(This piece started as a comment to another diary.)
I need to hear strong voices from the Left to sustain me but there are none in the US. I can't imagine living with that silence and I'm lucky to have a connection with France.
I turn to people like Jean-Luc Mélenchon from the Parti de Gauche (Party of the Left) and Christiane Taubira, the Justice Minister of France. More than once, I've heard both deliver a recitation that goes like this:
Bigotry is not an idea. Racism is not an idea. They don't come from the intellect. We don't include them in the free exchange of ideas. They're not opinions, academic ideology, or party platforms. They're crimes, prosecutable under the law of 1972. |
Mélenchon is a labor Leftist, known for his trademark red scarf. Red is the color of the Left in France which might register with Americans who remember its association with communism.
Taubira wrote a book about explaining slavery to her daughter. She served in the legislature for a decade, and sponsored the marriage equality law as Justice Minister which passed despite intense opposition.
What are they talking about when they do the recitation? Some Americans have trouble absorbing it and it does take precision in thought and knowledge of its foundation to get it. It's worth the effort. It helps me understand why injustice endures in the US, how it is supported, and therefore, how it might be remedied.
Declaration of Rights - 1789
Article IV.
Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else; hence the exercise of the natural rights of each man has no limits except those which assure to the other members of the society the enjoyment of the same rights.
|
The Declaration, written at the time of the Revolution, includes this Article which makes equal rights for all more than a slogan. It's the law and it protects the rights of individuals facing the government, business enterprises, and other individuals.
That's the basis for the law passed in 1972, which is sometimes called a hate speech law, erroneously. It effectively bans organizations that advocate racial supremacy, and other forms of bigotry, and it prohibits individuals acting alone in the same way.
Some Americans object for the sake of a free exchange of ideas. But where is this free exchange and what do they mean by "ideas."
René Descartes (1596-1650), known for the quote, "I think, therefore I am," is an essential element of French identity. The quote loses in translation. For Descartes, thinking is a vigorous use of the intellect that includes logic, skepticism and doubt, and precise judgment. He opened a door and on the other side there was no longer any justification for the privileges of the aristocracy or the clergy. The Church and religion would no longer hold back progress. France became what it is today and to go back through the door would be a return to the Dark Ages.
When Americans worry about their free exchange of ideas, the French fondness for sarcasm and ironic humor makes me respond, "Ideas? What ideas? There has to be thinking first, to have ideas." (This kind of teasing, is something French people do, only if they like you.)
When bigotry is a crime, the free exchange of ideas isn't inhibited at all. What inhibits the free exchange of ideas is bigotry because bigots only accept what they approve and nothing else. The recitation says bigotry isn't an idea and that isn't rhetorical. Bigotry is a process and it derives from a set of illogical beliefs based on ignorance, not ideas.
Article IV of the Declaration establishes a guarantee of equal rights for all as a founding principle of the Republic. The legal/judicial system and the State, itself, exist to preserve the founding principles. An organization like the KKK which wouldn't accept equal rights for all isn't entitled to permissive laws that would undermine the founding principles. The question comes down to whether Americans, today, still value the high ideals present at the founding of their Republic, as well as in France.
Americans also object to the criminalization of bigotry and racism because they imagine it somehow used against them in tit-for-tat retaliation. One day, the shoe will be on the other foot, they warn. Here, I say once again, more thought is needed to fill the gaps in understanding. This isn't possible unless the accuser can prove the charge in court.
In France, the rightwing leader of the Front National, Marine Le Pen, was accused of bigotry and inciting hatred and violence against Muslims. Eventually, she tried to turn the tables on her political opposition. She accused Jean-Luc Mélenchon of inciting hatred after he called her a fascist during the 2012 elections.
The court reviewed evidence showing that Le Pen has used the term fascist, herself, from time to time, in reference to Islamists. She was obliged to explain what the term means to her and why she gives herself permission to use it, but considers it a criminal violation of the law when others use it (against her.)
There was an unforgettable moment when Mélenchon, who is known for his dry humor, defended the language he used when he called Le Pen a fascist. A valid political opinion isn't the same thing as a libelous insult:
“If I'd wanted to insult her, I could have said Nazi." |
The court dismissed the case with an opinion that said that Mélenchon’s comment was fair in political debate. Le Pen was left with the spectacle of headlines that said it was ok to call her a fascist, like this one, in the English language version of Radio France International.
http://www.english.rfi.fr/...
Civil discourse isn't inhibited in France. It's far more vibrant and outspoken than the eerie quiet of America. Justice Minister Taubira follows the law enforcement situation in Ferguson and New York. She tweets her incisive thoughts about it. In public speaking, she often recites poems or song lyrics to emphasize a point. Recently, she recited a couple of verses from Bob Marley's 'I Shot the Sheriff' in the middle of a speech about cops who practice bias in the US. There was a huge fuss about it but it only gave Taubira another chance to re-emphasize her point with the lyric:
"He said kill them before they grow."
Or, in her own words:
"Black men, lucky enough to still be alive at 18, know that prison is unavoidable. Ferguson 2014. George Jackson, Soledad Brother, 1964.
|
The rightwing contributes vile racist slurs against her and she declines to bring racism charges to court because of her position as Justice Minister but she's not going to shut up, either. It's in America that people hold back with the current legal system, as it is.
Here's a clip of Taubira, making a rhetorical point and shaming the rightwing during the debate about marriage equality by reciting the poetry of Léon Damas, who was elected to the Assemblée Nationale 60 years ago.
We, the wasted ones.
We, the lesser ones.
We, the dogs.
We, the nothing.
We, the starved.
We, the Blacks.
What are we waiting for?
What do we expect?
Playing fools,
Pissing away
Our lives.
Stupid and dumb,
Until they're done.
|
|
Here's a clip of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, reciting part of the recitation in an interview on BFMTV to explain why a rightwing splinter group needed to be banned after its members killed a leftist student activist in Paris in June 2013.
|