Classical Western values such as freedom of speech and tolerance need all the advocates they can find these days, so congratulations to French President Emmanuel Macron for volunteering on the mission. It’s not an easy task, but it’s important. Mr. Macron is right in concluding that it is vital to the future of France — and we would add, to those of America.
Mr. Macron and his government ministers in recent months have been fighting illiberal and divisive philosophies that they say emanate from American universities. Macron, in October, denounced the influence of “certain theories of the social sciences entirely imported from the United States.”
It means, in particular, the habit of seeing most issues in racial terms (a basic principle of “awakening”) and his government wants educational institutions to shun it. This week, the Minister of Higher Education, Frédérique Vidal, promised an investigation into academics “who look at everything through the prism of wanting to fracture and divide.”
This is part of a broader push to reaffirm French values after many years of Islamist terrorist attacks. Mr Macron is also pushing for a new crackdown on religious extremism, and his bill to that effect passed a chamber of the National Assembly this week.
Mr. Macron’s political and philosophical vision is to unite the fight against violent extremism outside France and the defense of democratic values inside. His October speech detailing his new plan to fight Islamism included a warning that focusing on “postcolonial or anti-colonial” discourse is a form of “self-hatred” in France that allows flourish Islamism. Officials such as Ms Vidal also warn against “Islamo-leftism”.