Sonia Backès, Secretary of State in charge of Citizenship, was the guest of “8:30 franceinfo”, Saturday October 1, 2022. Secularism at school, separatism, “poorly registered” voters, sectarian excesses… She responds to questions from Neila Latrous and Lorrain Sénéchal.
Secularism at school: abayas “are religious markers”, according to Sonia Backès
“We must have absolutely no tolerance because the laws of the Republic are the laws of the Republic. Since 2004, we have had a law that prohibits religious markers in school, so it is prohibited”, recalled Sonia Backès. Gold the abayas “are religious markers”she defended, while the Minister of National Education, Pap Ndiaye, indicated on Friday “an increase in reports” attack on secularism at school since the start of the school year, “especially reports of wearing clothes”like the “abayas, which seem to multiply”.
For the Secretary of State, “those who do it, know it, they do it in provocation”, she continued, adding that school leaders “may refuse access” students wearing an abaya. “When you start not respecting the laws of the Republic and considering that religious laws are above those of the Republic, it is the beginning of separatism and all that follows”hammered the Secretary of State.
“We don’t put religious markers, in the same way that we don’t put a big cross when you’re Catholic. At school, it’s like that, it’s the law.”
Sonia Backeson franceinfo
Concerning the separatism law voted in August 2021, it makes it possible to have “important tools for enforcing the laws of the Republic”according to Sonia Backès, like the republican commitment contract which conditions the granting of public subsidies to associations to respect for republican values.
The Secretary of State interprets the increase in reports of attacks on secularism in schools since the start of the school year as a sign of a kind of freedom of speech. “In the same way as on the issue of violence against women, we have a significant increase in women who will file a complaint. There, now that we have the tools, we know that the system will respond”she said.
“Badly registered” voters: the track of a registration “when you fill out your tax form”
7.6 million French people would be “misregistered” on the electoral lists, i.e. more than 15% of voters. They are people “registered in a polling station, far from where they live or who do not know exactly where they are voting”, specifies the Secretary of State. The issue of “misregistered” is one of the main causes of abstention. “It’s one of the big issues, we’re working on it”she admitted.
A reconciliation between taxes and the Ministry of the Interior is envisaged, according to Sonia Backès. Concretely, “when filling out your tax form, automatically”everyone would know where they should go to vote, and would have to answer the question: “Do you want to register or not? Do you want to stay in your polling station?”she clarified.
“France does not have to finance training to call for not respecting the laws of the Republic”
Sonia Backès returned to the decision of the Vienne prefecture to ask the town hall of Poitiers to withdraw a subsidy from the Alternatiba association, because of the organization of a training workshop in civil disobedience. “France does not have to finance training to call for not respecting the laws of the Republic. It would still be a shame”, she insisted. If the Poitevin town hall does not withdraw the grant to the association, “there will be an approach, a procedure before the administrative court and the Council of State”she warned.
Sectarian excesses: “We must carry out awareness-raising and reporting work”
“The state has done a lot to shut down a number of parallel organizations, to have a number of leaders convicted for serious crimes”, defended the Secretary of State. It aims to speed up the dissolution of cults and increase online awareness and facilitate reporting.
She also returned to her family history. “My mother was a member of the Church of Scientology and director of the Scientology school in Paris, which was closed by the State and fortunately, because that allowed me not to be involved in it”she confessed. “We must carry out awareness-raising and reporting work, whether to the State or between the people who are around”she pointed out. “When you have a colleague who you see is taking a worrying path, a friend, a neighbor […]do not hesitate to point it out” on the site of Miviludes, the Interministerial Mission for vigilance and the fight against sectarian aberrations.
Find the entire “8:30 am franceinfo” of Saturday October 1, 2022: