EJP | News | Eastern Europe | "The danger is the 'relativisation' of the Shoah"

French intellectuals are divided over a series of anti-revisionist laws. On 12 December, 19 historians signed the “Freedom for History” petition, demanding the removal of legislation on Holocaust denial and denial of the Armenian genocide, as well as a law that condemns slavery as a crime against humanity. They claim the legislation undermines their research work. The call to suppress anti-revisionist laws was dismissed on 2 January by LICRA, the league against racism and anti-Semitism and on 20 December, 32 intellectuals signed a petition entitled “let’s not mix everything up” to counter the first initiative. The debate over the legislation started with the controversial 23 February 2005 law on French colonialism. Its 4th article stipulates that teachers should tell their pupils about the positive aspects of French presence abroad. At first, this guideline did not get much public attention, though it angered many blacks and Arabs. A few months later the media, the opposition and many intellectuals started criticising the law, saying it was unwise and even racist.