Festival «Ensemble en Librairie !» – Rencontre avec Sophie Lemaître

In France and around the world, alarming methods of intimidation are targeting journalists and human rights defenders. Legal actions are multiplying against those who inform us about matters of public interest, with a single aim: to silence them. While SLAPP suits are favored by corporations and influential figures, laws, such as those against terrorism and money laundering, are being misused to criminalize certain civil society initiatives.
Such attacks hinder public debate and the right to inform and be informed. If they become commonplace, our society risks increased surveillance and a weakening of fundamental freedoms.
In this well-documented essay, the legal scholar Sophie Lemaître endeavors to demonstrate, through numerous edifying examples, how these methods constitute an existential threat to democracy and the rule of law as we know them.