11 juillet, 2001
Madame Chairwoman and distinguished
members of the Committee:
Je vous suis reconnaissant de me
donner l'occasion de parler devant vous du tort que la France commet en
raison de ses préjugés - le pire étant celui de
l'intolérance.
J'espère qu'en expliquant publiquement ce sujet,
nous pourrons éloigner ces lourds nuages qui s'amoncellent dans le ciel
de France - un pays où souffrent actuellement plus de membres de groupes
religieux, spirituels ou ethniques que partout ailleurs dans le monde.
[on remarquera l'extension volontairement mensongère
du soi-disant conflit intolérant aux "groupes ethniques"] Et je
ne suis pas optimiste pour l'avenir, à moins que nous, américains, ne
décidions que cela doit vraiment changer. [la fibre
déjà passablement nationaliste des américains est titillée, le défi
lancé]
Je suis allé en octobre dernier en France pour
prendre part à une marche et un rallye pour la liberté religieuse [mensonge: Hayes n'a pratiquement pas fait un pas: il a
été trimballé en voiture de place]. Des milliers de egns de
diverses fois s'étaient rasemblés à Paris pour discuter de nos droits de
l'homme [faux; ils ont prétendu être 7000, mais la
préfecture a dit 500, et j'en ai dénombré un grand maximum de 1100 sur
photos]. Il s'agissait d'un rassemblement pacifique au cours
duquel on agitait des bannières et chantait des chansons de liberté. La
préfecture ne nous a cependant pas autorisés à marcher dans les rues de
Paris [déformé: les organisateurs scientologues
voulaient en fait boucher plusieurs points névralgiques de la capitale,
pendant des heures; vu que la secte avait "appelé aux armes", la
préfecture avait de quoi s'inquiéter]. Ces officiels étaient
nerveux, effrayés et intolérants. [faux: : aucun
policier présent n'a fait quoi que ce soit de nerveux ou d'intolérant,
sinon d'aider la trafic des manifestants à ne pas encombrer la
circulation des voitures]. Sous la pression de ses maîtres du
gouvernement, la préfecture avait ordonné à 300 policiers anti-émeute de
venir. Puis ils nous ont ordonné de nous disperser. Nous l'avons donc
fait, nous dirigeant en bus dans une zône boisée de la ceinture
parisienne, où nous avons donné notre concert des droits de l'homme. Je
n'ai pu m'empècher de me souvenir de la réaction chinoise à Tien-AnMen
en 1989, cette terrifiante tragédie au cours de laquelle on vit les
tanks écraser les étudiants sur cette place. Dieu merci, personne ne fut
blessé à Paris. Mais les officiels français ont montré la même peur, la
même intolérance des droits des gens à tenir et exprimer leurs opinions
et croyances personnelles. [ce complice de criminels
de Hayes ferait mieux de se souvenir du nombre de réactions racistes qu'il a
vécues aux USA, plutôt que de prétendre avoir vécu l'intolérance
française, alors qu'il a fait en tout et pour tout dix pas dans la rue,
et qu'il a harangué la foule depuis les fenètres d'un bistrot, et que
personne parmi les officiels ne lui a adressé la parole, alors qu'on
aurait sûrement pu trouver un moyen de le bloquer en frontière, comme
les services d'immigration US le font quand une tête ne leur plait
pas]
Des membres de religions minoritaires ont perdu leurs emplois, on
leur a refusé l'accès à des bâtiments publics, ils ont été piloriés dans
les médias, leurs carrières ont été détruites, on a refusé l'accès en
maternelle à leurs enfants -- tout cela à cause de leurs croyances.
[il se garderont bien de citer UN seul exemple,
aucun n'existe; mais il est évident que les conseillers scientologues
sont malvenus dans les entreprises, où ils espionnent pour le compte de
leur réseau international WISE - si pas pour le compte du gouvernement
américain; par ailleurs, si la scientologie est parvenue par chantage à
se faire admettre "sans but lucratif" auprès du gouvernement américain,
il n'en est rien en France]. La politique officielle et la
pratique d'intolérance du gouvernement français continuent à engendrer
des incidents quotidiens de discrimination religieuse et économique dans
les secteurs publics et privés.
