The sanction has therefore fallen.
Matignon confirms this Tuesday, October 20 evening the changes to come at the head of the Observatory of secularism, an advisory body responsible
"to assist the government in its action aimed at respecting the principle of secularism in France".
This press release follows an article in Le Point published the day before, revealing the upcoming dismissal of Nicolas Cadène, general rapporteur of the Observatory of secularism
.
To read also: Guillaume Tabard: "Against separatism or for secularism?"
"It is not simply a question of people",
specifies Matignon then.
"(...)
The will of the Prime Minister is to renew a body
so that it is more in phase with the strategy of fight against separatism"
, continues Matignon.
Prime Minister Jean Castex will receive
"Jean-Louis Bianco in the next few days to inform him of the government's decision"
.
This is not the first time that the leadership of this advisory body has been directly targeted.
In recent years, in fact, the Secularism Observatory has continued to be the target of criticism, on the right and on the left of the political spectrum.
Open conception of secularism
But the controversies aroused by his opinions above all reflected the real cleavage of the French political left around the notion of secularism.
Faced with a republican and secular left, partisan of an intransigent vision of secularism, wishing to impose neutrality in the public space in the broad sense, the Observatory of secularism has always defended a more open conception.
To defend this vision, its representatives say they rely solely on the law and in particular the law of 1905:
"the whole law, nothing but the law"
, they like to repeat.
Positions, however, considered lax, in particular on sensitive subjects linked to the question of Islam in France, against a background of the rise of Islamism and the proliferation of Islamist attacks on the territory.
To read also: HCE, CNDP, Observatory of secularism ...: "Let's stop subsidizing all these '' things '' giving lessons"
Regularly, this commission attached to Matignon also denounces an
“instrumentalization of secularism”
which would only serve to fuel division and discrimination, in particular against Muslims.
As soon as he was appointed president of the Observatory in 2013, the socialist Jean-Louis Bianco thus expressed his concern about
"the obvious rise of Islamophobia in our country".
Jean-Louis Bianco and his colleague Nicolas Cadène, general rapporteur of the Observatory, are then accused of defending, by hiding behind their solid legal skills, an Anglo-Saxon conception of the regulation of religions, thus promoting communitarianism.
January 2016: the Valls-Bianco controversy, successive resignations from the Observatory
A lively controversy broke out in January 2016 between Jean-Louis Bianco and Prime Minister Manuel Valls, a supporter of an “uncompromising” vision of secularism.
Originally, a column entitled "We are united", published in
Liberation
in November 2015, and signed by Bianco, as well as several Muslim entities, including some reputed to be close to Islamism, such as the Muslim Brotherhood and the Committee against Islamophobia in France (CCIF), which the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin wishes to dissolve, as he announced shortly after the attack on Professor Samuel Paty.
To read also: Dissolutions of the CCIF and Baraka City: what do we know about these associations targeted by Darmanin?
"
It must be clear about the appeals that we sign: we cannot sign appeals, including to condemn terrorism, with organizations that I consider as participating in a nauseating climate",
then attacked Manuel Valls, the January 18, on the occasion of the Friends of Crif dinner (Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France).
To read also: Observatory of secularism and Valls: false wise men and true elected officials
But Manuel Valls also attacks Nicolas Cadène, who had criticized the uncompromising vision of secularism defended by the philosopher Élisabeth Badinter:
“A collaborator of an observatory of the Republic cannot attack a philosopher like Elisabeth Badinter (…) from his words: it is an uncompromising defense, which I also share, of secularism in many areas.
(…) The observatory is independent, but there are lines that have been exceeded and I will remind everyone ”.
On January 6, Elisabeth Badinter had ignited the powder by declaring:
"one should not be afraid of being called Islamophobic".
Nicolas Cadène then accused the philosopher, on Twitter, of having
"destroyed a three-year educational work on secularism
".
Read also: What is the Secularism Observatory?
Within the Observatory itself, these two conceptions of secularism clash: the so-called “appeased” one, which Bianco and Cadène wish to embody, and the other, more offensive in the face of the rise of Islamism.
