Dear French citizens, Commission and Senate,
Only today (04.02.2024) I was able to read the bill being tabled, supposedly aimed to strengthen the fight against "sectarian drifts", and as a European citizen I feel to be in a position of remarking the following.
Passing that law would be a mistake for France.
Even from a superficial reading, the articles of the law seem unconstitutional to both the constitution of the French Republic and the European one, but it is not only through the analytical and critical examination of the individual law articles that this law must be assessed. It must be evaluated on the basis of the history of power and this judgment is a political judgment and not a legal one.
The history of France, but also that of humanity, is a houseful of similar laws, sometimes less sophisticated, sometimes more brutal, mostly targeting religious minorities but not only, and they have always been bloody stories of death, pain, suffering. They still are. They are not expressions of good intentions, of a desire to create a better or safer society or even to protect vulnerable citizens, they are intentions of power, they are political choices. After reading the bill, close your eyes and think of what might happen.
It would also be a hard blow to the laicity of France that would risk to be associated with regimes born from a very different culture, and where similar, albeit harsher laws, exist: from China to Russia, Iran and many other countries not only in Asia Minor.
That same history – both in France and worldwide – reminds us that there is no faith or idea or discovery of any value unless it becomes a passionate intention.
Passing that law would be a mistake for France.
I invited you to close your eyes and think about what might happen. Now I ask you to open them. You, before being politicians, are French. You are a culture of freedom.
Very respectfully
Attorney Fabrizio d'Agostini
Member of F.O.B.’s Scientific Committee
