Paris (AFP)

"I wanted to write a book so that the children appropriate their Republic, that it is theirs and not ours, not my Republic", explains François Hollande who publishes next week a book intended for the teenagers to defend the Republic and its values.

Entitled "Leur République", the new book by the former head of state is aimed primarily at children (from 10 years old) but their parents will no doubt be able to read it with profit.

The work (64 pages, 15 euros), edited by Glénat (specialized in comics) and illustrated by Laure Monloubou, explains in a clear, didactic and often funny way "what is the Republic". "It is a book of citizenship", justifies François Hollande, questioned by an AFP journalist.

A chapter is obviously devoted to the sensitive subject of secularism.

"Secularism must be understood as a way to protect our freedom but also the freedom of others who do not have to bear the influences of a religion. Religion is at home or in places of worship," explains the former socialist president.

"The word secularism is complicated, including for adults", readily admits the ex-president who however severely judges the recent remarks of Nicole Belloubet: the Keeper of the Seals had estimated that "the insult to religion is obviously an attack on freedom of conscience ".

"This minister was rector (of the academies of Limoges and Toulouse, note), she should know what the principle of secularism is. She is a professor of law, she was a member of the Constitutional Council which must make a fair application of the principle of secularism in the control of the conformity of the laws. It is surprising ", is astonished, falsely naive, François Hollande.

The Minister of Justice then returned to her remarks by pleading "clumsiness", ensuring not to question "the right to criticize religion".

Asked about the "Mila affair", this 16-year-old schoolgirl threatened with death for having sharply criticized Islam, after having herself been the victim of homophobic insults, the former president is adamant: "We must not do of Mila an example or a model but we must defend it if it threatens. "

"Everyone has the right to criticize a religion in its very existence," he said.

However, tempers François Hollande, "one can criticize or make fun of a religion, criticize its excesses but one cannot have a hate speech compared to the practitioners".

- Nuclear case -

In addition to the question of secularism, the book attempts to answer simple questions such as "what is a country?" or "what is democracy?". "The easier it is to state, the more complicated it is to make people understand," said François Hollande.

The role of the government, the Parliament or the Constitutional Council are told in simple words but never simplistic.

"My goal was to transmit a certain number of values ​​or concepts which are sometimes foreign to the daily life of teenagers even if we hear a lot about it," explains François Hollande. The tone of the book is deliberately neutral. "I especially did not want to give the feeling that I was using this republican pedagogy for propaganda or influence purposes", defends the author.

Sometimes, however, we see the head of a little fellow who looks like him displaying his point of view. Thus, in the election chapter, the caricature of François Hollande wonders if it would not be desirable to "group the different elections".

Returning to "the great powers of the president", the 7th president of the Fifth Republic reveals ... that the famous nuclear case does not exist!

"There is neither the key nor the code that the president would be supposed to always have on him and that he would transmit to his successor," said the former army chief, smiling. "It's a trick for cinema films," he adds without ceasing to smile.

François Hollande would like to write other works of the same kind, notably "to talk about Europe".

The book has a circulation of 25,000 copies. All copyrights will be donated to Libraries without Borders, an association that provides access to culture for those who are furthest away, in particular by installing mobile libraries.

© 2020 AFP