Riposte Laïque
Riposte Laïque (English: Secular Response) is a French anti-Muslim organisation and website founded in 2007 by Pierre Cassen.[1]
According to the self-defining counterjihad blog Gates of Vienna, it is one of the two most prominent French Counterjihad groups (the other being Résistance Républicaine).[2]
Contents
Background
The group officially rejects any affiliation with any party.
2007-2010
The founder Pierre Cassen claims to have left ResPublica in 2007, a left-wing newspaper for not being 'anti-Islam' enough. [3] The contributors were officially politically diverse. Pierre Cassen and other founding members called themselves 'left-wing' and come from 'trotskyist' background [4]. Other members, such as Maxime Lépante (self-proclaimed expert of the islamization of the 'Goutte d'Or' borough), were'right-wing', old Debut la République militants, while a few declared their support for the Front National. [3]
2010 onwards
The movement officially allied with the extreme-right Bloc Identitaire movement during their joint 'wine-and-sausage appetizer' in June 2010, which prompted certain contributors to leave the movement. [5]
The movement split again over diverging opinions on gay marriage in 2013, which lead to the creation of a third association, named Reconquête Républicaine and presided by Pascal Olivier. [6] [7]
The blog is edited abroad - by the association Riposte laïque Suisse - since October 2012, due to the number of law-suits filed against the website. This has not protected them from lawsuits, however, which is why the blog is being sued for incitement to hatred as of 2016. [8]
Legal Charges
In 2013, The Legal Project, the legal arm of Daniel Pipes's Middle East Forum announced it was defending Christine Tasin in court over charges of incitement to hatred. The same body had previously defended Geert Wilders against similar charges. Tasin's lawyer, M. Scipilliti, claimed defended her case by claiming that she was attacking Islam itself and not the individuals who identify with it, and that, by provoking a debate around this 'idea's, she had simply exercised her right to free speech. He pointed to a case where a rapper had been released from similar charges because their lyrics allegedly criticised the French state, as opposed to the 'French people as a whole'. The condemnation was successfully overturned in December 2014. [9]
Activities
In 2010 the organisation, along with Tasin's Résistance Républicaine, planned an "apéro saucisson-pinard" (a 'sausage-and-wine appetizer') in an ethnically diverse borough of Paris. the leader Christine Tasin justified it by stating she was 'reclaiming a street that was taken illegally' from the 'French people'. She clearly wanted to shock the Muslim population living there, as it is not within their general practice to eat porch or to drink alcohol. Moreover, she claimed this action was a symbolic defense against the 'Islamic offensive'. The event changed location to the Champs Elysées at the last minute, with around 800 people attending. [10] [3]
Inspired by the PEGIDA protests seen in Germany, the group called for rallies across France on 18 January 2015, under the slogan 'Islamists get out of France'.[11] Leader Pierre Cassen said he had invited leaders from the German section of PEGIDA to the Paris demonstration and also leaders from Italy and Switzerland he felt had 'led by example in protest against the Islamisation of Europe'.[11]
They also joined forced once more with Résistance Républicaine, Renaud Camus and Bloc Identitaire to launch a French section of PEGIDA, presided over by Loïc Perdriel, aged 25 at the time. [12]
Affiliations
- Résistance Républicaine and its leader, Christine Tasin
- Reconquête Républicaine
- Bloc Identitaire
- PEGIDA
- PEGIDA France
- Tommy Robinson from PEGIDA UK
References
- ↑ Hope Not Hate, Riposte Laïque, Counterjihad Report: France, accessed 3 February 2015
- ↑ Baron Bodissey, Refusing the Islamization of France, 1 January 2015, accessed 4 January 2015
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Zineb Dryef, Riposte laïque : qui sont les organisateurs de l'apéro-pinard?', Rue89, 19 June 2010. Accessed 16 September 2016.
- ↑ Jean-Baptiste Malet, 2011, Derrière les lignes du Front. Immersions et reportages en terre d'extrême droite, Paris: Golias Edition
- ↑ Laure Daussy,RIPOSTE LAÏQUE : VERS L'EXTRÊME-DROITE, ENCORE, Arretsurimages, 09 May 2016. Accessed 15 September 2016.
- ↑ Christine Tasin, A Riposte laïque : occupez-vous de vos oignons. Non la grande majorité des adhérents de RR n’est pas opposée au mariage homosexuel, http://resistancerepublicaine.eu, 17June 2013. Accessed 16 September 2016.
- ↑ http://reconquete-republicaine.fr
- ↑ Olivier Faye, 'La « fachosphère » s’expatrie pour échapper à la justice', 12 May 2016. Accessed 16 September 2016.
- ↑ Andrew Harrod, 'French Free Speech Victory', The Legal Project, January 30, 2015. Accessed 16 September 2016.
- ↑ Catherine Coroller , 'CHRISTINE TASIN. Ex-prof de lettres classiques, cette «laïque de gauche» a organisé l’apéro saucisson-pinard. Au côté de l’extrême droite.', Libération, 2 March 2011, accessed 16 September 2016.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Will anti-Islam protests take off in France?, The Local, 6 January 2015
- ↑ Mathilde Siraut, 'En France, des associations et groupuscules veulent copier Pegida', Le Figaro, 06 February 2016. Accessed 16 September 2016.
