Paris, 13 June 2024
Last Sunday, France entered a very worrying phase in its history, with the imminent return of the far right to power.
In three weeks' time, when early general elections are held, the risk of France joining the dark cohort of populist and nationalist far-right governments has never been higher.
The most reactionary forces are seeking to come together, with the sole ambition of calling into question all the fundamentals of the Enlightenment philosophy, the sources of progress.
In this year when we commemorate the memory of those who fell for our freedom in the face of the Nazi yoke and the collaborationist regime, Freemasons cannot remain mute in the face of the return of the sound of boots, chin wagging and militia gestures.
Faithful and viscerally attached to their humanist and universalist tradition, Freemasons will be more than ever part of this essential struggle, that of defending the fraternal Republic. We must not just sound the alarm, we must act.
Action on the ground, action in our lodges, action outside the temples. Taking action also means listening to the anger of those who, out of weariness or despair, voted for the gravediggers of the Republic on 9 June, in order to convince them that the far right is a dead end.
Meeting yesterday at the headquarters of the Grand Orient de France, the signatory Masonic obediences launched a solemn appeal to all Freemasons, brothers and sisters, to say no to the inevitable victory of the far right and its ideology of hatred. The Masonic obediences urge all Freemasons to gather on 18 June at 6pm in Paris and in all the Orients of France.
Freemasons who have always resisted the hateful hydra of the extreme right and who are faithful to the ideals of liberty, equality, fraternity and secularism are rising up, determined to take part in the reconstruction of a republican hope for all.
Guillaume TRICHARD, Grand Master of the Grand Orient de France
Sylvain ZEGHNI, Grand Master of the Fédération Française de l'Ordre Maçonnique Mixte International Le Droit Humain Bernard DEKOKER-SUAREZ, Grand Master of the Grande Loge Mixte Universelle
Christiane VIENNE, Grand Master of the Mixed Grand Lodge of France
Jean-Jacques MOUMDJIAN, Grand Master of the Mixed Grand Lodge of Memphis-Misraïm