For a year now, three members of the Observatory have publicly contested the positions taken by their leadership: Jean Glavany, Socialist deputy, Françoise Laborde, radical left-wing senator and Patrick Kessel, president of the secular republic committee.
This tweet from Nicolas Cadène against Élisabeth Badinter is "too much business".
Five days later, they slammed the door of the Observatory.
On January 21, it was the turn of jurist Hugues Portelli, LR senator from Val-d'Oise.
A petition, relayed by the weekly
Marianne
, calls for the resignation of Jean-Louis Bianco.
Supported by the radical left party, it was then signed by several thousand people.
Then Prime Minister, Manuel Valls himself tries to obtain the departure of the two leaders of the Observatory of secularism with President François Hollande.
In vain.
"Because he did not master the subject"
, related a close friend of Valls to
Le Figaro
, and that he feared the remonstrances of Ségolène Royal, close to Cadène and Bianco (who was his campaign director in 2007 then his advisor to the Ministry of Ecology).
Read also: Secularism: Jean-Louis Bianco in the storm
August 2016: Nicolas Cadène against the anti-Burkini orders
In August 2016, Bianco and Cadène once again drew criticism by taking a stand against the anti-Burkini municipal decrees, which were then sued by the CCIF.
"This decree reinforces the stigmatization of people of Muslim faith",
assures Nicolas Cadène in 20 minutes.
According to him, if
"the prohibition of the full veil in the public space is based on a reason of public security, the principle of secularism cannot be invoked to justify the ban of the burkini".
This is perhaps one of his weaknesses, which he himself recognizes: Nicolas Cadène, while denouncing the useless controversies "on secularism, reacts to it very regularly on Twitter.
In 2018, he thus defends Maryam Pougetoux, vice-president of UNEF, boycotted by several elected officials because she presented herself veiled to the National Assembly in May 2018. On August 12, again, he took a stand about Gap's controversial campaign, featuring a veiled girl, explaining that she is not against the law.
However, it is this purely legal position which often annoys its opponents, accusing it of evading the substance of the debate.
“The question is neither legal, nor even strictly speaking religious, it is political.
The hijab is not a piece of neutral fabric.
It is a symbol of political Islam
,
”
the weekly Marianne replied to him about the UNEF controversy.
January 2019: controversy over universal national service
In January 2019, a new dispute between the president of the Observatory of secularism and the government, about the universal national service (SNU).
Consulted by Gabriel Attal, Secretary of State responsible for overseeing its implementation, the advisory body considers that the law does not allow the prohibition of conspicuous religious symbols during this period, except for certain activities.
Read also: Blanquer rules out wearing religious symbols during universal national service
The Minister of Education Jean-Michel Blanquer, defending a strict approach to secularism at school, splits a chilling comment:
“The Observatory of secularism did not consult me before (…).
This is obviously a recommendation that I will not follow ”.
The minister does not stop there.
He referred the matter to the Council of the Elders of Secularism, a body he himself created in January 2018, chaired by sociologist Dominique Schnapper - of which Bianco is also a member.
In its opinion of February 4, 2019, the Council of Elders contradicts and disavows the position of the Observatory
.
In October 2019, a new controversy broke out while a proposed LR law aims to ban the wearing of religious symbols for parents accompanying school trips.
On Twitter, Nicolas Cadène insists that under current law, the wearing of the veil is not prohibited for mothers accompanying school trips.
More recently, however, Nicolas Cadène had shown public support for Emmanuel Macron's recent announcements against separatism.
And for good reason: many of the proposals of the Observatory of secularism were officially included in these announcements, such as transparency on mosque funds, the switch from their associative form to the regime provided for by the law of 1905, the end of the system of seconded imams or the strengthening of article 35 of this law.
The mandates of the president and the general rapporteur of the Observatory were to be renewed in April 2021. The Élysée could wait until this date to appease the spirits ... or make the choice to act quickly, at the risk of losing allies on the left - Cadène and Bianco benefiting from numerous supports, including at LREM - and to be reproached for a political act, in full emotion after the attack last Friday against Professor Samuel Paty.
