A great writer, humanist and tireless defender of freedom against political Islam, our friend Boualem Sansal finds himself today, since his arrival in Algiers, in the clutches of a violent, illiberal and cruel power. That Algeria, his native land, comes to muzzle a brilliant voice like his, is the tragic sign of the drift of part of the Muslim world towards fanaticism. An author whose pen, deep and courageous, has enlightened so many consciences cannot be reduced to silence without it calling out to each of us.
Boualem Sansal, beyond his immense talent – all his work bears witness to this – is a modest, simple and altruistic man. Those who were lucky enough to cross his path know that he is one of those rare minds whose wisdom equals intelligence, and whose convictions are nourished by an unalterable respect for others. He places this humanity at the heart of his writings, which uncompromisingly dissect the ills of societies locked in oppression and obscurantism. His work is a cry of resistance, an ode to the freedom to think, to believe or not to believe, a call to human dignity in its most universal sense.
These persecutions are a cruel reminder that writers are often the first targets of authoritarian regimes
But now an authoritarian power, a bitter enemy of freely expressed thought, has decided to lock him up. It is revenge against the one who dared to name the abuses, denounce the oppressions, tell what others prefer to hide, out of cowardice or out of adhesion. The man who described with tremendous acuity the societies caught under the yoke of political Islam is today himself a victim of what he has been fighting for years: blind repression, fear established as a system of governance, enslavement of free spirits.
freedom fighter
History shows that, like Algeria today, authoritarian regimes have sought to silence intellectuals. Throughout the centuries, dictatorships have always feared the power of words. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, by revealing the horrors of the Gulag, had to flee the Soviet Union; as for Federico García Lorca, he paid with his life for his refusal to submit to the Franco dictatorship. Boualem Sansal is part of this line of authors who, by fighting for freedom, defend much more than their work: they embody the strong voice of those we want to silence, the irreducible aspiration of humanity to live free.
But at what cost? These persecutions are a cruel reminder that writers are often the first targets of authoritarian regimes, because they expose the truths that those in power seek to obscure. By arresting Boualem Sansal, Algeria is not only repressing a man, but everything he represents: free thought, inflexible resistance, a light in the darkness. For several years, this country has been experiencing an illiberal and hostile turn towards the West, France and Europe must bang their fists on the table to stop the intimidation of Algiers and the maneuvers of those in power.
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There are times when silence is a betrayal
But the arrest of Boualem Sansal does not only concern Algeria, it concerns the whole world. It reminds us that fundamental freedoms can never be taken for granted, that they require constant vigilance and relentless combat. France, the country where Boualem Sansal found a second home, cannot remain a spectator of this injustice. She must stand with him, raise her voice, use all the influence she has to secure his release. Otherwise, it condemns itself to indignity, to the abandonment of its principles, to moral defeat in the face of what this author fights, also for us, with so much strength and courage: Islamism.
There are times when silence is a betrayal. Supporting Boualem Sansal is not only defending a writer – it is defending freedom itself, this fragile light that fanatics strive to extinguish. This means that thought, culture, truth cannot be imprisoned. And it is a reminder to those who want to silence them that, as long as there are voices like that of Boualem Sansal, their fight is in vain.
Free Boualem Sansal. Because by locking him up, Algeria is gagging an innocent person, and with him, all our values.
France
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