When the bigwigs of Nice medicine go off the rails
We will turn to these two local figures, Professors Laurent Castillo and Patrick Baqué, and place a particular focus on the latter. For what ? Because unlike Professor Castillo, who had rallied Eric Ciotti, when he was “only” president of the party The RepublicansProfessor Baqué joined him after his surprise joining the party National Rally of Marine Le Pen on June 11, 2024, dynamiting the “classic” right in the process. We cannot doubt that these high-ranking doctors acted in a responsible and knowledgeable manner.
We also translate that the sworn enemy of Christian Estrosi and the honorary dean of the Faculty of Medicine of Nice officially and openly endorse the ideas of the far-right party RN, masked metabolite of the FN, founded by another “dean”: Jean-Marie Le Pen, well-known far-right polemicist provocateur, regularly convicted of racism, anti-Semitism, incitement to hatred and racial violence, and apology for war crimes, and indicted for embezzlement of public funds and complicity in this offense (trial in November 2024). Front National was not only founded by JM Le Pen, but also by former Waffen-SS Pierre Bousquet and Léon Gaultier, neo-Nazi sympathizers and those nostalgic for French Algeria (OAS). And it’s not the young and lively Bardella who will make us forget the story…
Rallies that raise questions!
In short, faced with these rallies, we feel great discomfort. That a calculating and ambitious politician like Éric Ciotti maneuvers and battles to gain the spotlight and grab positions (minister of the interior, mayor of Nice) is one thing. It is quite another thing for medical professors, figures of a humanist and universalist science, to appear and become politically involved under a right-wing extremist banner.
An aside: we maintain this extreme right terminology, because in its decision of March 11, 2024, the Council of State judged that the political color chart (established for the senatorial elections of 2023), does not contain a manifest error. assessment: in other words, if he did not strictly judge this point, he recognized the historic far-right position of the RN. Eric Ciotti, Professor Castillo (because he remained a Ciotti supporter and did not resign) and Baqué (because he officially became one), are de facto active supporters of the RN corpus.
Naturally, this fact is passed over in silence in the profession of faith of the Ciotti-Baqué duo widely broadcast in the 1time constituency of Alpes-Maritimes. It is only a question of values of order and merit, of declinism, nationalism and sovereignism. But nothing about Europe and the ecological issue! Obsessions are also swept under the rug: silence on their central theme of immigration and the great replacement, a nauseating concept of the xenophobe Renaud Camus, and Ciotti only mentions the personalities often considered the most divisive on the left, Mélenchon and his Insoumis, or Poutou, and not Marine Tondelier, Manuel Bompard or Olivier Faure. While the populist and fascist far right is growing in France as in Europe, Ciotti does not see in the New Popular Frontwhom he never names, that “ an extreme left which today represents the first of the dangers which threaten us “. When he addresses the “ founding values of France », he says nothing about the tradition of welcome, asylum, openness and integration. When he mentions the “ methodical destruction of our heritage », what heritage is he talking about?
Let’s talk a little about this reactionary and ultraconservative right.
It is time to recall the historical values of the rightwhich are ultraliberalism, all-out warlike competition, facade ecology, not to say climate skepticism, permanent economic growth (and therefore extractivism) and submission to the dictates of big business, very relative feminism , traditionalist and electoralist Catholicism, the frenzied denial of social determinants… As if that were not enough, Éric Ciotti and his clique push the envelope a little further (because the right seems too far to the left), with the suppression of the law of the soil , there ” national preference » on employment and housing, the creation of a « French-style Guantanamo “, the threat of a ” big replacement » spooky, etc.