L'état d'esprit intolérant
qu'ont créé les officiels français s'illustre lors d'un incident récent.
Un membre d'une religion tout à fait reconnue aux Etats-Unis rendait
visite à un membre de l'assemblée nationale pour obtenir son aide afin
de s'opposer à une législation proposée destinée à fermer les églises de
la minorité. [en clair: une porte-parole
scientologue, probablement Danièle Gounord, voulait enquiquiner un
député français qui ne voulait probablement pas l'écouter, sachant ce
qu'elle avait à dire - et être reçu par un député n'est pas un droit].
Ce député était absent, son assistante fut
indifférente à ses problèmes. Lorsqu'elle protesta qu'en tant que
citoyenne française, elle avait le droit d'être entendue, elle se vit
répondre: vous n'êtes pas citoyenne, mais membre d'une secte".
[entre nous, il arrive que des membres de
l'administration envoient paître les grincheux et les malotrus, sans
qu'il soit question de secte]
Hélas, le gouvernement français a nettement refusé de s'aligner sur
les provisions de liberté de religion de la Déclaration universelle des
droits de l'homme et sur la Convention européenne des droits de l'homme
[est-ce pour ça que la France a obtenu 52 voix sur
53 pour son élection au siège de la commission des droits de l'homme de
l'ONU ?]. M. Patrick Hinojosa a témoigné que sa société de
logiciels, leader dans son domaine, a été boycottée par le gouvernement
et par des agences privées, en raison de l'affiliation religieuse de son
fondateur. Il y a nombre d'autres exemples. On en trouve quelques uns
dans le manuel "Rapport sur la Discrimination Contre les Minorités
Spirituelles et Thérapeutiques en France", compilé avec l'aide d'une
coalition de mouvements spirituels et religieux. J'en joins un
exemplaire à mon témoignage et demande qu'il soit enregistré.
[résumé: Nayah a été écartée du concours
Eurovision parce qu'elle était membre de Rael, mais Hayes oublie de dire
qu'il s'agit pseudo religion frauduleuse dont le gourou s'est soustrait
à l'action du fisc français en filant au Canada, et que plusieurs procès
ont démontré les tendances pédophiles de la secte; ensuite, il exagère
les effets sur la chanteuse, et omet de mentionner qu'elle a menti aux
médias à l'époque. Dans la paragraphe suivant, il est question d'un
soi-disant groupe Zen accusé de prostitution etc. Exactement le genre
d'accusations mensongères que les scientologues eux-mêmes peuvent mettre
en route pour tenter d'acquérir des alliés...]
We hear much of religious and ethnic intolerance in the
abstract. I want
to take a more personal approach by describing some
of the consequences in
the lives of individual men, women and
children. As an artist, I am
particularly concerned that the
deteriorating human rights situation in
France threatens freedom of
artistic expression, and the ability of
artists to survive
economically. Several incidents illustrate this
problem. In 1999, a
talented young singer who belongs to a minority
movement was selected
out of more than 700 candidates to represent France
in the
internationally famous Eurovision song contest. When her
religious
affiliation became known, she experienced a string of
harassing incidents
before, during and after the competition. As a
result, her producers
cancelled 16 TV shows in which she had planned
to perform as well as a
contract for two albums over three years,
including tours in Canada and
Japan.
A musician and graphic
artist who belongs to a Zen movement has described
how the movement
became the target of a media lynching, with crazy rumors
that his
spiritual group engages in arms trafficking, prostitution and
other
immoral acts contrary to their beliefs and artistic works. Of
course,
it hardly needs saying that this smear campaign has had a
stifling
effect on his creative work.
In addition to artists,
French officials and private anti-religious groups
have targeted
respected professionals in many different fields. Such
campaigns have
had fatal consequences for their victims. For example, a
doctor who
ran a highly regarded therapy center, to which a nearby
hospital and
courts commonly referred drug addicts for help, killed
himself after
officials closed his center following a vicious propaganda
campaign
instigated by a local hate group.
A naturopath and speech
therapist who practices an eastern spiritual
discipline lost 60% of
his clients after an organization called the
Association for the
Defence of the Family and the Individual, known as
ADFI, began
circulating propaganda against religious minorities to schools
and
universities. ADFI denounced him publicly and savaged his
reputation
in the media. As a footnote, ADFI is one of the
associations named by
parliamentarians to have the right to bring
civil complaints against
religious minorities under newly enacted
legislation.
