The headmistress and elected councillor in Seine-et-Marne, Dorothée Moureaux (photo) , was suspended after a tweet in which she denounced Muslim anti-Semitism.
The case starts on February 16, 2019.
Dorothée Moureaux, 58, LR councillor in Moissy-Cramayel (Seine-et-Marne), primary school director in the same municipality, councillor of Greater Paris, reacts on her Twitter account to the anti-Semitic insults against Alain Finkielkraut on the Boulevard du Montparnasse, in Paris, on the sidelines of a demonstration by the yellow waistcoats:
“An outburst of hate against #Alain Finkielkraut. Shame on them. On 19.2. rally against #Antisemitism. It’s time to put #Muslims, who are the first to insult Jews, in their place.The extremes of right and left included”.
A journalist from Le Parisien spotted the tweet and contacted the councillor. Dorothée Moureaux clarified her thoughts: “When I talk about putting them in their place, it is simply a question of applying secularism. The person who insulted Alain Finkielkraut, according to Le Parisien, “is known to the intelligence services because he was involved in the radical Islamist movement.
After the journalist’s call, Dorothée Moureaux deleted her tweet. It is hard to say what her fate would have been had she not done so, but there is no doubt that legally she was not forced by anything to distance herself. The four lines lacked nuance, as so many tweets do, but criticism of Islam is not forbidden.
In this regard, Dorothée Moureaux drew attention to an obvious fact quantified by the Foundation for Political Innovation in a survey published in November 2014: “Muslims are two to three times more likely than the average French person to share prejudices against Jews.”
And even if Dorothée Moureaux had made a truly polemical statement, she would have had the right to do so. The courts have long been of the opinion that the freedom of expression of elected officials is fundamental, even if it means going too far. In a ruling of September 7, 2017, the European Court of Human Rights overturned the defamation conviction of a local councillor who had accused the mayor and first deputy mayor of Le Broc (Alpes-Maritimes) of fraud without evidence!
Unfortunately, support for Dorothée Moureaux will be scarce.
The head of the LR list for the local elections in Moissy, Christian Duez, immediately distanced himself from his candidate in Le Parisien: “I don’t agree with this speech at all (…) she sometimes writes faster than she thinks. Dorothée Moureaux is removed from the LR list. She is flooded with mails containing insults and threats.
Her Twitter profile mentioned her position as head teacher, but she did not mention it in the tweet that drew attention. However, on February 20, Dorothée Moureaux was summoned to the Directorate of National Education Services of the Seine-et-Marne department, where the academic director, an inspector, the secretary general and the director of the rectorate were awaiting her. The accused argued that she had spoken in her capacity as an elected official, but that was that.
The sanction fell the same day: a four-month suspension that would turn into a creeping dismissal in the form of job withdrawal. Dorothée Moureaux will never find a permanent job as director.
She became a substitute teacher, certain that she would remain so until retirement, with a considerable loss of income. In the end, my colleagues and parents were the ones who showed me the most solidarity,” she says. I was never reprimanded, I think I was appreciated …” Mails that Causeur has consulted attest to this.
On April 16, 2019, she got a warning from the Public Prosecutor’s Office stating that her tweet fell under the criminal law.
The judges say that Dorothée Moureaux posted a message that “stigmatises Muslims”.
About Jews, they strangely refer to “members of another religious community”. Hypocritically, they then point out that Ms Moureaux was “threatened herself”.
Finally, she was reprimanded by the rectorate for her own personal safety. She was dismissed.
Apparently assuming that a suspended Samuel Paty would still be alive, the national education and judicial authorities recommend retirement, so to speak. Doesn’t the real racism lie in this idea of Muslims as a bloc of intolerance, unable to accept the slightest criticism?
Dorothée Moureaux admits that she no longer has the funds to appeal this decision, which has serious consequences for her and is a concern for freedom of expression, especially in the educational community. What a mess,” she sighs. ‘To think that the Creteil Academy is desperate for head teachers and headmasters! “
Maybe one day we should ask why.