The Mila affair (French: ''Affaire Mila'') is a French media and judicial case relating to freedom of speech and cyberbullying. After a man invoking Islam directed
misogynistic
Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women. It is a form of sexism that is used to keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the societal roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practiced fo ...
and
homophobic
Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred or antipathy, m ...
insults at "Mila" when she rejected his inappropriate sexual advances, she answered that "islam is shit". The 16-year-old was then threatened with death and rape by numerous people online, which caused her to leave school and to be placed under police protection.
Original facts
On 18 January 2020, "Mila", a 16-year-old female singer in the
Isère
Isère ( , ; frp, Isera; oc, Isèra, ) is a landlocked department in the southeastern French region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Named after the river Isère, it had a population of 1,271,166 in 2019.France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, made a live-stream with followers and talked with them about their love life, and answered to one of them that she indeed wasn't "particularly attracted to Arab and Black women". Later on the stream, a man hit on her inappropriately and she rejected him. The man responded with a series of misogynistic and homophobic insults in the name of "Allah", including "dirty whore", "dirty lesbian" and "dirty racist". Mila later made a story (available for 24 hours) on social media stating that "there's nothing but hate in the Quran. Islam is shit." The video was copied and widely shared on social media.
After her video clip went viral, she received over 100 000 hate messages, including death or rape threats, edited videos of her being hurt in various ways; the haters also
published
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
the address of her school.Multiple sources:
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Mila later received the tile of
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
’s ‘teenage Rushdie’ because of parallels drawn to British-Indian novelist
Salman Rushdie
Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and Wes ...
who had fallen into
controversy
Controversy is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin ''controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an opposite d ...
with angry
Muslim extremists
Islamic extremism, Islamist extremism, or radical Islam, is used in reference to extremist beliefs and behaviors which are associated with the Islamic religion. These are controversial terms with varying definitions, ranging from academic und ...
in the late 1980s for voicing his opinion.
She and her family were consequently forced to live under 24-hour police protection per decision of the interior minister
Christophe Castaner
Christophe Castaner (; born 3 January 1966) is a French politician, former minister of parliament, and former Minister of the Interior from 16 October 2018 to 6 July 2020. In 2017, he was elected for a 3 year term as chairman (''délégué géné ...
, and she has not been able to attend school since then.
On 3 February, she appeared in a TV interview where she stated "I am not a racist, not at all. You can’t be racist about a religion. I said what I thought, I am completely in my rights. I don’t regret it at all." She also announced that she would be filing a lawsuit against some of the people who harassed her with death threats, being represented by
Richard Malka
Richard Malka (born 6 June 1968) is a French lawyer, comics writer and novelist. As lawyer Malka in 2007 successfully defended Charlie Hebdo editor Philippe Val against charges of racism following the magazine's publication of Mohammad caricatur ...
, who had previously represented
Charlie Hebdo
''Charlie Hebdo'' (; meaning ''Charlie Weekly'') is a French satirical weekly magazine, featuring cartoons, reports, polemics, and jokes. Stridently non-conformist in tone, the publication has been described as Anti-racism, anti-racist, sceptica ...
in the
Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy
The ''Jyllands-Posten'' Muhammad cartoons controversy (or Muhammad cartoons crisis, da, Muhammedkrisen) began after the Danish newspaper ''Jyllands-Posten'' published 12 editorial cartoons on 30 September 2005, most of which depicted Muhamma ...
.
On 14 November 2020, she made another livestream criticising Islam, declaring that her detractors should "keep an eye on your buddy Allah because my fingers are still up his asshole and I'm not taking them out." The video led to another wave of harassment and threats.
In March 2021, her Twitter account was briefly suspended after a mass reporting campaign by the people harassing her.
Public reactions
This sparked a nationwide debate on the
freedom of expression
Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...
, Muslims, and the right to
blaspheme
Blasphemy is a speech crime and religious crime usually defined as an utterance that shows contempt, disrespects or insults a deity, an object considered sacred or something considered inviolable. Some religions regard blasphemy as a religiou ...
. Blasphemy is not criminalized in France, and the initial police investigation against the girl's online comments was found to be without merit.
The hashtag #JenesuispasMila ("I am not Mila") was widely used, along with the #JesuisMila ("I am Mila") one. According to a February 2020 poll, 53% of people in France support Mila and half of them are in favor of a right of blasphemy (half being against), which was seen as surprisingly low.
Politicians
The Minister of Justice,
Nicole Belloubet
Nicole Belloubet (born 15 June 1955) is a French jurist and politician who served as Minister of Justice in the government of Prime Minister Édouard Philippe 21 June 2017 to 6 July 2020. A former member of the Socialist Party (PS), she was appoi ...
, said that "insulting religion is serious" and is "obviously a breach of freedom of thoughts", but later said that she regretted her "clumsy" words.
Ségolène Royal
Marie-Ségolène Royal (; born 22 September 1953) is a French politician who was the Socialist Party candidate for the Presidency of France in the 2007 election.
Royal was president of the Poitou-Charentes Regional Council from 2004 to 2014 ...
, argued that the case shouldn't be presented as a martyr in the debate about
secularism in France
(; 'secularism') is the constitutional principle of secularism in France. Article 1 of the French Constitution is commonly interpreted as discouraging religious involvement in government affairs, especially religious influence in the determina ...
and that "the right to criticise a religion doesn't mean you should do it without respect."
On 12 February 2020,
Emmanuel Macron
Emmanuel Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France since 2017. ''Ex officio'', he is also one of the two Co-Princes of Andorra. Prior to his presidency, Macron served as Minister of Econ ...
defended the girl's right of freedom of speech, stating that we forget here that we are talking about a 16-year-old girl.
