By Thomas Cytrynowicz What does it mean to be French? What values do French people uphold?
Is being French about being part of a people who value democracy over all odds, fight for its freedom against political evil and disruptive forces? Our ancestors – some of them - did die in order to bring monarchy down. Our great grand-parents did fight against the Nazi invaders as an organised “resistance”, though it was a minor part of the population. Is being French then about being part of a population who is currently facing its own demon; a people torn apart by a rampant extremism, both political and religious; thus endangering what we strongly claim to be our values? But what values are those, when a xenophobic far right party casts in some cases more votes than a so-called republican party? What values, when racism is again on the rise, targeting Jews, Muslims, refugees? Our political consciousness is in a miserable state, and we behold, quite wearily, the elite’s despicable little struggles for power. The “elite”: a political class which, for its majority, left or right, emerged from the same schools, trying to deal with problems the same way. A political class which lost the support of more or less half its electorate – abstention numbers from the recent elections. French are no longer represented by the people in power, yet they fight, tooth and nail, to keep their seats at the National Assembly, at the European Parliament (even those against the idea of a European Union), the different municipal councils,… Did the left wing bring a wave of change as what could be hoped from Hollande before he won the 2012 presidential election? Same people, same struggles, same affairs. The population is tired, has lost faith. Yet, among all this, there seems to be an event that once again brought the French together as a unified nation, beyond traditional cleavages, ideologies, social classes. Being in Taiwan, I can only observe from afar, powerless and sincerely worried. November 13th. We will remember this day as the most terrible terrorist attack in the heart of Paris. Daesh linked perpetrators sowed death, destruction, and fear in the streets of the capital and beyond. Such events pushed the government to take action, and here we are. A state of emergency was declared less than 24 hours after the attacks, then extended to the constitutional maximum of 3 months. This decision, supported by an overwhelming majority – 91% in favour! – has brought back to Hollande some popular satisfaction. The state of emergency grants the executive and specifically the police force more power to investigate and to ‘protect’ the nation. As such, active searches within individuals’ homes can now happen at any time of day or night, and without the upstream approval of the judicial branch, which is required in any other situation. Slippery slope, here we come. I may have been in favour of such measures following the attacks and for the next few days, in order to ensure the efficiency of the investigation and to protect the people against potentially remaining terrorists in the territory. But extending such extraordinary measures becomes a form of securitarianism, at the expense of our liberties. Reports have begun to emerge of police bursting into restaurants and private homes on the call of “potential threats”, yet sometimes they have been wrongfully informed. Doors are broken for no reason – “sorry we were wrong”- a child injured, wrong people put under house arrest for over a month, their apartments stormed. On the contrary, positive outcomes have been hard to gather. What a zealous police force we have when dealing with Muslims. Fostering a climate of fear is counterproductive. Alienating part of the population because of a common religion is counterproductive. It seems, however, that administrative errors like these, from which emerge fears of being wrongfully arrested, are becoming acceptable in today’s France. And it does not stop here. The ministers’ council is about to discuss a potential revision of the constitution in order to establish a new, lasting state of emergency. What lies ahead could truly become a modern version of the famous monarchic “lettres de cachet”, and yet an even stronger surveillance state. As long as this situation targets terrorists and legitimate criminals, we shall not fear. But what if, under the umbrella of the state of emergency and the powers its provides, anyone considered a disturbance to the government – environmental activists, philosophers, political opponents, journalists doing too good of a job, you, me? - Is easily ‘taken care of’ and labelled as an imminent threat? Enemies of the Republic beware, your apartment may be stormed anytime, and your freedom put at risk for the sake of security. Perhaps tomorrow. Or the day after tomorrow. Or who knows when. To date, only Egypt is under a quasi-permanent state of emergency and the abuses are numerous (check here for more information). The state of emergency might be sticking around longer than we could have hoped for. Civil liberties, goodbye? a
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Authors
The Taida Student Journal has been active since 1995 with an ever-changing roster of student journalists at NTU. Click the above link to read about the authors Archives
May 2024
|