A bill tabled aimed at making it illegal to mention the theory of the “great replacement” after the racist attack in Yvelines

A bill aimed at making the mention of the “great replacement” theory illegal was tabled on Friday October 30 in the National Assembly, Agence Radio France learned from the deputies behind the text. This bill was drafted by environmentalist deputies Sabrina Sebaihi and Steevy Gustave. It should make it possible, according to its authors, to “strengthen the fight against speech inciting hatred and racist and xenophobic acts”.

For the deputies behind this bill, "the use of the reference to the 'great replacement' by elected officials or activists in current affairs comments has not always been considered to constitute provocation to hatred, even though this reference can convey a hostile representation of entire populations".

According to them, this theory "is based on the assertion that the French population of European origin would gradually be replaced by populations of immigrant origin, presented as foreign to the nation and its identity. This theory contributes to disseminating a racialized representation of society. It can become a vector of racist hatred and discrimination." The authors of the bill also target the term "remigration" which, according to them, is "based on the collective expulsion of people because of their real or supposed origin" and can "characterize a provocation to hatred, discrimination or violence".

They thus wish to supplement the law of July 29, 1881 on freedom of the press by including in the law that "provocation to discrimination, hatred or violence may in particular result from comments which, by invoking the replacement of one population by another or the need for remigration, designate a group of people as a threat because of their origin or their membership, real or supposed, to an ethnic group or to a nation".

With this bill, environmental deputies Sabrina Sebaihi and Steevy Gustave also wish to strengthen sanctions when the acts are committed by a political official. Currently, provoking discrimination or hatred is punishable by one year's imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros. The Green deputies propose to increase these penalties to three years of imprisonment and a fine of 75,000 euros if "the facts mentioned in the previous paragraph are committed by a person holding a public elective mandate or having declared their candidacy for a public election".

Friday, Ali Rabeh, the Génération.s mayor of Trappes, launched an appeal on France Inter to modify the law and "make illegal" the theory of the great replacement, a week after the attack in Yvelines which left one dead and seven injured. Kevin Tessier, the suspect in the attack, was indicted and imprisoned Thursday in Paris after, according to the prosecution, admitting to having targeted Muslim, African or North African people.