, we put the energy it takes to make it happen.

We are witnessing a sort of splitting of society that may have existed before but is multiplied by social networks, where everyone speaks only to himself or to people in his category. As soon as there is a divergent word, it is rejected, and it is the same for humor, a humor that hinders a little is considered an aggression, but do not be too impressed by it. The fact that humor has become suspicious seems to show that people no longer trust each other. They interpret everything as an aggression, as a rejection.

These are not good signs when big media like the New York Times remove drawings. The first thing dictators do is lock up journalists and comedians. There, there is no need for dictators, it is the big newspapers that suppress humor. It's a shame that big newspapers that are supposed to be symbols of democracy like the New York Times enter this game and contribute to an impoverishment of the forms of expression. It's pretty bad. I hope that these are fads that will pass and that, in a few years, people will rediscover the interest of drawing. But it is certain that one must always fight for there to be drawing ".

Q: When politicians behave like caricatures, do we still need cartoons?

A: "We need cartoons to show that it is absurd for politicians to claim to be cartoons, we do not expect it to be a policy, these characters will only last for a while, I think people are going to get tired and go back to more classical politicians.It is in the air of time, there is an excess claimed in the political expression which, I hope, will quickly reach its limits.

When we do satirical drawing, we do not try to be picturesque, we do drawings on political situations, political problems, do drawings just to make jokes, it's a joke of office, it's not very interesting So, the politicians who put themselves on the scene believing themselves funny, it is not interesting for the satirists ".

Q: Why speak collectively in Strasbourg?

A: "It was an opportunity that was offered to us and we thought it would be nice to take advantage of this forum, almost 5 years after what happened, to show that Charlie Hebdo is still alive. , with a dynamic writing, it's a little difficult to be always, I'm not going to say, hidden ... but we also want to claim a little more in public what we are ".

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