France debates documentary on Salafists

The planned release of the documentary Salafistes has been making waves in France, as Islamist terrorists speak freely in the film. France's culture minister will decide on Wednesday whether the documentary will be screened in cinemas. Is censorship called for?

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Le Figaro (FR) /

Freedom of opinion does not extend to calls to kill

The film spreads terrorist propaganda and must not be shown, the conservative daily Le Figaro believes:

“Too much attention is already being paid to the comments and images of these maniacs! And we already know what effect they’ll have on potential jihadists. It is revolting to see that [public broadcaster] France Télévisions co-produced the film Salafistes, and thus financed the unspeakable with public money. As for the government, it would do well to ban all screenings of the film because the freedom of expression does not authorize calls to commit murder and terror.”

Le Monde (FR) /

Educating must not be prohibited

It would be idiotic to ban such a good film about the cruelty of the terrorists, author and filmmaker Claude Lanzmann writes in the centre-left daily Le Monde:

“It is with consternation that I learn that an abominable conspiracy is seeking to ban the release of the film Salafistes by François Margolin and Lemine Ould Salem. The film is a remarkable masterpiece that sheds more light on life under the Sharia in Timbuktu, Mauritania, Mali, Tunisia and Iraq than any book or 'expert' on Islam has ever done. Seeing and hearing the film's protagonists spread their unswerving ideology that admits no contradiction, you understand that any hope for change, improvement, or reaching an agreement is illusory and vain. … By describing Salafistes as an 'apology for terrorism' the responsible office at the Ministry of the Interior is demonstrating deafness, blindness and pig-headedness. Stupidity is everywhere.”