These rallies clearly go in the direction of reinforcing stigmatization, and underlying racism, of unbridling ideas of vat fundsculpably covering the “descents” of small ultra-right groups, the unworthy remarks of the polemicist Alain Finkielkraut (on the “ cash surplus of Gazan children who have no place in the world », on rape (“ rape, rape, rape. So ! I say to men: rape women”). Let us also cite the odious slip-ups of several RN candidates in the Legislative elections of June 2024: Julien Rancoule (Aude): “ Go make the soup, bitch » (addressed to two deputies), Gilles Bourdouleix (Maine-et-Loire): « Hitler may not have killed enough » (about Travelers), Christophe Bentz (Haute-Marne): “ Abortion is mass genocide », Frédéric Boccaletti (Var) sold books denying the existence of the Shoah in his bookstore, Françoise Billaud (Côtes-d’Armor) paid tribute to Marshal Pétain on Facebook, Grégory Renard (Morbihan) calls the Maghrebis ” bougnoules » on Twitter-X…
Let us return to Nice and Professors Castillo and Baqué: have they fully understood the public image they project to our fellow citizens, and the message they send to the vast community of caregivers? Have these educated and intelligent people understood that they are playing the role of ” useful idiots ” for the benefit of politicians without principles or morality?
Notably a politician named Ciotti, sometimes referred to as “ little Laval », from “Benito”, from… “traitor”. We also read in the columns of Le Monde (June 27, 2024) that “ under the label ”On the right, friends of Éric Ciotti” mingle with former Zemmourists, relatives of Marion Maréchal, CNews columnists, and even a spokesperson for Donald Trump in France… “Hello, doctor?
Doctors who have forgotten the meaning of their oath?
In the Nice-Matin edition of February 7, 2018, we could read that Professor Baqué was careful “ to avoid the pitfalls of politics ”, affirming that “ Medicine is neither right nor left, perhaps this is what distinguishes me from my predecessor [le professeur Benchimol qui fût un temps adjoint de Christian Estrosi]… “, or ” I think I have as good a relationship with Christian Estrosi as with Eric Ciotti. The university has this duty to disconnect from networks. Politics, religion, Freemasons have no place there. Freedom of thought is a treasure », « We are lucky to do this job. It’s a job of altruism, of affect, a very busy job. I think I have the same vision as my father…”, « Soft skills are as important as know-how ».
Let us recall in passing that Professor Baqué is not only a surgeonbut also head of department, university professor, honorary dean at the Faculty of Medicine of Nice, member of the National Academy of Surgery and corresponding member of the Academy of Medicine: a leading figure in the local and national medical and scientific world. These two personalities are therefore doctors who have sworn on the Hippocratic oath. What does this oath say? Excerpts:
- “My first concern will be to restore, preserve or promote health in all its elements, physical and mental, individual and social. »
- “I will respect all people, their autonomy and their will, without any discrimination based on their state or their beliefs. I will intervene to protect them if they are weakened, vulnerable or threatened in their integrity or dignity. »
- “I will give my care to the needy and to anyone who asks me for it.”
- ” I will not undertake anything that goes beyond my skills. » What should we think of political skills, since Professor Baqué can one day claim to be a substitute deputy?
- “May I be dishonored and despised if I fail to do so.” : need we say more?
Let us also cite the Geneva Declaration also entitled Doctor’s Oath, adopted by the general assembly of the World Medical Association in 1948, and appearing in the appendix to the code of medical ethics. What is she saying ? Excerpts:
- “I make a solemn commitment to dedicate my life to the service of humanity.”
- “I will not allow considerations of age, illness or infirmity, creed, ethnic origin, gender, nationality, political affiliation, race, sexual orientation, social status or any other factor to come between my duty and my patient.”
- “I will perpetuate the honor and noble traditions of the medical profession. »
- “I will not use my medical knowledge to violate human rights and civil liberties, even under duress. »
The Fall of Heroes
Professor Baqué, whose Goldorak was the childhood hero (in his own words), is no longer a hero of Nice. Unless he changes his mind (but the damage is done)?
We are left with these fundamental questions: how can these doctors, consecrated by so many prestigious titles, compromise themselves (dishonor themselves?) with a party with xenophobic undertones and make such a big leap with the founding principles of humanity of their noble profession? How can they forget to this extent the concept of global health, covering all aspects of human, animal and planetary health? How can a doctor not feel that he has an ecological soul, since ecology is precisely taking care of one’s living environment? How can he not be in solidarity with human miseries?
We are stunned.
