Podcast: Civil liberties vs terrorism, Pelicot trial revisited, the Pascaline

About this episode

The episode discusses the balance between civil liberties and security in France post-terror attacks, revisits the Pelicot trial, and covers the halted auction of a historic calculator.

A decade after the 2015 Paris terror attacks, France continues to pass security laws, sometimes to the detriment of civil liberties. A feminist journalist's take on the Pelicot mass rape trial. And the auction of the Pascaline, one of the world's earliest calculators, is halted. Immediately following the Paris attacks on 13 November, 2015, the French government put in place a nationwide state of emergency, granting police exceptional powers to detain and search people suspected of links to terrorism. Some of those sweeping powers have since passed into law, at the expense of civil liberties. Law professor Sophie Duroy says that while the public may have got used to authorities having greater reach, it is not always the best way to fight terrorism. (Listen @0') Last December, 51 men were found guilty of raping or sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot in her home in Mazan in what was France's biggest rape trial to date. It made headlines worldwide – not least because Pélicot chose to drop her anonymity to make "shame swap sides" from victim to rapist. Independent photojournalist Anna Margueritat was one of many to cover the trial, but in her own way: as a feminist, an activist and…

People in this episode

Guest: Anna Margueritat

Topics covered

• civil liberties
• terrorism
• Pelicot trial
• feminism
• security laws
• historical calculators

Keywords

• civil liberties
• terrorism
• Pelicot trial
• feminism
• Pascaline
• security laws
• France

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: French government

Products: Pascaline

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