In the time of freedom of assembly and expression,most of the republican victor need constant arbitration between safeguarding these principles. All of those are important to preserve public order and democracy. It would be a mistake to ignore the need for balance. Especially at that time when France suffered a lot of tensions due to the increase of mounting tragedies in the Middle East. France is the country where the world’s largest Jewish and Muslim communities live. Also in France the number of anti-Semitic acts is increasing day by day.
Radical left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon has decided to focus on the situation in Gaza for the La France Insoumise (LFI) campaign in the European elections on June 9. This approach, which uses votes in working-class areas to encourage French voters to relate to the ongoing conflict in Palestine, which intensified after Hamas’s attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, is controversial but can be defended. Just like discussing the Israeli-Palestinian issue, this topic has the right to be part of public debates.
The decision to cancel conferences planned by the leader of La France Insoumise (LFI), for “security” reasons by university presidents in Bordeaux in October, and in Rennes and Lille in April, raises concerns. Similarly, the move by the prefect of France’s northern region to ban a meeting organized as an alternative in Lille on Thursday, April 18, in a private space, by Mélenchon and Rima Hassan, a French-Palestinian legal expert and a candidate on the LFI list for the European elections, is also troubling.
Decisions made by state officials should not appear to be swayed by political pressure or influenced by upcoming elections. If objections alone are enough to cause a ban, it gives critics too much power to block public gatherings, and bans should be rare, not common.
At Melenchon’s past rallies, no record of public safety was found. The head of the LFI party also spoke at Sciences Po Paris on Monday. There were no complexities but the environment of all of these talks was tense. However, the northern region prefect’s decision to ban an event seemed to be influenced by complaints from politicians. Decisions made by state officials should not appear to be swayed by political pressure or influenced by upcoming elections. If the reason for the ban is the objections then it raises the critics’ voice to block local gathering. However the ban should not be common.
Basic Public Freedome
If the ban is without any reasons then it only strengthens the Jean- Melenchon narrative. This situation also proves that he is the victim of the system and the voice of hidden truths that others want to silence. He uses this image to his advantage, especially now that he’s slipping in the polls and facing competition from his rivals. By making provocative statements like comparing the University of Lille’s president to a notorious Nazi criminal, Adolf Eichmann, he attracts attention. These kinds of dramatic acts shouldn’t be encouraged, as they distract from more meaningful discussions and give him the spotlight he craves.
Emmanuel Macron, reacting to a decision by the same prefect, stated that he wanted everyone, including Mélenchon, to be heard, even though he doesn’t share Mélenchon’s “vision of things.” As a liberal, Macron could avoid appearing to support a divisive political figure and risking further division among the left ahead of challenging European elections for his bloc. Instead, he should focus on being a defender of fundamental civil liberties. This is especially crucial given his government’s controversial dissolution of the environmental group Les Soulèvements de la Terre, which France’s highest administrative court has suspended, and the repeated attempts to ban pro-Palestinian demonstrations, which were also overturned this fall.