Voltaire Network
Encyclopedia
The Réseau Voltaire is an international non-profit organisation, based in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

. It stated aim is the promotion of freedom and secularism (i.e. laïcité
Laïcité
French secularism, in French, laïcité is a concept denoting the absence of religious involvement in government affairs as well as absence of government involvement in religious affairs. French secularism has a long history but the current regime is based on the 1905 French law on the Separation of...

), that is separation of church and state, faith and politics. Chaired by Thierry Meyssan
Thierry Meyssan
Thierry Meyssan is a French journalist and political activist.He is the author of investigations into the extreme right wing , as well as into the Catholic Church Thierry Meyssan (born 18 May 1957 in Talence, Gironde) is a French journalist and political activist.He is the author of investigations...

, new changes in the group's political orientation led to a split in 2003.
  • Chairman : Thierry Meyssan
    Thierry Meyssan
    Thierry Meyssan is a French journalist and political activist.He is the author of investigations into the extreme right wing , as well as into the Catholic Church Thierry Meyssan (born 18 May 1957 in Talence, Gironde) is a French journalist and political activist.He is the author of investigations...

     (France)
  • Deputy chairmen : Sandro Cruz (Peru), H.H. Prince Issa El-Ayoubi (Lebanon)


The Voltaire Network publishes a free website (voltairenet.org) available in eight languages (Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

, Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...

, Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

, Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

) and two online databases (911investigations.net and gulfinvestigations.net).

Origins

The Voltaire Network was founded in the context of a campaign in favour of freedom of speech, which the founders thought was put into jeopardy by new laws enshrined in the French penal code. After the campaign the association lived on, specialising in the study of far-right movements and religions. It was vocal notably in preventing the French government from funding the religious part of the Pope's visit to France, and in initiating an investigation of the French Parliament regarding the French far-right militia group DPS
Department of Protection-Security
Department for Protection and Security or Département Protection et Sécurité is the "security" branch of the National Front political party of France, which depends directly from the FN's president and is now led by Eric Staelens....

. Since 1999, the Réseau Voltaire has dealt with international issues, notably by publishing daily news about the bombings of Serbia by NATO.

Internal dissensions

Several senior members of the Réseau have complained about a lack of control of the administration council over actions of the president and general secretary. One example was Entretien avec le Hezbollah ("Meeting with the Hezbollah") which presented the group as a "social group of Muslim inspiration, comparable to the Liberation theology
Liberation theology
Liberation theology is a Christian movement in political theology which interprets the teachings of Jesus Christ in terms of a liberation from unjust economic, political, or social conditions...

 in South America" .

Three members of the administration council (Michel Sitbon, Gilles Alfonsi and Jean-Luc Guilhem) resigned in February 2005, over what they consider is an adhesion to the theory of the so-called "Clash of civilizations
Clash of Civilizations
The Clash of Civilizations is a theory, proposed by political scientist Samuel P. Huntington, that people's cultural and religious identities will be the primary source of conflict in the post-Cold War world....

," although the Network's publications clearly oppose the theory as a neo-conservative strategy to control the world's last remaining oil reserves
Oil reserves
The total estimated amount of oil in an oil reservoir, including both producible and non-producible oil, is called oil in place. However, because of reservoir characteristics and limitations in petroleum extraction technologies, only a fraction of this oil can be brought to the surface, and it is...

, and the instrumentalisation of the network. They object that "With the pretext of resisting American Imperialism, lenience toward Chinese and Russian imperialisms and closeness with Islamists is symptomatic of a latent anti-Semitic drift among the direction." They also claim the existence of links with intelligence agencies, arguing that the Voltaire network had been constructed against such organizations. However, they also underline that the new stance of the direction shouldn't cause the previous work of the network to be forgotten. Since 2002, these members had been in conflict with Bruno Drweski, director the Communist review La Pensée. These accusations were denied by the Réseau Voltaire, which evokes mere "changes in dimension." Founding member Michel Sitbon cited the arrival of controversial personalities like Claude Karnoouh (who was never actually an administrator) and Bruno Drweski, while the Réseau, in a 2005 declaration, said that "administrators favourable to a franco-French petty political conception of the association have been put in minority. They resigned either before or during the general assembly"

Notoriety

In 2001, the Network started a web site to denounce the closure by Danone of several plants for economic reasons seen as purely speculative. Complex legal issues over the trademark followed, which ended favourably for the Voltaire Network.

The Voltaire Network was especially vocal after the attacks on the World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...

 of the 11th of September 2001, Meyssan claiming that 9/11 was an inside job.

In November 2005, Voltaire Network held in Brussels (Belgium) an international conference aimed at setting up an intellectual front to face the neoconservatives: the conference was called Axis for Peace
Axis for Peace
Axis for Peace was a conference organised by Voltaire Network to"gather political and intellectual personalities... already committed against the war logic and who wish to install a permanent structure that could make the voice of peace be heard."...

.

The Voltaire Network frequently publishes grave accusations regarding important events or personalities. Notable instances are:
  • In 1997, the Network accused Fernando Sáenz Lacalle
    Fernando Sáenz Lacalle
    -External links:*...

    , Archbishop of San Salvador
    San Salvador
    The city of San Salvador the capital and largest city of El Salvador, which has been designated a Gamma World City. Its complete name is La Ciudad de Gran San Salvador...

