Under this nice feminine firstname, Edwige, lies a brutal and ugly political reality : a police database of a scope and nature unseen since Petain's regime.
Using
the drowsiness of summer, without any public debate nor legislative
discussion, the French government is adopting the use of a police
database aiming at a retrieving information on all kinds of activists
involved in politics, unions, NGOs, religious groups, … since the age
of 13 (!) and without any limitations in the range of information
collected, nor any time limit in keeping the datas.
This
is what is happening next to the celebration of the French Revolution,
in Sarkozy's France. Even the infamous Patriot Act in the USA does not
go that far!
Behind the bling-bling
operations like the Union pour la Méditerranée, doomed to fail since
its inception because of its lack of consistency, and the outrageous
'défilé de dictateurs' for the 14th of July on the
Champs Elysées, the European citizens must be aware that the current
chairman of the EU is a great son of Petain, rather than a heir of
General De Gaulle.
Submission to the
powerful, merciless for the weakest, fascination for money and pomp,
obsession for police control and summary justice,…. here are the key
features of the current president of the EU, Nicolas Sarkozy, as the
French painfully discovered in the last 14 months, explaining why no
more than 20% of them now find anything positive in his tenure of power.
With
Edwige, the French authorities go one step further down the road of a
Petain-style French state (‘l'Etat français’ as it was called by these arch-enemies of the Republic, of its laicity, of its pretention to tame
the powerful and give the voice to the people). With Edwige, French
police forces, which have not asked for such a tool, are pushed towards
becoming closer to the vile 'Milice' which was focused on arresting
freedom fighters rather than criminals.
Let’s
think one minute of what can be the use of collecting and keeping data
on citizens whose main characteristics is to be active in society,
within NGOs, unions, political parties, since the age of 13. Preventing
terrorist attacks? Preventing criminal acts? Very unlikely as anywhere
in the democratic world, citizens who are very active in their
communities tend to be the best defence for any antisocial behaviours.
So,
let's search in another direction, and the fact of starting the data
collection from 13 years old gives us a terrible clue: Sarkozy's
government wants to file all potential social and political activists
since their very first years. Not to protect them or to help them of
course. But to be able to influence them when possible, to press them
if needed and to threaten them when required.
No doubt that in the Place de la Condorde's tribune on the 14th
of July, Nicolas Sarkozy got some good advices on how to manage such a
database from his dictators friends. Assad, Mubarak or Ben Ali for
instance do know very well how to control activists, jail and torture
opponents.
If it was a shame for
France to get this bunch of dictators for the anniversary of the
Revolution, it is now undoubtedly a danger for the French people and
French democracy to have Edwige coming into force in coming weeks. And
it is a direct threat for all European citizens and democracy as a
whole in the EU to have a national politician with such projects at the
head of the EU.
On this continent,
democracy will only survive and prosper if we fight for it at the
European level, otherwise, our small national democracies, already
weakened by the EU increasing powers, will end up being infected one
after the other by the antidemocratic forces awakening in one or the
other country.
Sarkozy is not alone. Have
a look at his friend Berlusconi who now plans to collect data on all
Italian citizens … in order to avoid that doing so only for the Roms
will make it illegal in a European context. You get the process : use
the opportunity of some popular emotions, propose a freedom-killing
proposal, then extend it if any opposition surges and try to pass it
through the EU channels to make it a trans-European law (like the
recent 18 months detention for illegal immigrants).Then contamination
ensues throughout the EU.
We must stop
these trends with all our forces if we want to ensure that Europe and
Democracy will be compatible in the future. And a crucial method in
order to do so is to do it on the European level, preventing our
national leaders to concoct on a national level their antidemocratic
viruses before they inject them into the EU system. The most important
political playing field of the coming years is the European one. This
is where our democratic future will be shaped, for the best or for the
worst.
Regarding Edwige, a group of
French associations has recently launched a petition to oppose Edwige.
I just signed it as president of Newropeans, with the authorisation of
the Newropeans Board of Directors.
And
with Newropeans we believe that citizens, associations, unions,
religious groups, and political parties from all over the European
Union should also sign this petition, in order to show that we all feel
like a 13 year-old potential social or political activist!
Don't
forget that this is about our children and their future ability to act
freely within tomorrow's Europe. Time to act is therefore now! Let's sign the anti-Edwige petition from all over the EU!
Franck Biancheri
Président de Newropeans
Funny how all of these State rulers just happen to be
pushing for police states in their respective countries at the same
time… Under the control of the EU.
Hattip Newropeans Magazine
