| 00:00 | | It started out as a video posted by a teenage girl on Instagram |
| 00:03 | | on a Saturday, and then it became the “Mila Affair”. |
| 00:06 | | Saturday, January 18th: the young woman, who is 16 years old, |
| 00:09 | | posted an Instagram story in which she was verbally violent |
| 00:12 | | against Islam. Since then, there has been a wave of hatred against her on the internet. |
| 00:16 | | Insults, threats of rape, death threats and the Delegate General of the French council |
| 00:20 | | of the Muslim faith thinks she had it coming. “I say this girl, she knows what she said; |
| 00:25 | | she needs to take responsibility, and well, now, listen, she has to |
| 00:28 | | own the consequences of what she said.” The Mila Affair is a freedom of expression case. |
| 00:32 | | The Mila Affair is a case of the right to blaspheme. |
| 00:36 | | In France, the Minister of Justice is the one who is supposed to be |
| 00:40 | | the guarantor of this, but (she said): “Insulting religion |
| 00:44 | | is obviously an attack on freedom of conscience. It’s serious.” |
| 00:48 | | A few hours later, Nicole Belloubet tries to make up for it: |
| 00:51 | | “I readily admit that what I expressed may have been clumsy |
| 00:54 | | or stony. Obviously, I didn’t want to question |
| 00:58 | | the right to criticize religion. —And the next day she apologizes: |
| 01:02 | | I didn’t have to say that, that’s for sure. —So much for that. On Thursday, in Angouleme, |
| 01:05 | | when asked about freedom of expression, the head of state replied: |
| 01:08 | | We are a country where there is freedom of expression, |
| 01:11 | | the right to caricature and to blaspheme. —The Mila case isn’t only political; |
| 01:15 | | it is a political issue for the whole society. |
| 01:18 | | Some intellectuals don’t understand why Mila isn’t being defended more. |
| 01:21 | | “We will pay dearly for this cowardice,” |
| 01:24 | | wrote Elisabeth Badinter, one of the great voices at The Express. Alain Finkielkraut hesitated |
| 01:28 | | to sign a tribute: —I did not sign this text because of Mila’s remarks. |
| 01:33 | | Of course, she must be defended, but by saying |
| 01:38 | | “Your god, I put my fingers up his a**” — it seems to me that |
| 01:43 | | this does not fall under what is called freedom of expression. |
| 01:48 | | The editorial from Charlie Hebdo writes: “Mila was insulted |
| 01:52 | | by the dumbest first, then threatened by the most fanatical, |
| 01:55 | | and finally abandoned by the most cowardly.” —And the philosopher Raphael Enthoven notes that: |
| 02:01 | | “No human rights association protested or expressed solidarity with those lives that were suddenly |
| 02:06 | | forced to go underground.” —It’s clear that the silence of the Left |
| 02:10 | | is what’s being questioned here, and it’s true that |
| 02:13 | | at first they were not heard at all, since it was the extreme right that immediately defended Mila. |
| 02:19 | | The words of this young girl are an oral version of the cartoons |
| 02:22 | | of Charlie (Hebdo). No more and no less. —Support Mila against |
| 02:25 | | the public prosecutor’s office which has just opened an investigation against her |
| 02:28 | | because she dared to criticize Islam. —Several members of the government ended up defending her. |
| 02:32 | | —I was obviously very shocked, like everyone else and I supported her. —Our thoughts are with |
| 02:38 | | the young woman Mila, who was on the social media networks, which I’ll get back to, |
| 02:42 | | but she expressed an opinion and received a wave of hatred against her. |
| 02:47 | | And today, the Minister of Education, who vouches |
| 02:51 | | for her future. —She’s in a very special situation, |
| 02:55 | | which we condemn very strongly and therefore we are helping her. |
| 02:59 | | However, we’re helping her with a degree of discretion. |
| 03:02 | | The aim is to get her back to school peacefully. |
| 03:05 | | We owe her maximum protection. —On social media networks the hashtags “I’m Mila” and “I’m not Mila” |
| 03:12 | | were competing. Ségolène Royal used the hashtag “I’m not Mila”. |
