The small gathering had been discussing secularism for about an hour in the reception room of the Autun town hall (Saône-et-Loire) when the moderator of the round table, Michel Lalande, suggested taking part in a game. He asked the audience to put themselves in the shoes of a prefect who had to decide on the naturalization application of a Muslim woman, whose husband insisted that she be interviewed exclusively by another woman. Who in this room checks the box “naturalization accepted?” asks Mr. Lalande, himself a former prefect. And who checks the box “naturalization refused”?
A murmur of amazement runs through the audience as the first hands are raised proudly to demand the expulsion of the fictitious veiled woman. “No, we don’t vote!” implores one of the participants. After this, what lessons will we learn about each other? But Mr. Lalande does not give up and takes responsibility, invoking cowardice and “forty years of a long drift”. “Choices are very simple. At some point, you have to take responsibility!” ton this member of the scientific council of the Laboratory of the Republic.
From Thursday 29 to Saturday 31 August, this think tank founded by Jean-Michel Blanquer held its first summer university in the town of Autun, on the edge of Morvan. The programme included workshops, conferences and a mini-book fair with the common thread: defending the values of the Republic and secularism. But secularism was only discussed when talking about Islam and Muslims, in the workshop devoted to the subject.
“Semantic victory”
A human resources director gives her advice on how to avoid having veiled women in a company by including it in the internal regulations that “the principle of neutrality prevails in a context of contact with customers”. “Now, in front of a judge, can you win? I admit that, for the moment, it remains to be seen,” she admits. The manager of a shopping center wonders how to terminate the commercial lease of one of his tenants who has started wearing the veil.
Anthropologist Florence Bergeaud-Blackler, who believes she has been the victim of an academic cabal since the release of her book Freemasonry and its networks, the investigation (Odile Jacob), declares that “Even if we tolerate a small colored hijab, little by little, there is a normative escalation which leads in any case to the Afghan case. It can only go there!” And while no Muslim leader was invited to speak on the subject, the conclusion of the workshop was provided by… an archbishop. In this case, Mgr Benoit Rivière, who came to the town hall with a Roman collar and a cross around his neck.
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