Unlawful State of Denial

by poputonian

France Sparks Uproar With Genocide Bill

PARIS — French politicians are galloping into diplomatic quicksand with a proposal to imprison anyone who publicly denies that the Turkish massacre of Armenians a century ago constituted genocide.

The draft law, to be debated by the National Assembly Thursday, was submitted by the opposition Socialist Party and has strong support among those on the political right who hope to derail Turkey’s candidacy for European Union membership.

Members of France’s 400,000-strong Armenian diaspora, whose votes are important to all sides in next spring’s presidential election, have lobbied for years to criminalize negating their genocide, just as it is a crime in France to deny the Holocaust.

Is there such a thing as indirect genocide, such as might happen when you intentionally destabilize a foreign sovereign? I suppose in crime parlance, one would call it reckless genocide. The drunk driver, after all, didn’t intend for an innocent death to be the outcome of the actions taken (the drinking.) But the driver is nonetheless held accountable. Cause and effect, you know.