| 03:16 | | You used the hashtags “I’m not Mila”, didn’t you? |
| 03:19 | | Absolutely, absolutely not. Let’s get back to the serious stuff. |
| 03:22 | | This teenager, who may still be suffering from |
| 03:25 | | a teenage crisis — imagine if she said the same thing about her teacher, |
| 03:28 | | about her parents, about her neighbors or |
| 03:31 | | about her best friend. What would we say? |
| 03:34 | | We’d ask her to show a little respect, and certainly not erect |
| 03:37 | | a disrespectful teenage girl as the paragon of freedom of expression. |
| 03:41 | | Certainly not. —Following the Mila Affair, |
| 03:45 | | we now have Mila here with us, and she’s speaking for the first time. —Good evening and thank you. |
| 03:48 | | Welcome to the set of Quotidien. How are you? —I’m fine. |
| 03:51 | | You’ve agreed to speak. This will be the only interview |
| 03:54 | | you’ve made in the media the past two weeks. Mila is being talked about everywhere. |
| 03:57 | | We’ve seen her, but we don’t know who you are? Where are you from? |
| 04:03 | | So, I’m from Lyon. I’m 16 years old. I’m mainly passionate |
| 04:09 | | about music, and I don’t have much to say about myself. I’m a teenager… |
| 04:13 | | What grade are you in? —I’m in tenth grade. |
| 04:16 | | All right. You wished to speak publicly with your parents’ consent |
| 04:20 | | while you’re being harassed and threatened |
| 04:24 | | with rape and death. Why? —So, I thought, I really need |
| 04:30 | | to tell my side of the story, to speak out about this, |
| 04:35 | | even if it’s just once, it’s my choice. And I also wanted |
| 04:41 | | to show a different side of the girl that everyone saw |
| 04:47 | | in that video, that went viral and with her face uncovered. |
| 04:52 | | Since I’ve always been a bit of a public figure |
| 04:56 | | on social networks and so there are already a lot of people |
| 04:59 | | who know my face and the video has been circulating |
| 05:02 | | a lot, but I don’t need to tell you that. |
| 05:05 | | It was shown on TV blurred out, but on social networks it was uncensored. |
| 05:08 | | That’s right. And I thought it wouldn’t hurt me more |
| 05:11 | | to be on TV, and I don’t have to hide, because I know |
| 05:14 | | I didn’t do anything wrong. —So the intention is |
| 05:17 | | to try to understand what happened and why things got out of hand. |
| 05:20 | | A decision I hope will bring down the tension. On Saturday 18th January |
| 05:24 | | you made a video. You had an exchange |
| 05:28 | | with your followers. What did you talk about? |
| 05:31 | | I was doing a live show where I was doing makeup and… |
| 05:35 | | By “live”, you mean, you’re live on Instagram. —That’s right. |
| 05:39 | | I was live on Instagram doing — I was doing makeup, |
| 05:42 | | and I had a new hair color and I was happy to share that with my subscribers in this live video. |
| 05:46 | | How many people were watching? —In my live feeds there are usually between, |
| 05:51 | | between 10 and 30 people. —So there are 30 people |
| 05:55 | | watching you? —That’s right. A maximum of 30 people. And how did things got out of hand? |
| 05:58 | | But especially, how did you ended up talking about religion? |
| 06:02 | | So, basically, there was a boy who hit on me a little too much during |
| 06:06 | | the live stream. —That means someone sent you messages? |
| 06:10 | | Yes, in the chat feed the words I remember were: |
| 06:13 | | You’re beautiful, you’re hot, how old are you? So I didn’t hesitate to |
| 06:16 | | put that person in his place, because it’s not |
| 06:19 | | the first time it has happened to me. It pissed me off. Then I continued |
| 06:24 | | to talk to my subscribers. There was a girl, |
| 06:28 | | a subscriber, who asked me about my sexual orientation. |
| 06:34 | | So I told her I was a lesbian and she asks me what I thought about — |
| 06:42 | | I don’t know anymore. —Go ahead. Don’t worry, we have time. She’s asking you what? —She asked me |
| 06:49 | | what was my preference in girls was, mainly, and she told me that for her, |
| 06:53 | | personally, she preferred girls, well, she didn’t |
| 06:56 | | particularly like (?) and black people. I then said it was the same |
