The sequence of tragic social events that have hit our country in the space of a week brings us face to face with a question: are we now ready to accept the price of “zero tolerance”? Emmanuel Macron is launching an appeal to fight a “decivilization process” that is eating away at French society. This concept of decivilization, classified in the repertoire of the extreme right, but claimed by elected representatives of the classical right, simply corresponds to an observation that is heard almost everywhere and in all social circles. Three young peacekeepers killed by a drunk and drugged driver, a nurse – mother of two young children – murdered with a knife, a young girl fatally mowed down by a driver under euphoric drugs… Independent grief? Not quite.

On the same day that a 59-year-old schizophrenic went to Reims University Hospital to “put on a white coat”, as he had been thinking for a while, the Medical Order published a report, according to him. There have never been so many attacks against doctors practicing in private practice or in hospitals. How to stop “this process” to use the words of the President of the Republic? Process means that evil is at work. It is therefore no longer just a question of prevention – as the work of unraveling the national cloak is underway – but of finding the means to put an end to it, resolutely. By what means and by what method? The head of state did not give specific clues. His health minister, on the other hand, warned – while announcing 25 million a year to secure hospitals – that there will be “zero tolerance”. This deserves clarification. Are we to understand that every attack on health workers will be brought to justice and punished without delay? That is what the chairman of SOS-Urgences wants.

This is what we mean by referring to the doctrine that was applied in New York in the mid-1990s. The city’s industrial fortunes, like Brooklyn or Queens, were at risk. Neighborhoods that have become very “modern”! In fact, Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani had achieved spectacular results. Decrease in crime – including murder, rape, burglary. But this policy had been challenged. It had been said that the good results of the economy had been the key to repair. Regardless of the controversies, the idea that the sense of impunity enjoyed by offenders should be combated remains the same today. That we have gone too far by letting it happen, that it is time to raise our heads. And that it is not essential to define oneself as right or left in order to feel the need to find the basis of our social contract. A simple principle of survival, that’s all.

Yes, but by resorting to a tightening of the laws, by establishing a right of exception, the moment society adjusts? A bit like during the health crisis, but then for an … indefinite time? Like in Singapore or China? Do we have to choose between a system of preserved civil liberties or rather security at any cost thanks to locks of all kinds? Knowing that there will always be holes in the safety net. The student who fatally stabbed his Spanish teacher at a prestigious high school in Saint-Jean-de-Luz in February had good grades and was surrounded by a structured family. In the Basque Country at the time, no one emphasized the creeping “decivilization” in school. We don’t mix everything. However, this kind of drama shows how difficult it is to generalize when your hands are dirty.