2. Politically Motivated Assassination ?
In time, assassin came generally to mean one who killed an unsuspecting victim without warning,
but the original sense of political purpose was never quite lost, and has become increasingly
strong. To assassinate is to kill for a political reason; to secure or resist authority, to eliminate a
rival for power, to prevent or avenge a political defeat, or to express a political grievance.
Political motivation distinguishes assassination from other deadly interpersonal violence.
Unfortunately motivation is extremely difficult to establish. Havens, Leiden, and Schmitt authors
of “The Politics of Assassination” remarked at the end of their research that "perhaps attempts to
determine motives are irrelevant, for once the act has been committed the public manufactures its
own motive in harmony with its own political predilections”. Political motives, like others, are
often hidden or unclear, and cannot merely be inferred from the political significance or
prominence of a target. Heads of state may be the victims of non political violence; ordinary
citizens such as tourists may die as political surrogates or pawns. Nonetheless, it has been
generally assumed that only attacks on important officials and other influential persons are
politically inspired, and that common folk are too insignificant to draw the assassin's fire. Both
assumptions are questionable.
The meaning of the term political blurs as power concerns and struggles permeate society and as
the interdependence and interpenetration of different forms of authority increase. Any area of
social life, from religion and education to industry and entertainment, can be politicized, serving
as a base, vehicle, or object of power struggles. Whoever emerges as a leading figure may have,
or be seen as having, political significance as actor or symbol, in the sense once associated almost
exclusively with the leaders of governments and parties. Charismatic figures are especially likely
to attract the attention of an established or aspiring power-wielder who sees the potential value
and danger of anyone who sways others.
3. Democracy and Politically Motivated
Assassination
Must democratic countries fight terrorism with terror, match assassination with assassination,
and torture with torture? Must they sacrifice civil liberty to protect public safety?
In the age of terrorism, the temptations of ruthlessness can be overwhelming. But citizens are
pulled in the other direction too by the anxiety that a violent response to violence makes their
countries morally indistinguishable from their enemies.
Politically Motivated Assassinations claim to fight democracies or to protect them, depending
on Who kills Who and Why.
Quite a number of politically motivated assassinations occurred in Paris, involving French
killing French, French killing foreigners, foreigners killing French and foreigners killing
foreigners. Here are some of the most notable politically motivated assassinations through Paris
history.
4. Ravaillac assassinates Henry IV
Henry IV was the king of France from 1589 -
1610.
In 1593, Henry converted to the Roman
Catholic Church, and ended the civil wars that
had long desolated France.
As France became more unified and
strengthened under his leadership, Henry
thought it increasingly necessary to challenge
Habsburg hegemony in Europe. An occasion to
do so arose in 1609 in the lower Rhineland over
the disputed succession to Jülich-Clèves. On
the eve of his planned invasion, 14 May 1610,
however, the king was assassinated on May 14th
1610, by a 32 year old and mentally disturbed
François Ravaillac. A former schoolmaster,
Ravaillac was convinced he could save the
Catholic religion by assassinating Henry IV.
Ravaillac was arrested, tortured and sentenced
to death. He was quartered on the Place de
Grève in Paris on May 27, 1610.
Henry IV died a martyr in the eyes of his subjects
and of later writers, such as Voltaire and Jules
Michelet, who came to identify Henry IV as the very
embodiment of what was best about the French. The
style of rule and policy directions introduced by
Henry IV led to France's rise under his successors as
Europe's preeminent power during the next century.
5. Charlotte Corday assassinates Marat
Originally a doctor, Marat created his own newspaper,
the People's Friend (L'Ami du Peuple) in 1789. At first
in favour of the monarchy, Marat quickly shifted in his
views all the way to the opposite side of the political
scale. He wrote in favour of the radicals and violently
against the King of France, against French aristocracy,
and against the rich in general. Marat fiery criticism
was a contributing factor to the bloody turn of the
Revolution in 1792. With the arrest of the king in
August of that year, Marat was elected as a deputy of
Paris to the Convention. In France's revolutionary
legislature, Marat opposed the Girondists, a faction of
moderate republicans who advocated a constitutional
government and continental war.
By 1793, Charlotte Corday, the daughter of an
impoverished aristocrat and an ally of the Girondists in
Normandy, came to regard Marat as the unholy enemy
of France and plotted his assassination.
On July 13, she gained an audience with Marat by promising to betray the Caen Girondists. Marat,
who had a persistent skin disease, was working as usual in his bath when Corday pulled a knife
from her bodice and stabbed him in his chest. He died almost immediately, and Corday waited
calmly for the police to come and arrest her. She was guillotined four days later.
