French President Macron defends painting depicting child  rape

French President Emmanuel Macron didn't bother defending freedom of expression when a woman was arrested for criticizing him in March. Macron did, however, take a proud stand Monday in support of a pornographic depiction of child rape.

The painting

The Paris museum Palais de Tokyo has on display a pornographic work by Swiss agitpropist Miriam Cahn entitled, "F*** abstraction." The work depicts a faceless adult orally raping a childlike figure.

Cahn claims the work serves as a condemnation of rape as a weapon of war, reported the Telegraph.

Not all are convinced.

Children's rights groups regard the work as child pornography and have repeatedly attempted to have it taken down, citing French law forbidding public displays of "pedo-pornographic" material that "incites" predators and "puts minors in danger," reported Artnet News.

Homayra Sellier, founder of the children's defense group Innocence in Danger, said, "We don’t care that Miriam Cahn claims she’s denouncing war crimes. It doesn’t matter. ... The first impression given by this painting… is that they are children."

Backlash

A petition against the work received roughly 14,000 signatures, and parliamentarian Caroline Parmentier brought the matter to the attention of the National Assembly, to no effect.

Several children's rights groups, led by Lawyers for Childhood, took the matter to court in March, but their legal attempt to have the painting taken down was rejected on March 28.

They appealed the ruling to France's State Council, but were once again shut down on April 14.

Artnet reported that the presiding judge in the case concluded that the painting does not violate the safety of children or human dignity and that the "artist's only intention is to denounce a crime."

A lawyer for the museum said of the judgment, "It’s very important the judge has put a clear stop to attempts at circumventing the right to freedom of expression, by way of so-called child protection… It shows one cannot remove an artwork from its context."

When petitions and complaints proved ineffective, Pierre Chassin, a former elected official from the rightist party Front National, allegedly went rogue.

On May 7, Chassin allegedly bypassed the three hulking guards protecting the ostensible child pornography and vandalized the painting with purple spray paint he had hidden in a medicine bottle, reported Le Monde.

An individual familiar with the investigation indicated that the vandal was "unhappy with the sexual portrayal of a child and an adult presented in the painting," but was not affiliated with an activist group.

The elderly vandal — who reportedly once served as a mercenary in the Congo — was apprehended by a security agent immediately afterward and then arrested by police.

The museum has indicated it will keep the damaged work of agitprop on display until at least May 14.

Child pornography and Macron's values

Rima Abdul Malak, France's culture minister, reacted to the defacement of the pedophilic painting, telling Franceinfo, "It's a direct attack on freedom of expression, which is quite serious."

The Telegraph reported that the massively unpopular French president similarly rushed to condemn the vandalism, noting that he had done so "on this May 8, when we celebrate the victory of freedom."

"Targeting a work of art is an attack on our values," wrote Macron. "In France, art is always free and respect for artistic creation is guaranteed."

Macron does not appear to have made a similar denunciation in the aftermath of climate alarmists' November attack on Charles Ray's silver equestrian sculpture in Paris.

Not all French — 71% of whom disapprove of Macron, according to Politico — have reaped the "victory of freedom" the president made reference to in his condemnation.

TheBlaze previously detailed how a middle-aged French woman identified as Valérie was arrested on March 24 and hit with a crushing penalty for allegedly calling Macron "filth" online.

"They want to make an example of me," Valérie told the regional newspaper La Voix du Nord.

A state representative filed the complaint on Macron's behalf. Notwithstanding his apparent affinity for freedom of expression, Macron did not intervene.

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