| 07:00 | | for me, that it wasn’t particularly my style. |
| 07:03 | | This boy who hit on me at the beginning started insulting me |
| 07:07 | | as a dirty lesbian whore, a dirty racist whore, and so on, |
| 07:11 | | and he insulted me a lot in the name of Allah. |
| 07:14 | | And that’s when he also… —You’re still live right? —Yes, we were |
| 07:18 | | still live, and the subject turned to religion. Then this person |
| 07:22 | | kept insulting me, but it made me laugh at first. And then |
| 07:26 | | I stopped the live stream. That’s it. —Then you created a story? |
| 07:30 | | And in that story, the video you made where |
| 07:33 | | you use rude and insulting words. Why did you use those words? |
| 07:36 | | I would like to point out that before the story, |
| 07:39 | | after I stopped the live stream, I received a lot of insulting |
| 07:42 | | and very threatening messages. I had received |
| 07:45 | | messages from four or five people, but they were really aggressive people |
| 07:49 | | who harassed me terribly. They sent |
| 07:52 | | something like thirty or almost a hundred messages |
| 07:56 | | per person, and it really revolted me to see that. |
| 07:59 | | That’s when I decided to make this story. |
| 08:03 | | And you used some harsh words, insulting to a religion. —That’s right. |
| 08:08 | | Do you regret those words? —There are two things I regret about this story. |
| 08:12 | | First, that I said it on the social networks, because |
| 08:15 | | I didn’t realize how big it could get, and the other is that I said it in such a vulgar way, |
| 08:18 | | because I could have used better arguments… —You regret the vulgarity? |
| 08:21 | | I regret the vulgarity, that’s it. —Would you have said those words |
| 08:26 | | about another religion? —Of course. I could have said that |
| 08:29 | | about another religion but… —How long have you |
| 08:32 | | been an atheist? —I’ve always been an atheist. |
| 08:36 | | The law says a very simple thing: You have the right to insult |
| 08:40 | | a religion, but not citizens because of their religious affiliation, |
| 08:43 | | and you say in the video that you can’t be racist towards a religion. |
| 08:46 | | Is this something you’ve already thought about? —Yes, it is. —Specifically about that? |
| 08:50 | | Of course, I’ve always been able to differentiate between a religion and people. |
| 08:54 | | So people who are not able to make that difference are stupid. |
| 08:58 | | The video triggered a torrent of insults, calls for lynching, |
| 09:02 | | threats of rape and death. Hatred poured down on you. |
| 09:06 | | When did it start and how did you react? On that Saturday the 18th… |
| 09:10 | | It started from the moment I posted this video. |
| 09:14 | | It had already started before then, but from the moment I posted the video, |
| 09:17 | | it took off; it was republished by major accounts |
| 09:20 | | on social networks, and it was a difficult time. Of course. |
| 09:24 | | But there were more than 30 subscribers. —Ah yes, but no, I have thousands |
| 09:29 | | of subscribers but there weren’t very many views on my live stream. —What about the story? |
| 09:33 | | The story had a hundred thousand views. —That’s huge. |
| 09:38 | | That’s huge, yes, but especially on the social networks, it had several million views |
| 09:43 | | because it was reposted very quickly on other accounts. —And their hate messages, |
| 09:47 | | when did you see them and what do you feel when you saw them? —I saw them from the beginning. |
| 09:54 | | I mean from the beginning, as soon as I posted this video, |
| 09:59 | | and I felt really disgusted, and disgusted with these people. |
| 10:05 | | I wondered how people could have so much hatred, |
| 10:08 | | and how they could say such things. It’s really so bad. |
| 10:12 | | We’ll continue talking to you, Mila, when we return to Quotidien. |
| 10:21 | | |
| 10:29 | | Thank you for returning to Quotidien. |
| 10:34 | | Behind the Mila Affair and the social networking craziness there is Mila. She is 16 years old |
| 10:38 | | and with us at Quotidien. —You were investigated for incitement to racial hatred, |