6. Prince Pierre Bonaparte kills Victor Noir
Victor Noir was born in 1848. He trained first as
a watchmaker then a florist, then moved to Paris
to become a journalist. It was whilst on a
mission for « La Marseillaise » that he met his
fate. Both the newspaper's owner and its editor,
had entered into conflict with Prince Pierre
Bonaparte, the nephew of the Emperor Napoleon
III. On January 10th 1870 Victor Noir and a co-
worker were sent to the home of Bonaparte to
deliver a challenge to a duel. Bonaparte, himself
something of a wild and hot-headed man, took
umbrage to this challenge, and in the scuffle that
broke out, shot and killed Victor Noir.
As his life ended the cult of Victor Noir began.
The reign of Napoleon III was already in danger
of collapse, but the murder of a journalist by a
member of his family was exactly the kind of
event his opponents were waiting for. News of
Victor Noir’s death travelled fast, and on the day
of the funeral, some 200,000 people had
gathered around Noir’s home in Neuilly.
The Prince Pierre Bonaparte was arrested and
jailed but was later freed after the court decided
that he had been provoked and had accidently
killed Noir during the scuffle.
Napoleon III's regime survived until later on that
year when the Prussians invaded France.
Noir became a revolutionary symbol despite
himself. Tour guides at the cemetery invented a
fertility myth in the 1970s. Since that moment,
women visit the tomb and rub themselves against
the sculpture in order to get pregnant.
7. Raoul Villain assassinates Jean Jaurés
Jean Jaurés (1859-1914) was a popular as well as charismatic
leader of the French Socialist Party.
A co-founder in 1904 of the socialist newspaper L'Humanite
he was a man of numerous talents. A prolific writer, he
proved himself as capable at giving a speech as penning it.
With his political instincts inspired by the French Revolution,
Jaures opposed imperialism in all its forms.
As war approached, Jaures' popularity faded somewhat, as he
continued to advocate closer relations with Germany. At the
height of the crisis of 1914 he travelled to Brussels to try to
persuade German socialists to strike against potential war in
Europe.
Shortly after his return from Brussels to
Paris, on 31 July 1914, Jaures was
murdered by a 29 year old nationalist
fanatic, Raoul Villain; three days later
Germany declared war with France.
8. Action Directe assassinates George Besse
On November 17th 1986, the CEO of the state-
owned Renault automobile company was shot to
death near his Paris home by at least two
assailants who then escaped, police and witnesses
said.
No claim of responsibility was made, but the
murder of Georges Besse, 58, was similar in style
to two assassinations claimed recently by Direct
Action, a leftist group that has been waging a
terrorist campaign for several years.
Action, Directe first surfaced in 1979, calling
itself anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist and anti-
military. It is thought to have close ties with the
Red Army Faction in West Germany, which has
carried out a similar campaign of assassinations
and bombings.
The first sign of their cooperation came Jan. 25,
1985, when Rene Audran, the director of the
French government's arms-sales program, was
shot to death outside his suburban home. The
claim of responsibility was made in a letter written
in German and French and signed by both groups.
Two women, Nathalie Menigon and Joelle Aubron,
were charged with his murder in March 1987 and
were sentenced to life imprisonment in 1989. Two
other Action Directe members, Jean-Marc Rouillan
and Georges Cipriani, were convicted as accomplices
and also sentenced to life imprisonment.
9. ? Assassinates Fidan Dogan, Leyla Soylene and
Sakine Cansiz
On January 10th 2013 three members of a
Turkish separatist group were found dead in Paris
Xth district. The murders were politically
motivated according to police.
The three women, including Sakine Cansiz, co-
founder of the PKK, were shot dead at the Kurdish
Institute of Paris. The PKK is a revolutionary
group founded in the late 1970s that seeks to
establish a free Kurdish state in Southern Turkey
and Northern Iraq, but has been declared a terrorist
organization by the European Union and the
United States.
No suspects have been identified, nor is it clear,
who among the PKK's rivals and enemies would
carry out such an assassination.
Turkish leaders even speculated that the attack
could have been the result of an internal dispute,
but offered no proof for the assertion.
Fidan DOGAN, Leyla SOYLENE, Sakine CANSIZ
10. Slide 1: Adapted from University of St Andrews elearning website : The Politics of Assassination Havens, Murray Clark;
Schmitt, Karl Michael; Leiden, CarlPublished by Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs (1970)
Slide 5: The Assassition of Marat by Charlotte Corday. Painting Paul Baudry
Work by T. Euro and 1.Euro students. Supervised and edited by Patrick Raty