Even older minority
movements have come under attack. A member of a
Rosicrucian movement
forfeited his parental rights and can now only see
his children once
every two weeks between 10am and 6pm. This followed a
divorce and
four-year judicial procedure, during which his membership of
the
Rosicrucians was used to prejudice the court and local
officials
against him. Another example is that of a Celtic Orthodox
priest who
belongs to what used to be a thriving network of 25 health
centers. Then,
an article appeared in a national French magazine,
claiming to cite
documents from the French internal security agency,
the Renseignement
Generaux, connecting the movement with the
notorious Order of the Solar
Temple. The health centers filed a
complaint against the magazine, and the
documents were exposed as
fabrications in court. The centers won a one
million franc judgement,
reduced on appeal to 120,000 francs. But the
false accusations
continue to haunt the network of health centers, with
the result that
practically all are financially ruined and no longer
operate.
French governmental intolerance of minority faiths has even
been
introduced into schools. One mother who is a Scientologist
unexpectedly
discovered that her 13-year-old daughter's sports class
had been cancelled
and replaced by a mandatory conference on "cults."
Her daughter was
extremely upset by the bigotry and prejudice spread
at this conference,
conducted with the support of the Ministry of
National Education and the
Interministerial Mission to Fight Against
Sects. And indeed, central to an
understanding of such incidents is
that the French government, and French
officials such as Alain Vivien
of the "Interministerial Mission to Fight
Against Sects", create a
climate that feeds and nurtures such intolerance.
I could list
example after example of how the French government has
created a
climate which makes life for religious minorities in France
a
hard-fought battle for survival. In addition, governmental
intolerance now
also threatens France's major churches. According to
the president of the
French Protestant Federation, representing 16
major churches and 5,000
associations including Reformed, Lutheran
and Pentecostal churches, some
Protestant churches in France are
considering removing the word
"evangelical" from their names for fear
of official repercussions. An
evangelical church in Lyons with 5,000
parishioners regularly organizes
gospel events in the town square.
Until a few years ago, they enjoyed the
support of local authorities.
But in recent times, local officials have
become obstructive and have
placed various barriers in their way, such as
denying them
electricity. After years of broadcasting their religious
messages on
local radio, and after a series of increasingly
harassing
restrictions put on their right to broadcast, they were
eventually refused
access to the airwaves.
Some of the groups
whose experiences I have described are among the 172
religious and
spiritual minorities blacklisted in a 1995 French
parliamentary
commission report. This report has been criticized by
international
human rights organizations, the U.S. State Department and
expert
scholars in religion for its bias, the undemocratic manner in
which
it was produced, and the discrimination it has created. Yet, as
you have
heard, France has now passed the most oppressive legislation
in western
Europe targeting religious organizations. When French
authorities start
applying the new law to bring about the dissolution
of these groups, the
1995 report with its blacklist 172 such
movements will form their basic
reference.
You will hear from
French officials trying to explain away the intolerance
that "freedom
in France is not the same as freedom in the United States."
But this
argument comes from the perpetrators of intolerance, not its
victims.
Freedom is freedom. It means freedom to think and believe
according
to one's conscience, and that includes the freedom to
communicate
one's ideas and beliefs, and the freedom to act upon them.
I
read the debate that took place in the National Assembly on the day
that
the new legislation passed. One MP stood up and said that he
regretted,
and I am quoting, "a great night of the sects
unfortunately cannot take
place that would allow us to handle it all
at once." Nobody spoke up in
protest when this man uttered those
words of violence. It is a symptom of
the decay of human rights and
freedom in France that nobody objects when
an elected official makes
such an outrageous, egregious appeal to base
prejudice and
intolerance.
As an African-American, I am also very worried by
remarks made by the
authors of this new legislation. Madame Picard, a
member of the French
National Assembly, was quoted in the media the
day the law passed, saying
that groups of a "spiritual, ethnological
or philosophical nature" are
prime targets.
"Spiritual,
ethnological, or philosophical" -- that just about covers
everyone.
