freedom of conscience

The burqa issue: the silence of Miviludes and antisect activists

By Regis Dericquebourg for Human Rights Without Frontiers

HRWF (26.01.2009) / Website: www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net:

Benoît Hamon, a member of the French National Assembly, has “regretted that in the debate on the burqa in the Republic there is no discussion about the movements backing this sort of radical religious activism, namely the salafist movements” (Figaro Flash, 24 January 2010). He added that “If the government wants to be consistent, it must put the salafists on the list of sects and sectarian movements.”

A not very commendable blacklist of sects

The list of allegedly harmful sects put in place by the parliamentary inquiry commission led by Mr Vivien (he says he is a freemason) is to be disapproved. The use of this list was discouraged by then Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin but it was not criminalized. As no sanction has been foreseen, journalists still use it and it is also utilized in the administrations. It remains an instrument of social discrimination and moral harassment against members of the blacklisted movements. It should not be forgotten that the nazi regime had also established a list of sects: Jehovah’s Witnesses, then known as Bibelforscher, and Evangelical movements were mentioned on it.

The French blacklist of sects is full of surprises. You can find small philosophical and yoga groups, classical Christian movements well-known in the US and UK, atypical movements such as the Church of Scientology, Buddhist and Hindu groups but… no Islamist sect, even those having perpetrated attempts in France and having weapons. The Lubavitch movement is also omitted. Although they are not dangerous, their lifestyle is similar to their Christian counterpart. Tabitha’s Place or the Twelve Tribes is mentioned and was raided by the police.

The doubtful methods of antisect activists

The burqa can be considered a sectarian deviation and a breach of public order. Though, MIVILUDES and other antisect actors, whether of Catholic or humanist persuasion, keep silent on this issue. A number of philosophers and psychoanalysts who are always ready to fight the so-called sectarian alienation of Christian, Buddhist, Hindu and esoteric groups keep silent on the burqa issue and about Islamist sects.

The antisect fight in France can be characterized by its cowardice. Antisect activists know it is safer to attack peaceful groups and when they defend themselves by lodging a complaint, the attacks become rarer and more underground: pressure is exerted on employers of members of such groups or tax administration controls suddenly take place. This was experienced a few years ago by the movement IVI (Invitation à la Vie). After being threatened by “Father” Trouslard, the medical doctors of IVI were attacked by the Council of the Doctors’ Association. This is just an example of underground harassment.

Another example of cowardice of the antisect activists is to be found in the attacks against Arnaud Mussy. This man is a numerologist who had created a group of friends sharing the same beliefs. He was accused of being the leader of a sect and he was made responsible for the suicide attempt of a member of his group. Weak and isolated, he was easy prey for the antisect activists who prosecuted him on the basis of the law on mental subjugation, the revisited Plaggio law adopted under Mussolini). He was finally sentenced on this ground. The objective was to have the law on mental manipulation implemented in order to create some jurisprudence and to target someone who did not have the possibility to use the available legal remedies at the domestic level and at the European Court on Human Rights in Strasbourg as this jurisdiction might have invalidated the French court decision.

Researchers on the sect issue are also victims of such attacks. It is easy for the antisect actors to accuse them of affiliation to a minority religious movement and to exert pressure on their superiors. They are accused of belonging to a sect and they cannot rely on networks of influential personalities to defend them.

Last but not least, a few questions need to be addressed: What do the antisect activists do with the subsidies they receive from public institutions? How are they used? Where is the sense of civic responsibility of those who request public money while the deficit of the state is vertiginous?

Régis Dericquebourg