Liberty, equality, and fraternity was the popular motto during the French Revolution in the late 17th century. This philosophical motto was created to criticize the oppressive monarchy and to fulfill basic rights for French citizens due to the chaotic situation of that era.
This motto has written its own history by marking one of the greatest revolutions in the world, sentencing King Louis XVI to the guillotine, ending Napoleon’s rule, and leading to the formation of the French Republic, with this motto becoming the nation’s constitution until now.
To grasp this timeless motto, we must understand each word’s meaning. Liberty includes freedoms of thought, expression, association, the press, and movement, all protected by the Fifth Republic’s constitution and judiciary through the separation of powers.
Equality means all are born with equal rights, and the law applies equally to everyone, without discrimination based on origin, wealth, gender, religion, or other factors. Lastly, fraternity embodies the sense of unity and shared struggle among the French people, united as brothers by their beliefs and nationality.
To embody the motto, France’s Constitution in Article 1 states that, “France shall be an indivisible, secular, democratic, and social Republic. It shall ensure the equality of all citizens before the law, without distinction of origin, race, or religion. It shall respect all beliefs.
It shall be organized on a decentralized basis. Statutes shall promote equal access by women and men to elective offices and posts, as well as to positions of professional and social responsibility.” The Constitution also establishes Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité as the national maxim in Article 2.
Measuring the relevance of the motto nowadays is a big challenge since France has people of various ethnicities, races, and religions. The liberalism and equality concepts used by the state are the biggest problems in assessing the motto’s continued suitability today. The challenges in France to realizing liberty and equality include issues of discrimination that occur not only in society but also in the political landscape.
France has long been a diverse society with various races, religions, and ethnicities since the government allowed immigrants to work and stabilize the economy after World War I, World War II, and the 1970s crisis. The country’s motto and Constitution have a strong foundation to protect immigrant workers and native citizens, along with the principle of laïcité, which dictates that the state should abstain from interfering in citizens’ lives regarding religious matters, and that citizens themselves have an obligation to desist from publicly manifesting their religion.
The mass immigration that was expected to help France during the crisis became a new problem with the emergence of very high unemployment rates, discrimination, and challenges related to assimilation. The government’s assimilation system was the main problem for all immigrant discrimination because, without a vision of integration, there is a lack of acceptance and respect for the cultural diversity immigrants bring, resulting in social exclusion, unequal treatment, and systemic discrimination.
In addition, state interference in private life, such as banning religious symbols in public schools, including Islamic headscarves, Jewish kippahs, and large Christian crosses, remains inappropriate according to liberal values. Although this law was enacted in 2004, other actions that allegedly lead to Islamophobia have also occurred in sports, such as the French Football Federation banning Muslim players from fasting during Ramadan and female Olympic athletes being prohibited from wearing hijabs.
The recent controversy over mocking the Last Supper at the opening of the Olympics is nothing new in France. Macron himself also defended the creator who mocked Prophet Muhammad and Last Supper under the pretext of freedom of expression. Montesquieu’s De l’Esprit des Lois explains that liberty is the right to do what the law permits. Mockery of religion without a basis is the same as violating the country’s Constitution Article 1, as mentioned above, and it goes against the freedom of speech values brought by Montesquieu.
The government has repeatedly violated the Constitution by limiting freedom of expression and religion, failing to ensure equality for French citizens, whether of immigrant or native origin, and failing to realize fraternity due to a fear of communitarianism. It is also unfortunate that politicians have been unable to implement the great motto that has existed for more than two centuries to unite the French people. Until now, there has been no vision from the government to address this issue that has been rooted for more than five decades.
