President Nicolas Sarkozy of France seems intent on criminalising Armenian genocide denial, even after his country's Constitution Council quashed a recent bid.
The Hindu : Opinion / Editorial : Past politics: "France has been dabbling with similar counter-intuitive measures in recent years. Surely, the country's large racial and religious minorities are unlikely to feel reassured by official validations of history. Of material significance would be policies that promote respect for their rights and protect jobs, mitigating a sense of alienation, especially in the current economic crisis gripping Europe."
Surely, the politics behind attempts to deny the horrors of history must be exposed. But to clamp down on such forces betrays an authoritarian and undemocratic tendency inimical to an open polity.