| 10:42 | | which was dismissed, but there is another investigation open |
| 10:45 | | involving the people who harassed you. Are the police taking things seriously? |
| 10:48 | | The police are taking it very seriously. |
| 10:51 | | The investigations are ongoing and that’s it. |
| 10:55 | | What has your life been like since January 18th? —My life is clearly |
| 11:00 | | on pause. That means, my social life, my social networks, my schooling. |
| 11:05 | | You’re out of school, aren’t you? —Yes. |
| 11:11 | | Who decided to take you out of school? The police? The school? |
| 11:15 | | Myself, my parents, my school, we all made that |
| 11:19 | | decision together. —The reason? —Well, I’m not safe at my school. |
| 11:25 | | I mean, if I went back, I received threats from people |
| 11:30 | | at my school. I could be burned with acid. I could be beaten up. |
| 11:35 | | I was threatened with being stripped naked in public. |
| 11:39 | | I was threatened with being buried alive. It was extreme. |
| 11:42 | | Well, so I wasn’t safe. I was forced to drop out of school. |
| 11:45 | | And so you’ve been staying home since January 18th. |
| 11:49 | | That’s right, but I can’t say much more about that. |
| 11:52 | | For more than two weeks now the Mila affair has been talked about everywhere, morning, |
| 11:56 | | noon and night. How did you experience it? —Pardon? —Did you read or watch on TV |
| 12:01 | | everything that was said about the Mila case? |
| 12:04 | | Of course, I followed it very closely. I followed it very closely. |
| 12:08 | | Especially the politicians who gave their opinion, |
| 12:11 | | or others who have supported me and everything that has been said |
| 12:15 | | in the media. I’ve followed a lot of that. |
| 12:18 | | And I would like to thank all the people who support me. |
| 12:21 | | Have some of them have contacted you? —Who? |
| 12:24 | | Politicians? —Yes, there are certain politicians |
| 12:27 | | who have contacted me and the media as well. Enormously. |
| 12:30 | | Can I ask you which politicians, a female politician? |
| 12:33 | | I can’t really answer that question. —You wrote a song, |
| 12:36 | | can we listen to a sample of it? —You’ve written a song? |
| 12:39 | | Of course. “I’m frightened by million of eyes that observe me |
| 12:42 | | through the news and media. That’s not what I wanted, no, |
| 12:47 | | not in this context. I dreamed of shining on stage, |
| 12:51 | | I didn’t want this war; this story reminds me that |
| 12:54 | | a dream remains a dream. Even though they intimidate me, |
| 12:57 | | they can’t defeat me. Tell them they can try to win, |
| 13:01 | | they will not be able to take what I have in my head. |
| 13:05 | | The passion of my whole life ended in dust will nevertheless |
| 13:09 | | remain rooted in me. For a few absurd words they have |
| 13:13 | | destroyed my life and my dreams. So this broken voice |
| 13:19 | | sings one last time. Because of blasphemy I will never live |
| 13:25 | | like before. To be honest, I don’t even know if I’ll live much longer. Much longer. |
| 13:34 | | These insults and threats by the thousands. |
| 13:37 | | Don’t really reach me. —When did you write it? That song? |
| 13:41 | | I wrote it on January 24th. That’s right. I really wrote it |
| 13:47 | | on a whim and I recorded it quickly and I really wanted |
| 13:53 | | to express what I felt through music, because I was often told |
| 13:57 | | that I should stop singing or that I had to stop making music, |
| 14:02 | | but I thought to myself, no, because the best way to express myself |
| 14:06 | | is through my passion. It really makes me feel better. |
| 14:10 | | And that’s what you did. As mentioned previously, the hashtags, |
| 14:13 | | “I’m Mila” and “I’m not Mila” were trending. |
| 14:16 | | How do you respond to those who say they are not Mila and aren’t violent either? |
| 14:21 | | Those who are just hurt by what you said? |
| 14:24 | | Well, I have absolutely nothing against people who are not Mila |
| 14:28 | | and non-violent, because they have every right. |
| 14:32 | | And it is precisely these people who prove that it’s not necessary |
