Politics should be the expression of values, ideas, and the programs to implement them. In short, a vision of society and of man as both an individual and collective subject.
The front page of the conservative right-wing weekly, Valeurs actuelles (which is further promoted via tweet to encourage voyeurism and controversy), announcing a dossier on the Roma and Travelers, clearly shows that information is being degraded to sell a few more copies, even if it means compromising many principles to move forward at all costs!
We are all republicans, concerned with the application of the law by everyone and in the same manner. The Roma and Travelers should not be subject to leniency, stigmatization, or any kind of harassment. The law, nothing but the law, but all of the law, identically for everyone.
We must stop fostering and fueling resentment towards part of the population and finally behave as republican citizens by putting an end to all populist discourse.
However, the escalation of rhetoric suggests what public debate can become and how quickly, and to what extent, it can deteriorate. It finally shows how living together can be endangered.
Words are not just words; they can have serious consequences. And one can only sincerely hope that the excesses we are witnessing remain purely verbal.
Of course, one can think differently, even in opposition. One might even say that it is fundamental: From doubt and its opposite, we find the way to move things forward. Stop the single thought!
Therefore, we have the right to think what we want about the Roma and Travelers with only one limit: The maintenance of respect for the fundamental rights of the person, and more specifically “of man and citizen,” as clearly stated in the declaration that is the foundation of modern law, of which France is the birthplace after the Revolution of 1789.
Since everyone is responsible for their actions and words, it would be good for the opposition resulting from it to remain in a purely political context.
Resorting to the judicial framework to find laws that limit personal freedom or the affirmation of right and wrong only confines the battle of ideas between the duelists in an inappropriate scheme.
There is no need to read “The Phenomenology of Spirit” by the German philosopher Friedrich Hegel to understand that the opposing debaters would grow by not reaching that point.
