Once and for all, no, Voltaire never said: “ I don't agree with what you say, but I will fight for your right to say it. » But the existence of this apocryphal quote authorizes us to brandish it as a standard, and to be concerned about the unbearable climate which reigns regarding freedom of expression in our country.
It's very simple, every week, the news provides us with reasons to worry, as if article 11 of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (” The free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the most precious rights of man; every citizen can therefore speak, write, print freely, except to answer for the abuse of this freedom in the cases determined by law “) had become obsolete.
Transmania…and Mélenchon
The danger affects so-called left-wing ideas as well as those reputedly right-wing. Thus, these last few days have been marked by the decision of the advertising poster JCDecaux to remove the panels promoting the work co-written by Marguerite Stern and Dora Moutot, Transmania. A decision revealed by Marianneof which the Paris town hall is at the initiative: “ Transphobia is a crime. Hatred of others has no place in our city », Explains Anne Hidalgo’s deputy, Emmanuel Grégoire.
However, if the book Transmania clearly criticizes what he considers to be the “ drifts of transgender ideology» and in particular its consequences on minors, no one has so far been able to extract any call to violence or discrimination. We end up with the curious situation of a book which is at the top of the online sales rankings while being considered too discriminatory to be entitled to advertising in the streets of the capital.
Another context, same liberticidal attitudes: Jean-Luc Mélenchon and France Insoumise were twice prevented from giving a conference on the situation in Palestine, in the North. The first public meeting, planned at the University of Lille, was canceled by the faculty, judging that “ the conditions (were) no longer met to guarantee the serenity of the debates “. The presence on a promotional visual of a logo of the “Libre Palestine” association, showing a territory bringing together Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, was enough for elected officials such as Xavier Bertrand, president of the Hauts-de-France Regional Council. de-France, to demand the cancellation of a “ political meeting disguised as a conference with anti-Zionist overtones “.
Censors in shambles
More seriously, the Northern prefecture decided to ban the conference organized in replacement by LFI in a private room in Lille, citing “ risk of disturbing public order ” In ” a climate of increased geopolitical tensions “. Jean-Luc Mélenchon has certainly found, once again, the means of making himself difficult to defend, by drawing up ludicrous comparisons between the Collaboration and the cancellation of its meetings, the president of the University of Lille being associated with the Nazi criminal Adolf Eichmann.
But without going to these extremes, we must forcefully denounce the infernal mechanism which is poisoning the French public debate. From now on, every slightly asserted point of view is the subject of calls for censorship. Thugs threaten to show up at a conference to intimidate the organizers; beautiful outraged souls express their sensitive indignation after the publication of a press cartoon ; zealous activists are demanding inclusion on the Index (sorry: at Arcom) when media content does not meet their definition of acceptable.
All political families are concerned, even if some have a greater taste for censorship than others. We admit to having been upset when reading the testimonies of student unionists (Solidaires, FSE) protesting against the cancellation of the LFI conference on Palestine, in Liberation: victim of Anastasia scissors this week, the radical left is frequently at the forefront of gagging points of view contrary to its own – let’s think of blocking of the performance of Aeschylus' play at the Sorbonne, or the intervention of Alain Finkielkraut disrupted by clashes at Sciences Po.
Reason and freedom
The authorities are not to be outdone: in recent months, prefectural decrees have been issued as in Gravelotte, brandishing the vague notion of “ public order disturbances » to prevent holding pro-Palestinian demonstrationsecologists, or even an Action Française conference in May 2023. If administrative justice has sometimes restored freedom of expression, this deluge of bans, often greeted by thunderous applause in the ranks of the supposedly liberal majority, does not fail to worry.
It seems urgent to remind everyone to observe healthy democratic hygiene: we cannot prohibit what we displease, and antagonistic points of view have every legitimacy to be expressed in the arena of public debate, even if they unpleasant. Freedom of expression is not without limits in France, since incitement to discrimination, hatred or violence is punishable by law. Acting as a good republican means only seeking to limit public expression in cases of extreme necessity.
