“Mme Bergeaud-Blackler benefits from functional protection. This is the only comment that the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) agreed to make when Point asked him to find out his position on the death threats targeting the anthropologist Florence Bergeaud-Blackler. She was placed under police protection in March, following the publication of her book The Brotherhood and its networks, the investigationpublished by Odile Jacob, in January 2023, with a preface by Gilles Kepel.
The book is not a pamphlet. No one is insulted there. It is, as the title indicates, a critical light on the intellectual and human device deployed by the Muslim Brotherhood to Islamize Europe. “For almost a month, says Florence Bergeaud-Blackler, nothing happened, then the attacks began. »
They do not come from trolls acting under pseudonyms, but from prominent personalities, such as the lawyer Rafik Chekkat, the Belgian indigenous activist Souhail Chichah or the emeritus researcher François Burgat, former research director of the CNRS, figure of the Institute of research and studies on the Arab and Muslim world (Iremam), where Florence Bergeaud-Blackler also worked.
Islamologist François Burgat on the offensive
On his Twitter account, between February 25 and April 7, the latter tweeted or retweeted 85 messages explicitly targeting his ex-colleague, with a peak of six messages in the same day (March 11). “And again, he erased some,” sighs the person concerned. “Brutal identity drift”, “amazing text”, “intellectual swindle”, “obsessive anti-Islamism”, “sectarian criminalization of so-called Brotherhood currents”, Florence Bergeaud-Blackler “is done with intellectual honesty”, thunders the researcher 75 years old (he did not respond to our requests).
Perhaps vaguely aware that he is crossing the line, he tries to clear himself by invoking Pierre Bourdieu: “Scientific criticism must sometimes take the form of a ad hominem. That’s what it’s all about. François Burgat insists that Florence Bergeaud-Blackler “has read absolutely nothing of the authors she slanders”, he denounces “the absolute indigence of her above-ground argumentation”, but without responding on the merits.
We want to silence her and intimidate those who would have the inclination to speak.Thibault de Montbrial, lawyer for Florence Bergeaud-Blackler
In her book, Florence Bergeaud-Blackler cites it 18 times, including notes. She criticizes some of his positions, in particular his rather confusing idea of “dissociating Islamism from religion”. She notes his superficial knowledge of Muslims in France, which comes to him, he says, from “meetings made on the sidelines of conferences”. She dwells above all on her pivotal role in the Brotherhood propaganda system.
“François Burgat has made himself, throughout his long and comfortable career as a civil servant, the spokesperson for the interests of Islamist movements and, since his retirement, of European brotherhood by espousing the thesis of state Islamophobia. The accusation does not fall from the sky. François Burgat is co-director of the Arab Center for Research and Political Studies in Paris (Carep), funded by the Doha Institute and Qatar Charity. This latter organization is regularly cited as supporting Brotherhood networks all over the world.
Atmospheric Jihadism
Impossible to link the threats made against Florence Bergeaud-Blackler and the smear campaign on social networks, but difficult not to make the connection. Gilles Kepel, himself placed under police protection in 2016, evokes, in his preface, what he calls “atmospheric jihadism”. As the anthropologist Fadila Maaroufi notes in a column published by Atlantico, those who attack Florence Bergeaud-Blackler paradoxically validate what her book says. There is a network, with uncertain outlines but undeniable aggressiveness. “We want to silence her and intimidate those who would have the inclination to speak”, sums up her lawyer, Thibault de Montbrial.
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Judging by the reaction of the CNRS, the result is achieved. To say that Florence Bergeaud-Blackler benefits from functional protection is not taking a position. It is a simple reminder of a regulatory reality: civil servants are entitled to protection against threats, violence, assault, insults, defamation or insults of which they may be victims in the exercise of their functions. The institution does the minimum service. In other circumstances, it has nevertheless published press releases vibrating with indignation, against the use of the term islamogauchisme (February 2021), the invasion of Ukraine (March 2022), Didier Raoult (June 2021), Monsanto ( March 2019), etc.
Contacted by Point, the supervision of the CNRS was clearer. “The Ministry of Higher Education and Research and Minister Sylvie Retailleau strongly condemn the death threats suffered by Mrs. Bergeaud-Blackler” and recall that research must remain “a field of freedom of expression, respect for the other and therefore respect for the law”. A direct mark of support and a reminder of the basics was apparently asking too much of the CNRS.