Former Minister Christiane Taubira: Heroine of the Left

(Baonghean) - French President François Hollande's already arduous and challenging fight to amend and supplement the provisions in the Constitution on emergency security measures in the event of terrorism has just encountered another obstacle when Justice Minister Christiane Taubira announced her resignation on January 27.

Left wing heroine

Taubira, a political figure from the city of Cayenne in French Guiana, was the sixth of eight children. Perhaps it was her family background and the Guiana countryside that gradually instilled in her a deep sense of the need for equality for the disadvantaged on the margins of society.

Former French Justice Minister Christiane Taubira resigned on January 27. Photo: EPA.

Taubira's name first appeared in the French National Assembly in 2001, the year she drafted the historic law that considered slavery and the slave trade to be crimes against humanity. In 2002, she became the first woman of color to run for President of France and, although she was unsuccessful, she left a certain mark on the people of the country.

Ms Taubira is not a member of Mr Hollande’s Socialist Party, but of the Radical Left. However, she is widely regarded as an outspoken, outspoken voice representing the left wing of the Socialist government.

As Mr Hollande's justice minister, she became a heroine for the left and gay couples when she pushed through a law allowing same-sex marriage, making France the 14th country in the world to adopt such a law.

Many people believe that when mentioning her, it would be remiss not to mention the role and contribution of the former female Minister in promulgating France's same-sex marriage law in 2013, along with efforts to build a legal system based on legitimate rights and with an increasingly open direction.

However, her political career has not been smooth sailing. The black woman has been the target of attacks by far-right members many times. Remember in 2014, the media was abuzz with the news that Anne-Sophie Leclere - a female politician from the National Front party - was sentenced to 9 months in prison, banned from running for election for 5 years and fined 50,000 EUR for insulting Ms. Taubira, when she brazenly appeared on television and compared her to a chimpanzee!

Choose to leave in protest.

After the bloody terrorist attacks that shocked the world media in France in January and November 2015, Ms. Taubira increasingly disagreed with President Hollande when he introduced a hard-line emergency security policy, giving many powers in emergency situations to the police force and local authorities, while gradually moving away from traditional legal procedures and regulations.

After resigning, Ms. Christiane Taubira left the Ministry of Justice by bicycle. Photo: AP

France has been under a state of emergency since the terrorist attacks in November, and the government is now seeking to extend it until June. The state of emergency allows police and local authorities to exercise extraordinary powers, including the right to search homes and place people under house arrest without judicial supervision.

For a long time, former French Justice Minister Christiane Taubira has been skeptical about the controversial plan that would strip French citizenship from people convicted of terrorism if they were born in France and have dual nationality.

But it was this week that Ms Taubira had her final showdown with Mr Hollande and Prime Minister Manuel Valls, as she continued to reject the president’s plans – known as the “statelessness” plan – which is expected to be added to the current constitution as early as next February.

The move has been met with mixed reactions. While the government has acknowledged that the move is purely symbolic, critics on the left, including Ms Taubira, have argued that the proposed measure has the dangerous side effect of sending the message that French citizens can be divided into two categories – “pure” French and those of mixed ancestry.

It should be emphasized that this is not the first time Ms. Taubira has condemned the above measure, but has repeatedly affirmed that it is a meaningless action, "completely ineffective", and warned that this measure could attack an "important pillar" of citizenship and French identity.

She had been determined to stay in the government despite disagreeing with the measures proposed by the President, but tensions were heightened because she had to be the one to defend the bill before the National Assembly, but ironically, she was the one who publicly strongly opposed it.

On the morning of January 27, just as the National Assembly was preparing to open the first debate on changes to the Constitution, Ms. Taubira met privately with President Hollande and Prime Minister Valls at the Élysée Palace, in an atmosphere described as "warm".

Shortly after, the President’s office issued a statement saying that Justice Minister Taubira had decided to resign. Almost immediately, Ms. Taubira also updated her status on social media network Twitter: “Protesting sometimes means staying, sometimes means going.”

The Guardian said that Ms Taubira’s resignation as justice minister removes a major obstacle to her efforts to enshrine emergency measures in the French Constitution. France24 also said that her opposition may not have had much effect.

Instead, Ms Taubira's departure is likely to clear the way for the government to more easily pass changes to the country's constitution, adding special security measures during the state of emergency.

However, whatever is said, for the French President, Ms. Taubira's decision to leave office also marks the loss of a key figure in the left wing of Mr. Hollande's government, especially at a time when he is trying to concentrate the forces of the Socialist Party to seek re-election in the presidential race next year.

Thu Giang