Read more"Frérisme et ses réseaux, l'enquête" is the title of the book by anthropologist Florence Bergeaud-Blackler, which has now earned her death threats and police protection. This book on the Muslim Brotherhood, published by Odile Jacob in January 2023, has been the subject of strong criticism, particularly from his colleagues. Since then, the researcher has been the target of several attacks, to the point of deploying police protection. Her employer, the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), gave her support. Florence Bergeaud-Blackler "explores, in a factual and documented manner, the origin of the movement, its doctrinal foundation, its organization and its operating methods, as well as its methods of recruitment and indoctrination," describes her publisher on his site. "It shows how it extends its influence to the very heart of European societies by relying on their institutions, subverting the values of human rights or Islamizing knowledge." "The subject does not target a religion or a community of believers, but describes a movement that seeks to use them to impose a strategy of Islamization of non-Muslim countries in all sorts of areas, from the economy to ecology, from school to university," the publisher further specifies. In a long dissertation, published on the site Orient XXI, Rafik Chekkat, lawyer and founder of islamophobie.fr, describes "a book with a gaseous message" that "reappropriates clichés about the perfidious and intriguing Oriental." "The essay is riddled with approximations, errors and confusions (despite some purely formal precautions, we often move from Muslim Brotherhood to Islamism, and sometimes to Islam itself)", he criticises, stressing in particular that the author is not an Arabic speaker. Following his criticism of Florence Bergeaud-Blacker, Rafid Chekkat claims, on Twitter, that he too is the target of insults and threats and says he is "considering legal action" to take in an article in Le Point on the controversy. It was then the Islamologist François Burgat, quoted in the researcher's work, who launched into an argument against the remarks of his former colleague at the CNRS. Florence Bergeaud-Blackler's book, which "has finished with intellectual honesty" in her words, is a "staggering text", a "brutal shift in identity", an "intellectual scam", the researcher wrote in several tweets. The two former colleagues have since been clashing through tweets. "You are a disgrace to the CNRS, madam, including internationally among the communities of researchers and academics specializing in the fields you claim to represent", he told her in a post on Médiapart this Thursday. And François Burgat continued: "You are rapidly becoming one of the new media faces of French-style Islamophobia, with your pitiful attempt to incite the government to redouble its efforts in your little McCarthyist hunt for the Islamo-leftist and any Muslim who displeases you. "Except that the debate has taken on a whole new dimension recently: Florence Bergeaud-Blacker has received death threats and, under her official protection rights, has been under police protection since early March. 'They want to silence her and intimidate those who might be tempted to speak out,' her lawyer, Thibault de Montbrial, explained to Le Point, without specifying the origin or nature of these threats. Criticized for its initial delay in responding, the CNRS finally offered its support to Florence Bergeaud-Blacker." “The CNRS has always defended freedom of research,” the organization wrote on Twitter. He strongly condemns the threats made against Florence Bergeaud-Blackler. He gives her his full support in her search and assures her of the functional protection she has requested. »
"Frérisme and its networks, the investigation" is the name of the anthropologist's work. Florence Bergeaud-Blackler, which today earns him death threats and police protection. This book on the Muslim Brotherhood, published by Odile Jacob in January 2023, was the subject of strong criticism, particularly from her colleagues. Since then, the researcher has been the subject of several attacks, to the point of deploying police protection. Her employer, the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), has given her support.
Florence Bergeaud-Blackler "explores, in a factual and documented manner, the origin of the movement, its doctrinal foundation, its organization and its operating methods, as well as its methods of recruitment and indoctrination", describes its editor on his website. "It shows how it extends its influence to the very heart of European societies by relying on their institutions, subverting the values of human rights or Islamizing knowledge."
"The statement does not target a religion or a community of believers, but describes a movement that seeks to use them to impose a strategy of Islamization of non-Muslim countries in all sorts of areas, from the economy to ecology, from school to university," the publisher further specifies.
In a long dissertation, published on the site East XXI, Rafik Chekkat, founding lawyer of islamophobia.fr, evokes "a book with a gaseous subject" which "reappropriates clichés about the perfidious and intriguing Oriental". "The essay is riddled with approximations, errors and confusions (despite some purely formal precautions, we often move from the Muslim Brotherhood to Islamism, then sometimes to Islam itself)", he criticizes, emphasizing in particular that the author is not an Arabic speaker.
Following his criticism of Florence Bergeaud-Blacker, Rafid Chekkat claims on Twitter that he too is the target of insults and threats and says he is "considering legal action" to take in response to an article in Le Point on the controversy.
It was then the Islamologist François Burgat, quoted in the researcher's book, who launched into an argument against the remarks of his former colleague at the CNRS. The book by Florence Bergeaud-Blackler, which "has finished with intellectual honesty" in his words, is a "staggering text", a "brutal identity drift", an "intellectual scam", the researcher wrote in several tweets.
The two former colleagues have been clashing through tweets ever since.
"You are a disgrace to the CNRS, madam, including internationally among the communities of researchers and academics specializing in the fields you claim to represent," he told her in a post on a Médiapart this Thursday. And François Burgat continued: "You are rapidly becoming one of the new media faces of French Islamophobia, with your pitiful attempt to excite the government to redouble its efforts in your little McCarthyist hunt for Islamo-leftists and any Muslim who displeases you."
Except that the debate has taken on a completely different dimension recently: Florence Bergeaud-Blacker is under threat of death and has benefited, as part of her functional protection, from police protection since mid-March.
"We want to silence her and intimidate those who might want to speak out," her lawyer, Thibault de Montbrial, explained to Point, without detailing the origin or content of these threats.
Criticized for being slow to speak out, the CNRS ended up supporting Florence Bergeaud-Blackler. "The CNRS has always defended freedom of research," the organization wrote on Twitter. He strongly condemns the threats made against Florence Bergeaud-Blackler. He gives her his full support in her research and assures her of the functional protection she has requested.
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