France’s Stumbling Attempt at Censorship Is Proving an Embarrassment to Chirac

It is well known in France that most of the French press does not like tough, talkative Minister of Interior Charles Pasqua, the politician in charge of law and order. But it was still a surprise for readers of Paris’s trendy newspaper Liberation recently to pick it up and find nine ribald cartoons of a nude Pasqua in awkward sexual and scatological poses.

The cartoons reflected the latest controversy embroiling the government of Premier Jacques Chirac: an attempt by Pasqua to censor what he regards as pornographic publications.

Liberation was obviously trying to taunt Pasqua. It filled its front page on another day with the photo of a woman taken from the back; the photo showed no more than manacled hands and a nude behind. If you really want to censor something, the respected and influential leftist newspaper seemed to be saying, try us.

Blow to Chirac Campaign

The ridicule may have slowed down Pasqua’s efforts. But the controversy was another blow to the undisguised campaign of Premier Chirac, a conservative, to win election as president of France in 1988. President Francois Mitterrand, a Socialist who may decide to run for reelection, was quick to denounce what was going on.

“I am against all forms of censorship,” the president said.

Even members of Chirac’s conservative coalition were upset. Minister of Culture Francois Leotard described the censorship as “a political error.”

“It’s a crazy idea,” Charles Million, a conservative legislator, said. “To gain 1% of the vote, you lose 10%.”

Chirac seemed to be trying to sidestep the controversy. The premier, who is also the mayor of Paris, told reporters, “The mayor of Paris did not ask the minister of interior to do this, but that does not mean the mayor disavows it.”

Pulled Two Ways

The ambiguity was significant. Chirac has long acted as if torn between the need to appeal for votes from the center or from the right. Yet, he has more often than not shored up his right rather than worry about the center. He has done little to rein in the flamboyant Pasqua, probably his most right-wing minister.

The censorship controversy erupted in mid-March when Pasqua’s ministry prohibited five magazines from the use of billboards or other advertising and from being sold to children below the age of 13. The ministry’s prohibitions, for all practical purposes, amounted to an outright ban on the public sale of these magazines because it is illegal for distributors to handle magazines that cannot be advertised or sold to minors.

The ministry also sent notices to five other magazines, including the French edition of the men’s magazine Penthouse, a popular adult comic book and a homosexual magazine, warning them that they, too, might be subject to the same prohibitions. The Paris newspaper Le Monde reported that notices were going out to 18 other magazines as well.

The news of the ministry’s actions came on the eve of the annual Paris book fair. Minister of Culture Leotard, who inaugurated the fair, found himself surrounded by furious publishers, who argued that the Chirac government was moving far backward in time. Magazines like Penthouse are now freely sold throughout Western Europe.

Leotard quickly distanced himself from his Cabinet colleague and told the publishers that the law allowing Pasqua’s actions is faulty. A new law should be enacted, he said, making the courts and not the government responsible for prohibiting pornography.

Pasqua responded at first by saying, “Where minors and incitement to debauchery are concerned, I do not intend to demonstrate either laxity or tolerance.” But he seemed to back down a bit later, saying he would not impose sanctions unless they were approved by a special advisory committee of the ministry. Later, the ministry said it had stopped proceedings against the homosexual magazine.

The controversy was the latest in a long series involving Pasqua, a 59-year-old former businessman who first attracted political attention when he helped organize a special and private security service that kept order at political rallies for the late President Charles de Gaulle in the 1960s.

During Pasqua’s yearlong administration as minister of interior, the French police have been accused of abusing immigrants and demonstrators. The French press has reported that his ministry provided a false passport to an escaping fugitive, apparently in return for evidence implicating Socialists in a political scandal. When asked about this on television recently, Pasqua refused to answer, justifying his refusal on the grounds of national security.

“Democracy ends,” he said in a statement that embarrassed the government, “where the interest of the state begins.”

When his associate, Minister of Security Robert Pandraud, attacked the moral character of a student of North African origin who died after being clubbed by police during last year’s student demonstrations, Pasqua quickly came to Pandraud’s defense.

“Pandraud is no more racist than any other member of the government,” he declared.

Many analysts believe that Pasqua’s actions have attracted many votes for Chirac on the right but cost him more in the center. In a detailed analysis of Chirac’s first year as premier, journalist Jean-Marie Colombani of the newspaper Le Monde described Chirac’s attempt to court votes from the right, exemplified by the use of Pasqua, as “a gross error.”