Struggle with freedom in France

http://m.france24.com/en/20150427-france-reporters-without-borders-freedom-expression-petition-flops

In the wake of the deadly attack on Charlie Hebdo’s offices in Paris on Jan. 7, Reporters Without Borders called on France’s religious leaders to sign a “Declaration on Freedom of Expression”. Three months later, it looks like the petition is a flop.

The campaign was first announced by Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) Secretary-General Christophe Deloire at a unity march held in Paris on January 11 in response to the massacre at the satirical weekly, as well as a deadly attack on a kosher grocery store in the east of the French capital.

The petition – which states that “everyone is free to express criticism, even irreverent criticism, of any system of political, philosophical or religious thought” – was officially launched in early February with the help of Jean-Louis Bianco, president of the Observatory of Secularism, a government organisation that focuses on protecting secularism in France.

The hope was to garner the signatures of as many religious leaders in France as possible ahead of World Press Freedom Day on May 3. But with just days to go before the symbolic deadline, only 30 people have signed the petition so far.

Among the first to back RSF’s “Declaration on Freedom of Expression” were Dalil Boubakeur, rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, François Clavairoly, president of France’s Protestant Federation and Marie-Stella Boussemart, president of France’s Buddhist Union. The president of the Bishops’ Conference of France and archbishop of Marseille, Georges Pontier, however, sent a letter discouraging other members of the Catholic Church from signing the document.

The petition’s 27 other signatories include 10 Muslim, eight Protestant, six Jewish and two Catholic leaders (who defied Church hierarchy in doing so), as well as a prison/hospital chaplain.

The number is disappointing, especially considering that Deloire estimated in February that there are around 10,000 religious leaders in France.

“It’s true that it’s been complicated to get signatures,” Deloire told FRANCE 24. “But it also proves that it’s a real issue. The distinction between attacks targeting people and criticism of belief systems is apparently not clear to everyone.”

‘The situation remains relatively unchanged’

Despite underwhelming support for the petition, Deloire still believes that it can serve as a “clear reference as to what is admissible regarding freedom of expression” in France, pointing out that the document has stirred much debate over the issue nationwide.

“We got some signatures that were not at all a given in the beginning. We had to fight to obtain them, and there were a lot of articles discussing it, especially in [Roman Catholic daily] La Croix,” he said. “It’s a tool that we’re going to continue to use.”

But as World Press Freedom Day fast approaches, the “Declaration on Freedom of Expression” appears to have been all but forgotten. Even though RSF is organising a “freedom concert” at the historic Place de la République in Paris on May 3 to mark the day, the organisation made no mention of the petition on its Facebook page advertising the event.

“We feel that deep down there is a huge inertia,” Deloire said. “The situation has remained relatively unchanged since the end of January. We realised that there were still a number of regrettable obstacles.”

One such obstacle was the letter Pontier sent on February 3 discouraging other members of the Catholic Church from supporting the petition.

“This [petition] appears to suspect religions of lukewarm support, if not opposition, to freedom of expression,” Pontier said in an interview with La Croix explaining his position on the issue.

Pontier added that while the Catholic Church supports freedom of expression, he decided against signing the document after much personal reflection and discussion with other leaders within the religion.

Deloire said that his repeated attempts to meet with Pointier about the issue were unsuccessful.

“I asked to schedule a meeting with the president of the Bishops’ Conference on several occasions, but I didn’t achieve anything, despite the fact that he agrees in principle,” Deloire said.

“We have to pursue this issue,” he added. “A good number of religious leaders understand that there is no freedom of thought without freedom of expression.”

French Lawmakers Want Search Engines to Give Up Search Codes

Members of the French Senate voted to require search engines to hand over access to search algorithms to ensure equal treatment between them.  Noncompliance to this would mean handing over 10% of the company profits to the country.  This is clearly aimed at Google, who corners 90% of the search market in France.


Source:  http://money.cnn.com/2015/04/20/technology/google-france/

German Ambassador Worried France is Losing the German Language

Suzanne Wasum-Rainer, the German Ambassador to France, met with Education Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem on Monday night with concern for the number of students learning German.  New educations reforms in the country may include measures to have students start to learn their second language at age 12, which is a year earlier than they do currently.  This is worrisome to the German Ambassador because, "extra time spent on a new language could mean that cuts are made elsewhere, which would likely mean a removal of "bilingual" or "international" classes."  As most students opt to take English as their second language, followed by Spanish, the ambassador is worried that German will be forgotten. 

