Finding a good balance between the necessity to fight against “ revisionists ” trends or political oblivions , on the one hand , while respecting the freedom of speech and the freedom of research , in the other hand , is probably one of the most important challenges for a near future .
At the same time , there has been a growing trend to promote normative views of the past , even in countries where freedom of speech remains a strong tradition . In France , the lois mémorielles — laws that defend an official interpretation of a given historical episode ( i . e . The Algerian War ) or an official framework of criminal law ( i . e . Western slavery as a crime against humanity ), instigated tremendous polemics and intense activity amongst scholars and politicians . One can see a similar development at the European level : recently , the European Commission recommended that the EU members promulgate laws repressing all forms of denials of genocides or crimes against humanity , based on what has been done against the Holocaust deniers .
Such normative views of History are highly controversial . Striking
Above , Klaus Barbie photo on the fake admission document in Bolivia on behalf of Klaus Altmann , made in Genoa by the Consulate of Bolivia in Italy | Public Domain
Jacques Vergès , French lawyer involved in legal cases for high-profile defendants charged with terrorism or war crimes , including Nazi Klaus Barbie in 1987 , terrorist Carlos the Jackal in 1994 , and former Khmer Rouge head of state Khieu Samphan in 2008 . He also famously defended Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy in 1998 | Source : Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia
( Flickr : Case 002 Initial Hearing ) [ CC BY-SA 2.0
Observing Memories ISSUE 1
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