“Disarm the Bolloré empire”: When booksellers censor books

« Let’s boycott Bolloré! » This is the call launched by a group of 80 booksellers, in a column published by the far-left site Counter Attack. Very worried about the recent takeover of Hachette by the Breton billionaire's group, these traders are sounding the alarm. “ The power of the Bolloré group is sprawlingthey write. Its principle is to distill racism, sexism and nationalist withdrawal, to bring daily fear of what is not white enough, rich enough, heterosexual enough, cisgender enough. All this is planned and organized. » And the signatories are indignant at the “ tipping » from the Fayard house, which “ black a fanfare » the book by Jordan Bardella, while the publishing world has until now refused to produce works « of a party founded by former Nazis and still promoting the fascistization of society “. Yes, my good lady, the cordon santé is really not what it used to be.

In order to combat this “ enterprise of hegemonic conquest of our imaginations », an action campaign entitled “ Disarm the Bolloré empire » was born, in July 2024, at the call of environmentalist, decolonial, trade union, feminist and anti-fascist collectives. What beautiful people, really. It is in this militant framework that the forum of 80 booksellers fits. “ More than Bardella's book, it is the entire Bolloré system that we must be able to understand and bring down », they call.

An assumed censorship

To achieve their goals, the courageous booksellers promise to use “ all means necessary “. Including physical violence? The collective does not say it. On the other hand, the boycott is fully accepted. This is the hypocrisy of the maneuver: it would be, for these booksellers, “ saving pluralism in publishing »… by censoring books that displease them! Look for the error. Not content with welcoming the ban on the poster campaign for Jordan Bardella's book in train and metro stations, the forum calls for going even further. She invites traders to withdraw from the sale “ all or part of the books » which they consider politically incorrect and to oppose the “ reactionary forces » by organizing “ days without Bolloré, or even boycotting it ».

The authors themselves are asked to leave the structures owned by the Bolloré group. “ Of course, this is not to say that all the authors who publish with Hachette are far-right. […] Nevertheless, the context requires us to see this obvious fact: these books finance and arm, often despite themselves, an enterprise which aims to destroy us. » Those who continued to work with the Hachette group despite everything would become “ the little hands involved in concealment and logistics » from the far right. Basically, fascists by association.

Calling yourself anti-fascist…

It is interesting to note that these booksellers, who present themselves as the defenders of Good and Just, have decided to publish their column on the site Counter Attack. This site is none other than the reincarnation of the media Nantes revolted which the authorities had proposed to dissolve in 2022… Well, well. Then Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin had in fact accused the far-left collective of being at the origin of violence that occurred during a so-called “anti-fascist” demonstration, on January 21, 2022. In the democratic and respectful genre of the sacrosanct “rule of law”, we can do better.

But that, too, is the extreme left: the complete inversion of terms and values. It means defending pluralism by censoring dissenting voices, availing oneself of the rule of law by promoting illegal boycotts, calling oneself anti-fascist when one does not hesitate to use brutality to impose one's ideas.

Orwell, come back, they've gone crazy!