Source:  http://www.thelocal.fr/20150422/germans-concerned-about-lack-of-german-taught-in-france

French Police stop attempted "Church Attack"

The French police have arrested a man suspected of planning an attach on one or more churches.  The man is also suspected of murdering a woman near Paris.  They discovered his alleged plans upon responding to an emergency call, which he made after accidentally shot himself on Sunday.  They found several weapons, bulletproof vests, and computer/telephone hardware in his car and home.  The police had made a few security checks on the man in the past few years but found nothing unusual.

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32409253

France Plans To Spend Hundreds of Millions Fighting Racism and Anti-Semitism

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has announced that the country will be spending $108 million over the next three years on programs and policies combatting racism and anti-Semitism. Programs include a nationwide awareness campaign, an increased monitoring of online hate speech, and harsher punishments for hate crimes.  This is in response to the recent Islamic extremist attacks on Jews and the more recent and escalating Islamophobia in the country, despite it having the highest population of Muslims in Europe.


Source:  http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/18/world/europe/france-announces-stronger-fight-against-racism-and-anti-semitism.html?_r=1

Holocaust descendants file US lawsuit against French rail

Holocaust decendents file US lawsuit against French rail

"Descendants of Holocaust victims this week filed a class-action US lawsuit against French state railway company the SNCF, accusing it of seizing property owned by tens of thousands of Jews, and others, sent to Nazi concentration camps."

France Battles Anorexia

With the placement of a new law , models who are extremely thin are banned from participating in French fashion ads, photo shoots and shows. This new law states that models who are thin must receive a medical document proving their BMI and it must be healthy according to their physician. The law also affects fashion agents and agencies. If any agencies fire or discriminate against models for their weight will be fined and jail time is a possibility. This law is being carried out with other countries like Italy and Spain to tackle the very serious and dangerous problems of anorexia. There is an estimated total of 30,000-40,000 people who suffer from anorexia in France, most of them being teenagers. This law hopes to help radically reduce those numbers. 

Supermarket Hostages Sue the French Media

On January 9, 2015, 6 people hid in a Kosher Supermarket when a gunman went on a shooting spree.These 6 people who fortunately made it out alive are suing the French media for live broadcasting information about them during the time of the shooting. French news stations live broadcast revealed the whereabouts of the people while they were still in hiding. They believe that if the gunman would have had access to live television, he would have been able to find them and kill them. BFMTV information director Hervé Béroud admitted that revealing the whereabouts of the hostages was an error and a huge mistake. The debate is now on who to blame. Is it the fault of the entire media station, the editing department or the journalist himself? Whoever gets the blame, they could face up to 1 year in prison and pay a fine of 15,000 euros ($16,500). 

Legal Struggle of Veil Bans

As a result of the recent overturning of the ban of headscarves in Germany, a spotlight is being cast on the many debates on headscarf bans throughout Europe.  Although Sikhs have the right to wear turbans and Christians can don crucifixes in school and work, the right for Muslim women to wear veils continues to be contested.  This is perhaps due to the belief that it is an attack on the national identity in European countries.  In 2004, France prohibited both students and teachers from wearing veils in state schools.  In 2010, the French government prohibited full veils in public spaces.  This is despite having the largest Muslim population in Europe.  With the recent terrorist attacks in France, Islamophobia is at an all-time high, and it seems as if these laws will not be changing any time soon as a result.

President of French Muslim Council Says Number of Mosques Should Be Doubled

French Muslim council leader Dalil Boubakeur said on Saturday that the country needs to double its number of Mosques. There are currently 2,200 Mosques in France, which Boubakeur believes is not enough considering the large Muslim community in the country.  He did not, however say where the funds would come from in order to begin building; the country's secularism laws prohibit the government from funding the building of places of worship.  Many Christian leaders in France have spoken up about the matter as well.  Most agree that Muslims should be able to practice their religion just as Christians do.

The French Debate on Muslim Veils

Can there be a balance between "French secularism and religious tolerance"? This balance is what the French government is now trying to find. Reports show that professors of French universities have been "singling" out women for wearing hijabs.

The issue first arose when a Professor of Paris XIII university made a comment saying he did not support "religious symbols in public places" and he was demoted for his harsh comments to the student. There was also another incident at Sarbone University where a professor referred to a student's hijab as "that thing".

This nonacceptance of hijabs came after several terrorist attacks by Muslim immigrants. After these attacks people began to question if it was possible to be a "French Muslim". The president of Sarbone University , who did apologize for the harsh comments from the professor at his institution thinks there should be a "secular teaching of religion" and that France's official secularism ( laïcité) "does not mean forgetting religion , or indeed being in conflict with religion".

