DECLARATION OF PERSONAL AND SPIRITUAL FREEDOM
PRONOUNCED AT: PARIS, PLACE DE LA BASTILLE, 23 Oct 2000
(cont...)

WHEREAS, the French government, through the aforementioned persons and their subservient employees, allies and sycophants and their anti-religious, anti-democratic, anti-constitutional and, thus, anti-French campaigns, have caused members of persecuted religions to lose employment; have their careers ruined; have their artistic freedom destroyed; have the custody of their own children refused and/or the choice for their children’s education denied; and other, similar acts of oppression;

WHEREAS, the French government, through the aforementioned persons and their campaigns, has deliberately embarked upon successful attempts to influence, manipulate and bring about tendentious reporting by the French press and other media to the detriment of religious minorities and their members;

WHEREAS, most recently, the Prefect of Paris, Philippe Massoni, arbitrarily and without justifiable cause, forbade a peaceful March for Freedom of Conscience and Belief from the Place de La Bastille to the Place de la Republique in Paris on Monday, October 23;

WHEREAS, the French government through the person of its Prime Minister, has knowingly condoned and, thus, vicariously contributed to the proliferation of harmful, undemocratic acts against religious minorities, their members and families;

WHEREAS, the Renseignements Generaux, under the direction of its chief, Bertrand, has conducted premeditated campaigns to spy on minority religious members, invade their privacy, and ruin them economically and socially, and has conducted other “dirty tricks” such as covertly urging business associates to sever their connection with them, all with the clear intent of destroying their rights to the pursuit of happiness.

WHEREAS, the recited anti-religious bias, persecution, caprice and anti-democratic oppression are directly contrary not only to the French Constitution but also the religious freedom rights inherent in the intent, spirit and letter of the European Convention on Human Rights; the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; declarations of intent and policy by the Council of Europe and the European Commission as well as many holdings of the European Court on Human Rights; which the French government and its officials promised to honor, uphold and follow;

AND WHEREAS, in the recent past, international religious organizations, human rights associations, other governments and foreign legislators have severely criticized the French government for its repressive, undemocratic treatment of its religious minorities;

ACCORDINGLY, we, the undersigned, hereby PLEDGE and DECLARE that we will do everything in our just and lawful power, wasteful of no opportunity to so act, to help our fellow men and women in France to reverse and eliminate the abusive treatment against them by members of its officialdom, to restore the basic freedoms and constitutional rights including, but not limited to, the rights to spiritual freedom and religious practice as well as the rights to free assembly and expression and, in this manner, create a climate of harmony, support and true justice worthy of an enlightened and democratic nation.

We, the Undersigned,
today, October 23rd, 2000,
at the Place de la Bastille: