Nathalie Heinich's account of the evening of November 29 does not fail to raise many questions about the behavior of those who physically oppose the holding of conferences to the point of ending up in the "miscellaneous news" section of magazines.

"I was invited," Nathalie Heinich tells us, "by Espace Mendès France (an associative structure dedicated to popularizing science and social debates) to give a conference on "Inclusive writing, the enemy of universalist feminism." On Tuesday morning, the police warned the manager of the structure that social networks were in a frenzy, calling for the conference to be disrupted on the grounds that I was "Islamophobic" and "homophobic." A patrol was therefore planned to secure the venue. At the same time, the manager was the subject of a request to cancel the conference from the town hall (EELV) - a request that he firmly rejected. A press release was published during the day on the Espace Mendès France website, deploring these accusations and reaffirming its mission (https://emf.fr/43519/reponse-de-lespace-mendes-france-a-laccusation-dhomophobie-et-dislamophobie/). "

 The political abjection of the municipality, which is reminiscent of the "opportunistic revisionism" from another EELV town hall reminds us of the systematically murky role played by politics today in accelerating the penetration of wokeness into all levels of society. Shame on those who, through political opportunism or cowardice, encourage such behavior and let people believe that violence, real violence, is a political solution that we can consider obeying. The rest of the story is chilling:

“In the evening,” she continues, “a group of about twenty young people showed up at the entrance, some with placards. It was decided to let them in but to ask them to write down their names, since they had not registered in advance. They sat at the front of the room and, as soon as the host said my name, started to make a racket – clapping, shouting, insults, etc. – making it impossible for them to speak. The administrator of the venue asked them to choose between staying and listening and discussing, or leaving: they did not move and continued the racket. I then asked him to call the police, which he did, announcing it to the audience. After two minutes the troublemakers had left the premises, after having nevertheless tried to go up on stage towards me – an usher stopped them from doing so. Two BAC cars arrived shortly after they left, and were still waiting for us at the exit of the conference. The conference was able to take place without further problems, and was followed by a discussion with the audience, including students who had stayed to express – very politely – their disagreements on this or that point. 

We learned this morning that during the night the place was attacked, with blows to the glass door of the entrance.

The EMF filed a complaint.

three conclusions are necessary:

• LGBT activists involved in this type of action coordinate to systematize these charivaris, and raise alerts on the names of personalities they wish to silence. There is therefore every reason to believe that this will happen again on a national scale, after having occurred in Lille with Caroline Eliacheff.
• Public institutions are sometimes involved in these disruptions, when municipalities take the initiative to request the cancellation of the targeted events, as at the Paris city hall on November 20 (WIZO conference) and yesterday in Poitiers. It is therefore appropriate to call on them as guarantors of public freedoms, and this is the responsibility of every citizen.
• Unlike what happened in Lille, the head of the Poitiers association did not hesitate to call on the police – and that was enough to make the conference possible. It is therefore essential that those responsible for structures hosting conferences (and particularly universities) take their responsibilities by not hesitating to use the law – which, let us remember, is on our side.

The law must therefore remain in force, despite what those who feel they are outside the law say.

This very morning, Guillaume Erner in his column on France Culture mentioned this accident. He ends up acknowledging, timidly, that the fascists are indeed those who try to silence those who do not think like them through violence. This is undoubtedly progress after the ignoble media trial that our friends from the Little Mermaid were subjected to, accused of transphobia by new media opportunists without a backbone. This is undoubtedly progress…

Shame on “those” – as they will recognize themselves – who believe that the language belongs to them so much that they want to prevent their opponents from expressing themselves.