Étienne Chouard
Chouard in 2014
Born (1956-12-21) 21 December 1956
Paris, France
NationalityFrench
Occupation(s)Teacher, blogger, lecturer
Known forSupport of sortition
Websiteetienne.chouard.free.fr (in French)

Étienne Chouard (born 21 December 1956)[1][2] is a French high school teacher, blogger, and political activist.[3][4]

Biography

During the 2005 French referendum campaign on the European Constitution he gained public attention by advocating against it,[5][6] notably for his discussion with Dominique Strauss-Kahn.[7]

Since then Chouard – who defines himself as a "seeker of the original cause of social injustices"[8] – has been working on different democratic systems and constitutions. He is a supporter of the idea of sortition[9][10] which could also be applied to constitutional conventions.[11] In 2013, Chouard wrote and put on a play entitled "Debt Explained to My Banker".[12]

In 2018–2019, during the Yellow vests movement, Chouard was frequently mentioned at the roundabouts and became a genuine thought leader for many yellow vests.[13] This increasing popularity led to a re-examination of his long advocacy for direct democracy, and also of positive statements he had made about several right-wing conspiracy theorists, such as Alain Soral, Antony Sutton, Jacques Cheminade, Eustace Mullins, or Thierry Meyssan, and the relationship he has maintained with them.[14][12]

Antisemitism

In 2011, Étienne Chouard declared that Rothschild, "the discreet master of bankers", would "objectively have a powerful personal interest in anti-Semitism being virulent, almost everywhere in the world", adding: "This need for anti-Semitism -like-armor-anti-criticism could explain (but then, if it is true, what cynicism!) the mountains of money put at the service of the policy (objectively detestable) of Israel. Conspiracy Watch calls these remarks "the most banal anti-Semitic rhetoric".[15]

In April 2019, he declared on Sud Radio, in a debate with Elisabeth Lévy: “You find that the freedom not to love a religion is very important. But when Bernard-Henri Lévy calls me an anti-Semite – even if I was an anti-Semite, which of course I am not… But even if I was an anti-Semite, I should have the right to be an anti-Semite. In the same way that I should have the right to be Islamophobic, or Christianophobic...”[16] He goes on to affirm that “nobody has any hatred of the Jews”, evoking in support that it has “been 35 years”. that he is a teacher and that he has not seen any “hatred of Jews”. France-Soir reacts by emphasizing that "after two years of decline, anti-Semitic acts in France have risen very sharply (+69%) in the first nine months of 2018".[17][18]

Asked in June 2019 on Le Média about the existence of the gas chambers during the Second World War, he replied that "it's not [his] subject", that he "knows nothing about it" and has “never read anything about it”.[19][20] These remarks triggered accusations of Holocaust denial against him[21] and the cessation of his weekly program on Sud Radio.[22] The Union of Jewish Students of France (UEJF) and the LICRA announced their intention to file a complaint.[23] Faced with the controversy, he said he "regrets" his remarks, admits having "said a huge bullshit", affirming "not to be a Holocaust denier, and not to be anti-Semitic", and ensuring that "the gas chambers are an absolute horror".[24] In L'Humanité, Olivier Morin considers that "even after having retracted his remarks, Chouard and his remarks contribute to minimizing the horror of the Nazi camps": presenting him as "accustomed to confusionist theses and holder of many names of notorious Holocaust deniers in his address book", he points out that "a denial never succeeds in counterbalancing the information to which it refers. All the more so if it appears on another medium, even more confidential, as is the case here”.[25]

References

  1. ↑ Ariane Chemin, "Étienne Chouard, Don Quichotte du non" (paying archive) (archived copy of the article on scribd), Le Monde, 12 May 2005.
  2. ↑ Chouard, Étienne (1956–....), notice d'autorité personne FRBNF12926776, catalogue général de la BnF
  3. ↑ "15 blogueurs leaders d'opinion sur la toile", Le Monde, 11 March 2009.
  4. ↑ Thomas Lemahieu, "Et si Étienne Chouard faisait gagner le « non »", L'Humanité, 9 April 2005.
  5. ↑ Olivia Renaudin, "Sur Internet, le champion du non c'est Étienne Chouard", Libération,30 April 2005.
  6. ↑ Étienne Chouard, "Une mauvaise constitution qui révèle un secret cancer de notre démocratie", Bellaciao.org, 30 March 2005.
  7. ↑ "Traité constitutionnel : réponse à Etienne Chouard", Dominique Strauss-Khan's blog, 22 April 2005.
  8. ↑ "Etienne Chouard : Chercher la cause des causes", TEDxRepubliqueSquare, 22 March 2012.
  9. ↑ Jérôme Bouin, "Que devient Étienne Chouard ?", Le Figaro, 9 April 2007.
  10. ↑ Video on YouTube: "Le tirage au sort comme bombe politiquement durable contre l'oligarchie"
  11. ↑ Mathieu Deslandes, "Etienne Chouard n’est pas mort, il soigne les orphelins du « non »", Rue 89, 26 March 2012.
  12. 1 2 Mathoux, Hadrien (21 December 2018). "Vrai démocrate ou complotiste infréquentable ? Le blogueur Etienne Chouard divise la France insoumise". Marianne (in French). En novembre 2014, Etienne Chouard s'est nettement éloigné du penseur d'extrême droite. Faisant le constat des "accusations violentes" reçues après avoir posté le lien d'E&R sur son blog, le militant écrivait avoir "rapidement compris que [Soral] n'est pas du tout un démocrate", mais estimait que "une partie de son analyse du monde actuel" lui semblait "utile".
  13. ↑ "Comment Etienne Chouard est devenu la coqueluche des Gilets jaunes". Le Journal Du Dimanche. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  14. ↑ "Qui est vraiment Etienne Chouard ?". Mediapart. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  15. ↑ "Etienne Chouard chez les Amis du Monde diplo : la descente aux enfers". Conspiracy Watch. 14 September 2011. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  16. ↑ Robin Andraca (30 April 2019). "Etienne Chouard a-t'il dit qu'il devrait avoir le droit d'etre antisemite". liberation.fr.
  17. ↑ "Quand Etienne Chouard affirme qu'il "devrait avoir le droit d'être antisémite"". lesinrocks.com. 30 April 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2019..
  18. ↑ "Etienne Chouard estime qu'il devrait "avoir le droit d'être antisémite" (vidéo)". francesoir.fr. 30 April 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2019..
  19. ↑ "L'ambiguïté nauséabonde d'Etienne Chouard sur l'existence des chambres à gaz : " J'y connais rien "". nouvelobs.com. 11 June 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2019..
  20. ↑ "Etienne Chouard refuse de condamner le négationnisme (vidéo)". francesoir.fr. 11 June 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2019..
  21. ↑ Pierre Tremblay (11 June 2019). "Étienne Chouard, figure écoutée des gilets jaunes, accusé de négationnisme". huffingtonpost.fr. Retrieved 11 June 2019..
  22. ↑ "Denis Robert, nouveau patron du Média : "Je ne veux pas de pouvoir !"". arretsurimages.net. 19 June 2019. Retrieved 20 June 2019..
  23. ↑ "Négationnisme : des propos d'Etienne Chouard, "figure" des gilets jaunes, font polémique". europe1.fr. 12 June 2019. Retrieved 12 June 2019..
  24. ↑ "EN VIDÉOS - Étienne Chouard regrette ses propos négationnistes". lefigaro.fr. 15 June 2019. Retrieved 15 June 2019..
  25. ↑ Olivier Morin (15 June 2019). "Mimer l'ignorance, ce négationnisme sourd". humanite.fr. Retrieved 15 June 2019..
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