D’abord ils sont venus chercher les mots

Words are never neutral. They shape our way of seeing the world, of naming the realities around us, and of collectively debating what unites or opposes us. When certain words disappear from public debate, it is sometimes ideas, experiences, and knowledge that become more difficult to think about, transmit, or defend.

A professor at Stanford University, semiologist and renowned specialist in political discourse analysis, Cécile Alduy dedicates her work to how words shape our collective representations and influence democratic choices.

For several years, she has been deciphering the rhetorical strategies accompanying contemporary political transformations, from the French far-right to Trumpism in the United States.

On the occasion of the publication of her book D’abord ils sont venus chercher les mots, she analyses the vast offensive launched against entire segments of knowledge, research, and education since Donald Trump's return to the presidency.

Through lists of words banned or made undesirable in universities, administrations, or public programmes, she shows how control of language becomes an instrument of power to dominate thoughts and stifle all critical spirit. For the stakes far exceed the question of censorship.

What happens when it becomes impossible to name certain realities? How do linguistic restrictions transform our way of thinking about the world? What becomes of research, academic freedom, and democratic debate when words themselves become a political battleground?

Moderated by journalist and filmmaker Paloma Moritz, this meeting proposes to reflect on an essential question of our time: how to defend the plurality of knowledge and narratives when language is impoverished?

A meeting to understand why attacks on words are often the first signs of attacks on freedoms.