Who is not a member of some spiritual, ethnic or philosophical
group?
France is a nation of 60 million people touched by many ethnic
groups,
including North African, Indochinese, Slavic and Basque. At
least three
and a half million of the French population are
immigrants, more than half
from outside the European Union. During
the past ten years, an increasing
number of politicians have been
speaking publicly against ethnic
minorities. In Marseille, North
Africans make up approximately a quarter
of the cityÕs 800,000
inhabitants, and there is a stark contrast between
the affluent parts
of the city and the areas where the ethnic minorities
live. Relations
are often tense, and itÕs more than a matter of the
government
forbidding Muslims to wear their headscarves in public schools.
One
Senegal-born woman who has spent most of her life in France,
and
speaks French perfectly, still reports discrimination; when she
tried to
find an apartment, landlords, hearing her over the phone,
mistook her for
a white woman and agreed to rent to her. But when
they met her in person,
they suddenly discovered that the apartment
had "already been taken." The
seeds of prejudice and intolerance have
taken root, and intolerant French
officials will now be able to use
the new legislation to nourish those
seeds, and, if they so choose,
to bring about the dissolution of targeted
ethnic minority groups.
The French government is undoubtedly the most intolerant in
western
Europe. But certain other European governments continue to
refuse to
comply with their international human rights commitments.
In February, for
the 8th successive year, the U.S. State Department's
Annual Human Rights
Report criticized German government
discrimination against Scientologists,
as well as against certain
Christian groups. Scientologists continue to
suffer harassment,
stigma and invasion of their private lives by the
German government's
domestic security agency, the Office for the
Protection of the
Constitution. In addition, although the German federal
government
claims to have relaxed its use of so-called "sect filters"
making
employment or contractual relations conditional on
individuals
stating that they are not Scientologists, the public and
private sector
continue to use such filters. Moreover, German
officials continue to deny
American artists the right to perform at
state-sponsored concerts in
Germany, solely because of their
religious association. Thanks to the fine
work of American
congressmen and the State Department, the legendary jazz
musician
Chick Corea, winner of 11 Grammy Awards, has been able this year
to
arrange a series of privately sponsored concerts in
Germany.
Nonetheless, the difference in how officialdom treats this
great artist in
Germany compared with in the United States could
hardly be greater. In
May, Mr. CoreaÕs hometown of Chelsea,
Massachusetts, named a street in his
honor. But one month previously,
a state-sponsored theatre in Augsburg,
Germany cancelled a
performance Mr. Corea was due to give there in
November, because Mr.
Corea is a Scientologist. The American singer and
performer Julia
Migenes, famous for her roles in Fiddler on the Roof,
Salome, West
Wide Story, and, with Placido Domingo, as the flamboyant
Carmen in
the film of that name, has also experienced
state-sanctioned
discrimination in Germany. While these artists may
be able to perform
privately, most of the major musical venues in
Germany are
state-sponsored, and the German governmentÕs denial of
their right to
perform there places them at a severe commercial
disadvantage.
In Belgium, government officials deny fundamental
rights to members of
minority religions, based in large part on a
1997 parliamentary report
that blacklisted 189 such movements,
including Hasidic Jews and the
Catholic movement, Opus Dei. The
International Helsinki Federation for
Human Rights reports that in
October 2000, an eastern movement was banned
by order of a municipal
mayor in Brussels from holding a public meeting.
The organizers were
informed that the ban had been imposed following
orders from state
security. The movement, which has never been prosecuted
for illegal
activities in Belgium, was told that their meetings were
forbidden
and any discussion of their religion would result in arrest.
Madame Chairwoman, over the last several years, many of us have
come here
and have spoken out against discrimination in France, and
Germany and
Belgium. It is time to do more than utter words of
protest. That is why,
Madame Chairman, I concur with the other
witnesses today that the time has
come to consider tough-minded
action against western European governments
that refuse to respect
human rights. We have the legislation to do it --
the International
Religious Freedom Act. Let's use that tool to take a
stand for people
who may not be able to take a stand for themselves --
individuals of
whatever religion or ethnicity who face extinction of their
rights in
France.
I thank you for your commitment to religious freedom, to
ethnic diversity,
and to human rights, and for taking the time to
listen to my testimony
today.