There is great debate that "there is no Muslim Community" in France because their lives are very different making it hard for them to be integrated into society.

France Tries to Tackle Muslim Radicalisation

Radicalization is the process by which a group develops extreme political, social or religious ideas that reject the status quo. In France, there seems to be extreme Muslim Radicalization. France is trying new reforms to better integrate Muslims into French society. Since the Hedbo attacks, Muslims have been outcast and that leaves the door open for possible radicalization. The focus of these reforms will be to focus on the training of Muslim preachers in an attempt to "encourage the emergence of a generation of imams fully engaged in the Republic" .

Approximately 60% of prisoners in French prisons are Muslim . The government is aware that this is a very sensitive area and that it will not be easy to fix these problems. It will be a difficult task since the government must keep church and state separate but they are trying new ways to constantly bring peace.

Rise in Islamaphobic Acts

Ever since the attack on Charlie Hedbo, there has been a rise in Islamaphobic Acts in France. Recently a 69 year old man was sentenced to three years in prison for throwing plaster grenades and firing a rifle at a mosque in Le Mans , France. The man admitted that he did it out of anger but also said that he did not expect anyone to be in the Mosque at the time of his attack. He states that he thinks the Charlie Hedbo attack , was a "barrier to the independence of the press in our country".

In January of 2015 , 176 Islamaphobic acts have been recorded and reported. That is more than the number of attacks that happened in all of 2014. Followers of the Islam faith and members of that mosque forgive the man for his acts . Mohamed Lamaachi, the imam of the Mosque said "If he comes to the mosque, he will be greeted with tea and coucous".

French Army Recruits Gamers for Cyber Warfare

France is taking advantage of their gamers and video game enthusists. The French army recently put up a video recruiting those who love video games to consider a career in the French army. This video was released after France's Defense Minster Jean-Yves Le Drian announced that the French army is creating a "fourth service" that will focus on cyber warfare. France plans to spend a billion euros on this between now and 2017. This video clearly lets the world know that France is ready to engage their enemies with weapons of the digital age. “This video says clearly that we have developed offensive weapons for the digital age and that they are ready to be used,” he said. “The enemy has been warned.”

France Strives to Battle Terrorism

France justice minister Christiane Taubira and a "Counter-Terrorism" Committee plan to tackle terrorism by targeting poverty and injustice. She states "Terrorism is not elsewhere it’s everywhere". This has become a concern in France because of the recent terrorist attacks that occurred. 

"... we need to concentrate on education and health. Reducing misery and inequality [...] will enable us to combat terrorism, because if we’re able to ensure that hope comes back, that people see that there’s a tomorrow, that they can get justice, then we will be able to dissipate this terrorism", says Taubira. 

The U.S. has been working with France to come up with a plan to battle terrorism and France may begin to follow the same system as post 9/11 but they fear they will violate  civil liberties and the rights of citizens.

“The challenge is to show that we can counter these new dangers without losing the soul of our principles, without losing the very foundations which serve as the legitimacy of public order.”-Christiane Taubira 

French Author Provokes Islamophobia

French author Michel Hourllebecq recently released a controversial new novel named "Submission" which presents the story of a futuristic France with a Muslim President. In 2001, the author said that Islam is the "stupidest of all religions".  His new book, which was recently published , received negative press for inciting Islamophobia and France has Europe's biggest Muslim population.

The story is set in France in the year 2022. and there is a Muslim political party that is expected to win the presidential election. The ideas are radical including women leaving the workplace to allow major improvements in the unemployment problem in France. Hourllebecq realizes that the ideas of his novel are unrealistic but he believes that Muslims are underrepresented in the French political system. Are his thoughts of a Muslim run France more realistic than he thinks? What do you think? 

French Soldiers Protecting Jewish Community Center Attacked

 While patrolling outside of a Jewish community center in Nice this afternoon, three soldiers were attacked by a man wielding a knife.  The assailant was caught and brought into custody, and one possible accomplice was also brought in for questioning.

After the terrorist attack in Paris last month, which resulted in 17 deaths, 10,500 French soldiers have been deployed outside of sensitive areas such as Jewish and Muslim centers and places of worship, as well as high traffic areas.

 The mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, identified today's attacker as Moussa Coulibaly, who appears not to have any relation to Amedy Coulibaly, the gunman responsible for the the act of terror in Paris.  No judicial action has been taken regarding today's incident.


Sources:  Soldiers protecting French Jewish center knifed
               French soldiers wounded in Nice Jewish centre attack