La France Insoumise
La France Insoumise (FI or LFI; ; "France Unbowed") is a left-wing populist political party in France, launched in 2016 by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, then a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and former co-president of the Left Party (PG). It aim ...
leader
Jean-Luc Mélenchon
Jean-Luc Antoine Pierre Mélenchon (; born 19 August 1951) is a French politician who was a member of the National Assembly for the 4th constituency of Bouches-du-Rhône from 2017 to 2022. He led the ''La France Insoumise'' group in the Nation ...
stated that "in this country, we don't threaten to kill people because they have an opinion we don't like."
Activists and public figures
Several associations, such as the
Representative Council of France's Black Associations
The Conseil représentatif des associations noires de France (CRAN, "Representative Council of France's Black Associations") is a federation of African and Afro-Caribbean associations in France, created in November 2005.Collectif NousToutes, Femen, Osez le féminisme !, and
SOS Homophobie
SOS Homophobie is an LGBT support organization based in France that deals with homophobia. The organization currently consists of a 900 volunteer members as well as 17 regional offices, all of which are based in France. The group is frequently me ...
, issued statements denouncing the harassment. Mila criticized feminists and LGBT associations for not supporting her in their majority.
Both left- and right-wing commentators, such as Eugénie Bastié and Amar Bellal, have criticized the silence of French feminists and left-wing activists on the affair. Annie Sugier, former president of the ''Ligue du droit international des femmes'', argued that the French press had failed to cover the statements released by feminist organizations supporting Mila.
Alice Coffin
Alice Coffin (; born April 29, 1978) is a French journalist, feminist, lesbian activist and politician. She was elected to the Council of Paris in 2020. She is affiliated to the political party Europe Ecology – The Greens, without being a mem ...
argued that the perception of feminist lack of support for Mila was being weaponized to attack feminist activists in France.
Feminist journalist
Lauren Bastide
Lauren Bastide (born 30 October 1981) is a French journalist, feminist, podcaster, spokesperson for the better representation of women and an activist on intersectional feminism.
Biography
Bastide was born in Orléans, France on 30 October 1981. ...
said that she does not publicly support Mila, stating "I do not share her world vision, which is racist and disrespectful of French Muslims". The philosopher
Marylin Maeso
Marylin Maeso (born 13 January 1988) is a French philosopher and teacher, known as a specialist on Albert Camus.
She is an antiracist.
Education
Maeso was born in Montpellier. A graduate of the École normale supérieure where she completed a ...
said that Bastide lied by writing that Mila is a racist and described Mila as "a young homosexual who only said what she thought of beliefs that were thrown at her to dehumanize her as a lesbian and criticized Lauren Bastide as not a real feminist.".
Religious
In January 2020, Abdallah Zekri, an executive officer of the
French Council of the Muslim Faith
The French Council of the Muslim Faith (french: Conseil français du culte musulman, usually abbreviated to CFCM), is a national elected body, to serve as an official interlocutor with the French state in the regulation of Muslim religious activi ...
(CFCM), on
Sud Radio
Sud Radio is a French privately owned radio station, founded in 1958. Until 2017, it was headquartered in Labège, Haute-Garonne near Toulouse, before it moved to Courbevoie, Hauts-de-Seine. This relocation to the Parisian region allows for the ...
, said he was against the threats against her, but also said "you reap what you sow" and that she had to "bear the consequences of what she said". The president of the CFCM, Mohammed Moussaoui, speaking in the name of the CFCM in an official statement, said that the organisation denounced any form of threat and said that the words "she asked for it" by Zekri were "inappropriate".
On 8 July 2021, Mila made a 2-hour private tour of the
Grand Mosque of Paris
The Grand Mosque of Paris (french: Grande Mosquée de Paris), also known as the Great Mosque of Paris or simply the Paris Mosque, is located in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, 5th arrondissement and is one of the largest mosques in France. There ...
at the invitation of its dean, Chems-Eddine Hafiz, who is a friend and colleague of her lawyer, Malka. The tour included prayer rooms normally forbidden to visitors. Hafiz offered her a rose colored copy of the
Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...
. Mila said it was a "friendly visit" and a "very important token of peace".
Criminal trials
In October 2020, a 23-year-old person was sentenced to three years in prison for sending death threats online.
In July 2021, eleven out of thirteen accused were found guilty of online harassment in a trial in Paris. They received
suspended prison sentence
A suspended sentence is a sentence on conviction for a criminal offence, the serving of which the court orders to be deferred in order to allow the defendant to perform a period of probation. If the defendant does not break the law during that ...
s between four and six months plus each paying 1500 euros in damages to the victim along with each paying 1000 euros towards her legal fees. Mila thanked her parents, her lawyer, the police who protected her and the few
feminists
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male poi ...
and
antiracist
Anti-racism encompasses a range of ideas and political actions which are meant to counter racial prejudice, systemic racism, and the oppression of specific racial groups. Anti-racism is usually structured around conscious efforts and deliberate ...
NGOs who supported her. Two of the defendants made an appeal, and received more severe sentences. The first one, who threatened her to "do her a
Samuel Paty
The murder of Samuel Paty (), a French secondary school teacher, took place on 16 October 2020 in Éragny-sur-Oise, a suburb of Paris. Paty was killed and beheaded by an Islamist terrorist.
The perpetrator, Abdoullakh Abouyedovich Anzorov, an ...
" if she tells him where she lives, received a suspended prison sentence of two years. The second one received a suspended sentence of one year. Her lawyer, Malka, stated: "What I felt at the hearing was that these two defendants had not understood the seriousness of what they were accused of and had no regrets. Obviously, the court felt the same way, since it quadrupled and tripled their sentences".
Book
In June 2021, Mila published a book about the affair entitled ''Je suis le prix de votre liberté'' (I am the price of your liberty).