Human Rights Struggles in Twentieth-century France : The League of the Rights of Man and Causes Célèbres

This book provides an introduction to human rights controversies in twentieth-century France, from the Dreyfus Affair at the beginning of the century, to the arguments over women and immigrants’ rights at its end. Using the Ligue des Droits de L’Homme (LDH) - or the League of the Rights of Man - as a narrative thread for this chronological study, the book tracks the gradual expansion of human rights in France in the wake of the two world wars, the Algerian quagmire and decolonisation more generally. Examining the capital role of the LDH whilst also highlighting the role of individuals and key activists, the book helps us to contextualise the quandaries faced by unseen minorities, particularly colonial subjects and women. The analysis also demonstrates the influence of French human rights activism on key international documents of human rights law, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The LDH occupies a central place in French justice debates and is therefore an ideal template to analyse the rising influence of humanitarianism and crimes against humanity in French causes célèbres from the 1970s onwards. However, the author goes further to look beyond the LDH and even France itself, offering wide-ranging surveys of dominant rights issues across Europe at any given period. Drawing on extensive research and interviews with key members of the LDH, this book provides an accessible overview of human rights struggles in twentieth-century France. Series Editors’ Preface 7 Foreword 12 Acknowledgments 15 Contents 17 Abbreviations 19 List of Figures 21 1 Introduction 23 Notes 29 2 Droits De l’Homme 32 Dreyfus and the League of the Rights of Man 32 The Rights of Women 39 Colonial Populations 42 The Péguy Lament 44 The Trial of Madame Caillaux 45 Notes 47 3 The Great War 51 Union Sacrée 51 International Humanitarianism 52 Embusqués and Bourrage de Crâne 55 Eight Types of Rights Activism 57 Retributive and Restorative Justice 64 Notes 69 4 Interwar Humanitarianism 74 The German Obsession 75 Internationalism and Humanitarianism 76 The Schwartzbard Trial 80 Hitler’s Exiles 85 The Crackdown on Migrants 90 Notes 93 5 Saving Lives in World War II 98 The Vichy Regime 98 Two Antithetical Visions of Humanitarianism 101 Notes 115 6 International Cooperation 120 The Nuremberg Trial 121 René Cassin 127 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 135 Notes 143 7 Adieu to Empire 147 The Madagascar Protests and France’s War in Vietnam 147 The “Dirty War” in Algeria 149 “Soldiers of Refusal” 155 Sartre, Camus, Aron, de Beauvoir 157 Third World Revolutions 165 Notes 168 8 The Breakthrough 173 Police Abuses 173 Doctors Without Borders 178 Feminist Politics and Gay Liberation 183 The Abolition of the Death Penalty 191 Notes 194 9 The Backlash 199 Social Citizenship 199 The Populist Backlash 202 Kurds and Gypsies 207 An Ideology of Substitution 209 Parité 213 Notes 219 10 Suffering at a Distance 225 Amnesties and Amnesia 225 The Trial of Klaus Barbie 230 Rwanda and Former Yugoslavia 236 The Trial of Maurice Papon 241 Notes 244 11 Conclusion 249 Notes 256 Bibliography 257 Index 283