The Miviludes (Mission interministérielle de vigilance et de lutte contre les dérives sectaires) is the country’s main institution for the fight against sectarian risks. Established in 2002, its mission is to watch and combat what it considers to be groups that pose a risk to public order or individual freedoms. Nonetheless, over the years Miviludes has come under increasing scrutiny for the lack of transparency, the sensationalist rhetoric and the questionable methodologies. Also, its relationship with the media is rather close which has created a feedback loop that amplifies the public fears and stigmatizes religious minorities.
In a world that often misunderstands and ostracizes unconventional beliefs, Donald A. Westbrook’s groundbreaking 2024 book, Anticultism in France, emerges as a beacon of scholarship...
In a world where ideologies and sects often stir controversy and confusion, understanding the intricacies of these phenomena becomes paramount. The European Times had...
FECRIS is the European Federation of Centers for Research and Information on Sects and Cults, an umbrella organization funded by the French government, that...
Miviludes had some troubles due to its long-term association with anti-Ukrainian Russian extremists, and recently Miviludes has seen its operational chief resigning,
The current war in Ukraine is not the product of a one-week preparation. It has been prepared with more than a decade of propaganda, and in fact started already in 2014 with the invasion and occupation of Crimea
Privileging the saisines (i.e., reports by those who write to denounce a “cultic deviance”) may only lead to biased conclusions.
by Massimo Introvigne
The MIVILUDES, the French Inter-ministerial mission...
On 9 April 2021, the Minister of the Interior’s Delegate for Citizenship, Marlène Schiappa, gave an interview on France Info announcing a vigorous relaunch of MIVILUDES, the inter-ministerial mission for monitoring and fighting against cultic deviances which now falls under the Ministry of the Interior.