    , of being involved in several crimes, including the murder of the former archbishop. Although he denied, he had to resign his position of general in the army of San Salvador.
  • In a widely mediatised book, 9/11 The Big Lie, Thierry Meyssan, president of the network, claimed that the 11th of September 2001 was due to an internal plot within the US administration. The Network broadcast this declaration widely.
  • In May 2002, the Network claimed that the coup d'état
    Coup d'état
    A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...

     against president Hugo Chávez
    Hugo Chávez
    Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías is the 56th and current President of Venezuela, having held that position since 1999. He was formerly the leader of the Fifth Republic Movement political party from its foundation in 1997 until 2007, when he became the leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela...

     had been organised from the White House, citing names of personalities allegedly involved. These claims were used by general procuror of Venezuela Danilo Anderson
    Danilo Anderson
    The Murder of Danilo Anderson took place on 18 November 2004, in Caracas, Venezuela. Danilo Baltasar Anderson was a Venezuelan environmental state prosecutor investigating more than 400 people accused of crimes against the state and Venezuelan people in the failed 2002 coup d'état attempt...

    , and were repeated by Chávez himself. The US Department of State formally denied any involvement.
  • The Network claims that the "Islamic Army in Iraq
    Islamic Army in Iraq
    The Islamic Army in Iraq is one of a number of underground Baathist and Islamist militant organizations formed in Iraq following the 2003 invasion of Iraq by United States and coalition military forces, and the subsequent collapse of the Baathist government headed by Saddam Hussein.Although it...

    ", who had taken French journalists Christian Chesnot
    Christian Chesnot
    Christian Chesnot is a French journalist working for Radio France who, along with Georges Malbrunot and Muhammed al-Jundi , was taken hostage on August 20, 2004, by the Islamic Army in Iraq. This group gave the French government a 48-hour deadline to repeal its law on secularity and conspicuous...

     and Georges Malbrunot
    Georges Malbrunot
    George Malbrunot is a French journalist working for Le Figaro who, along with Christian Chesnot and their Syrian driver Muhammed al-Jundi, was taken hostage on August 20, 2004, by the Islamic Army in Iraq. This group gave the French government a 48-hour deadline to repeal its law against girls...

    , had done so in complicity with the US Department.
  • In 2005, the Network published a controversial article about the new French minister of foreign trade, Christine Lagarde
    Christine Lagarde
    Christine Madeleine Odette Lagarde is a French lawyer and the managing director of the International Monetary Fund since July 5, 2011...

    , titled With Christine Lagarde, the US industry enters the French government


Generally, the Voltaire Network systematically attacked the Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

 and Sharon
Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon is an Israeli statesman and retired general, who served as Israel’s 11th Prime Minister. He has been in a permanent vegetative state since suffering a stroke on 4 January 2006....

 administrations. According to the Réseau, the United States are a "hyperpower
Hyperpower
A hyperpower is a state that dominates all other states in every sphere of activity. A hyperpower is traditionally considered to be one step higher than a superpower. The definition and use of the term varies....

", a term forged by former minister Hubert Védrine
Hubert Védrine
Hubert Védrine is a French Socialist politician.Diplomatic adviser of President Mitterrand, he served as secretary-general of the presidency from 1991 to 1995, then as Foreign Minister in the government of Lionel Jospin from 1997 to 2002.After the reelection of Jacques Chirac in May 2002, Védrine...

, and all international relations are strongly dependent on the attitude of the concerned nations toward the USA. Thus, any analysis quickly comes back to the USA which they accuse of trying to establish a "new world order", which was the exact formulation that George H.W. Bush used on September 11, 1990 in front of Congress on the 49th anniversary of the Pentagon
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...

´s groundbreaking.

Members

The Voltaire Network is made up of news agencies and newspapers from Latin America, Europe and the Arab World:
  • Actualidad colombiana (Colombia)
  • Agencia Alia 2 (Venezuela)
  • Agencia Cubana de Noticias - ACN (Cuba)
  • Agencia de Noticias Plurinacional del Ecuador - ANPE (Ecuador)
  • Agencia Informe de Prensa Internacional - IPI (Peru)
  • Agencia nacional de comunicación (Argentina)
  • Altercom (Ecuador)
  • Bolpress (Bolivia)
  • Contralinea (Mexico)
  • Desde abajo (Colombia)
  • Dia V (Mexico)
  • El juguete rabioso (Bolivia)
  • El Sucre (Ecuador)
  • Federación Latinoamericana de Periodistas - FELAP (Latin America)
  • Fortuna
    Fortuna
    Fortuna can mean:*Fortuna, the Roman goddess of luck -Geographical:*19 Fortuna, asteroid*Fortuna, California, town located on the north coast of California*Fortuna, United States Virgin Islands...

    (Mexico)
  • Horizons et débats (Switzerland)
  • IES News Service (Israel, France and Lebanon)
  • Intelligencia (Lebanon)
  • La Jornada
    La Jornada
    La Jornada is one of Mexico City's leading daily newspapers. It was established in 1984 by Carlos Payán Velver. The current editor is Carmen Lira Saade...

    (Mexico)
  • Observatorio de Medios, Político, Social y Cultural (Argentina)
  • Opción (Ecuador)
  • Periódico de las Madres de Plaza de Mayo (Argentina)
  • Punto final (Chile)
  • Question
    Question
    A question may be either a linguistic expression used to make a request for information, or else the request itself made by such an expression. This information may be provided with an answer....

    (Venezuela)
  • Syria Alghad (Syria)
  • Tendancies (Lebanon)
  • Tintaji (Ecuador)
  • Unión de Trabajadores de Prensa de Buenos Aires - UTPBA (Argentina)
  • Voces del Periodista (Mexico)
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