| 14:37 | | to respond in a way, as I said earlier, these people |
| 14:42 | | can be against me, without being violent and hateful. |
| 14:47 | | They can react in their own way, by arguing, it’s their right |
| 14:53 | | to say this has hurt them, but there it is, it proves… |
| 14:59 | | You hear what they’re saying. —It proves that they don’t have to say |
| 15:03 | | they’ll cut me into pieces, set me on fire or kill me. |
| 15:06 | | So, there are people who can react very well and that’s a good example. Let me repeat, |
| 15:13 | | these people have the right to be against me. —Wouldn’t you say that you’re too young |
| 15:16 | | to go through all this? —Well, even if… —What do you regret? —I find it hard to believe |
| 15:22 | | I’m in this situation and I would never have thought things could get this big, |
| 15:28 | | especially at my age, it’s still something. —Especially from a video that was made |
| 15:32 | | in your room on Saturday afternoon. —That’s right, I never thought |
| 15:36 | | it could get this big. —Are you going to continue |
| 15:40 | | to be present on social networks? —No, I’ve clearly stopped social networking, |
| 15:44 | | but there have been many fake accounts from people impersonating me. |
| 15:48 | | There are also fake fund-raising accounts for me as well. |
| 15:51 | | Fundraising? —Fundraising. That’s it. —So, they’re fake. |
| 15:54 | | If you land on the fake fundraising website, they’re fake. |
| 15:57 | | Right? —That’s right. Yes, there was a fake fundraising website that was really controversial. |
| 16:04 | | What’s the title? “To help me realise my dream, send me some money”? |
| 16:09 | | That’s someone who’s trying to hurt me |
| 16:14 | | and make money off me, and it’s fake and… |
| 16:17 | | How do you see what happens from here? From tonight or tomorrow, |
| 16:21 | | or if you’ll go to high school, back to school? —I really don’t know. |
| 16:25 | | No? Jean Michel Blanquer, the minister, says |
| 16:28 | | He wants to help you. —Yes, of course, and I know that |
| 16:32 | | the national education system is really doing its utmost to |
| 16:35 | | help me find a school where I’ll be safe, but it’s not easy to find that now, |
| 16:40 | | So I don’t know what the next step will be. |
| 16:44 | | Does that mean perhaps you’ll have to move? —I don’t know. |
| 16:48 | | Your parents, how did they experience this story? |
| 16:51 | | My parents, I won’t really speak for them on this subject, |
| 16:55 | | but all I can say is that they supported me enormously. |
| 16:59 | | Whether it was with the complaints or for my own good, |
| 17:04 | | for my well-being, they made me feel that, I always felt good. |
| 17:09 | | It’s not easy to be good in this situation, so I can’t really answer |
| 17:14 | | that question exactly. —This whole thing has |
| 17:18 | | turned your life upside down and I imagine it changed you. In what way? |
| 17:22 | | This incident has made me much more interested in the world |
| 17:26 | | around me because… —In the real world? —Yes, the real world. I’ve always been occupied with |
| 17:30 | | my social networks, my teenage concerns, and I’ve always lived a little bit in a bubble. |
| 17:34 | | Now, I’m a little more interested in politics. |
| 17:38 | | A little more interested in what’s going on in the media. I’ve learned a lot. |
| 17:42 | | Did you want to add something Mila, there’s still time. |
| 17:47 | | I want to make it clear, just to get back to the subject |
| 17:51 | | or the fact that I absolutely don’t regret what I said. It was really what I thought. |
| 17:55 | | You don’t regret using your right to blasphemy. —Yes, the right to blasphemy. |
| 17:59 | | I shouldn’t have to hide for that reason or stop living because of it. |
| 18:03 | | I would like to say that I apologize a bit to people I’ve hurt, |
| 18:09 | | those who practice their religion in peace, and I never |
| 18:15 | | wanted to target human beings. I simply wanted to blaspheme; |
| 18:18 | | I wanted to talk about a religion, to say |
| 18:21 | | what I thought of it, and that’s it. —Thank you, Mila. —Thank you.
|
