Honorary State Councilor Jean-Éric Schoettl recently published
Democracy at the risk of the courtrooms.
From the rule of law to the government of judges
(Gallimard, Coll. “Le Débat”, March 2022).
In his
Philosophical Dictionary
, Voltaire defines the fanatic thus:
"A man who is sure to deserve heaven by cutting your throat."
In the aftermath of the assassination attempt on Salman Rushdie, as after so many attacks perpetrated by Islamist fury in France and around the world, we must fight resolutely against the preachers of hatred.
Defending democracy against those who incite or glorify terrorism assumes, however, that neither the legislator nor the judge hesitates.
It would certainly be absurd to mute freedom in order to overcome fanaticism, because it is precisely in the name of freedom that we fight fanaticism.
However, the rule of law must not be disarmed in the face of its aggressors.
This is even more true when this endemic disease of humanity...
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