Robert Ménard
Robert Ménard (born 6 July 1953 in Oran in Algeria) is one of the founders and the former secretary-general of the Paris-based international NGO Reporters Sans Frontières.
Ménard came from an old French family which had lived in Algeria since the 1850s. When he was nine years old, the family moved to Brusque, Aveyron.[1] He studied religion, and planned on becoming a priest. While in college, he became aligned with Trotskyist elements, and joined the Socialist Party.
In 1975-1976, Ménard created the pirate radio station Radio Pomarède and became president of l'Association pour la libération des ondes - The Association for the liberation of the airwaves. He became the target of many lawsuits, in one of which, François Mitterrand, later President of France gave a character reference. He later created the free magazine Le Petit biterrois but was forced to close it down due to a lack of advertisers. In 1985 he created Reporters Sans Frontières.[1]
A Rue89 post claims Ménard became the focus of significant controversy after an interview with France Culture in which in response to a question about the case of the kidnapped journalist Daniel Pearl he made a statement which some have interpreted as saying that the use of torture could be justified in some circumstances.[2]
On 24 March 2008 Ménard and two other members of Reporters Sans Frontières were arrested for attempting to disrupt the lighting of the Olympic Flame prior to the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. The disruption was aimed at protesting the crackdown on Tibetan civil rights activities by the Government of the People's Republic of China.[3]
Ménard is also known to have collaborated with fringe Cuban groups in Florida, leading to the revelation that he and Reporters Sans Frontières have received financing by the US Department of State to spread propaganda against Cuba.[4]
Ménard resigned from his role as secretary-general of RSF in September 2008[5] and became director-general of the Doha Center for Media Freedom in Qatar which opened in October 2008.[6][7] Ménard resigned as director-general of the Center in June 2009, complaining of obstruction by Qatar government officials of the Center's work (notably its criticism of Qatar's restrictive media policies, along with the Center's efforts to bring several persecuted journalists to Qatar for temporary refuge), despite earlier assurances that it would be allowed to operate freely.
In 2013, he announced he would be a candidate for the position of mayor of Béziers in the 2014 municipal elections. He launched his campaign with the support of the sovereigntist right-wing party Arise the Republic, and subsequently welcomed the support of the far-right National Front, who endorsed him as their candidate although he was not a member.[1] His move to the far right attracted media attention. He described himself publicly as a "reactionary", supporting the reintroduction of the death penalty and objecting to the recent legalisation of gay marriage.[1]
Ménard is married to Emmanuelle Duverger. They have three children.
Works
- (with Emmanuelle Duverger) La Censure des Bien-Pensants - Liberté d'Expression: L'Exception Française, Éditions Albin Michel, 2003
- "Vive Le Pen !", Mordicus, 2011
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Robert Ménard, porte-flambeau de la dédiabolisation du FN", Le Monde, 21 June 2013
- ↑ Jean-Noël Darde, Quand Robert Ménard, de RSF, légitime la torture, Rue 89, 26 August 2007 (French)
- ↑ Reporters Without Borders demonstrates in Olympia at start of Olympic torch relay to Beijing
- ↑ "Reporters Without Borders Unmasked". CounterPunch. 2005. Retrieved 2010-08-17.
- ↑ "Robert Ménard "se passera très bien des médias"" (in French). Le Figaro. 2008-09-26. Archived from the original on 2008-12-23. Retrieved 2008-12-24.
- ↑ "Organes de gouvernance" (in French). Doha Center for Media Freedom. 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-12-23. Retrieved 2008-12-23.
- ↑ "Media Safety - Qatar: Doha Centre for Media Freedom launched". International News Safety Institute / BBC Monitoring. 2008-10-18. Retrieved 2008-12-23.