Élisabeth Lévy (born 16 February 1964) is a French journalist, polemicist, essayist and editor in chief of Causeur.[1]
Biography
She was born in Marseille,[2] the daughter of a general practitioner and a pharmacist, both of whom were of Sephardic Jewish ancestry. She grew up in Épinay-sur-Seine and studied at Sciences Po. She worked for the Agence France-Presse (AFP)[3] and for Jeune Afrique.[4] She later joined L’Événement du jeudi, and Marianne[2] and, after being dismissed by Jean-François Kahn in 1998,[3] began writing for Le Figaro.[5] In 2005, Le Premier Pouvoir, a programme she presented on France Culture devoted to media analysis, was cancelled. Guests had included Jean Baudrillard, and Peter Sloterdijk.[6] In 2007 she co-founded Causeur,[7] a magazine whose annual losses are offset by support from far-right stakeholders like Gérald Penciolelli.[3][8]
Controversies
Climate change denial
During a heated discussion with Claire Nouvain on CNews, where Lévy is a regular guest, she vaunted her skepticism as a healthy scientific posture concerning the role of humanity in global warming.[9]
Proximity to Great Replacement theorists
In 2017, she interviewed Alain Finkielkraut, concerning Renaud Camus's Great Replacement theory and in 2021 published a two-part interview with Camus himself.[10][11]
In September 2021, the cover of Causeur showing a picture of five Black or mixed-ancestry babies captioned "Smile, you're great-replaced" was a reference to this conspiracy theory. The cover sparked a wave of indignation, inspiring condemnation from the MRAP and many politicians, including former interior minister Christophe Castaner.[12]
In October 2013, Causeur published a petition in favor of prostitution called the "Manifesto of the 343 bastards" to fight against a bill aiming to penalize clients of prostitution. She defended the title as a humorous way of treating a serious issue (it was a play on a Charlie Hebdo political cartoon about the 1971 Manifesto of the 343).[14][3]
Malek Boutih (coauthor), La France aux Français ? Chiche ! : un entretien mené par Élisabeth Lévy / Malek Boutih, Paris, Fondation du 2-Mars et Éditions Mille et une nuits, coll. « Essai », 2001, 97 p. (ISBN 2-84205-564-0)
Les maîtres censeurs : pour en finir avec la pensée unique, Paris, Librairie générale française, coll. « Le livre de poche » (no 15282), 2002, 408 p. (ISBN 2-253-15282-X) – Prix François-Victor-Noury de l’Institut de France.
Lucien Israël (author) (pref. Alain Besançon), Les dangers de l’euthanasie : entretiens avec Élisabeth Lévy / Lucien Israël, Paris, Éd. des Syrtes, 2002, 153 p. (ISBN 2-84545-051-6)
Philippe Muray (coauthor), Festivus festivus : conversations avec Élisabeth Lévy / Philippe Muray, Paris, Fayard, 2005, 485 p. (ISBN 2-213-62129-2)
Alain Finkielkraut (coauthor) and Rony Brauman (coauthor), La discorde : Israël-Palestine, les Juifs, la France : conversations avec Élisabeth Lévy / Rony Brauman, Alain Finkielkraut, Paris, Mille et une nuits, 2006, 375 p. (ISBN 2-84205-812-7)
Le premier pouvoir : inventaire après liquidation, Paris, Climats, 2007, 164 p. (ISBN 978-2-08-120068-5)
Notre métier a mal tourné : deux journalistes s’énervent, Paris, Mille et une nuits, 2008, 232 p. (ISBN 978-2-7555-0041-7)
Robert Ménard (coauthor), Les Français sont-ils antisémites ?, Paris, Éditions Mordicus, 2009, 103 p. (ISBN 978-2-918414-16-2)
La gauche contre le réel, Paris, Fayard, 2012, 319 p. (ISBN 978-2-7555-0041-7)
^Sébastien Fontenelle, Mona Chollet, Olivier Cyran et Laurence de Cock, Les éditocrates 2 : Le cauchemar continue..., La Découverte, 5 avril 2018, 148 p. (ISBN 978-2-348-03552-4)
