ILLE Paris exists to democratize the discourse around Indian languages and literature in Paris.
We want readers of different ages, backgrounds, identities, experiences, and levels of literary knowledge to participate meaningfully in the same conversation. Openness and inclusion are therefore central to our purpose.
We acknowledge that a diverse literary community will not always agree, and should not have to. Reading can lead us into difficult political, historical, social, religious, and ethical questions. ILLE Paris aims to be a place where readers learn to engage with such questions thoughtfully, tolerate genuine differences of opinion, and remain in conversation without treating disagreement as a personal attack.
We remain committed to fostering critical reading and constructive deliberations.
Why does this Code of Conduct exist and where does it come from?
The purpose of this Code of Conduct is to:
- keep ILLE Paris events and community spaces welcoming, inclusive, and safe;
- cultivate the art of critical reading and constructive deliberation among our readers;
- protect the conditions needed for sustained pluralistic conversations representing the plurality of Indian languages and literature.
It sets guidelines for participants / community members on how to engage, disagree, and respect boundaries. It also sets guidelines for the executive council on how to respond in the case of reported conflicts and misconduct.
Its short-and-detailed structure is inspired by the AFPy/PyConFR Code of Conduct. Its approach to constructive disagreement draws especially from LibrePlanet, hosted by the Free Software Foundation, while its safety and enforcement provisions are informed by Django, Paris.JS, the Linux Foundation, and Wikimedia.
The short version
1: Read together. Think together. Discuss together.
ILLE Paris is a literary community. Discussions should grow from reading and help us understand a text, an idea, or its wider context.
2: Disagree with ideas, not people.
Disagreements are welcome. Personal attacks, humiliation, discrimination, intimidation, and harassment are not.
3: Sensitive subjects deserve greater care.
Caste, religion, gender, sexuality, nationalism, colonialism, and other complex subjects are recurrent in Indian literary discourse. Discuss them with an open mind, empathy, care, and consideration.
4: Political reading is welcome; unrelated political performance is not.
We encourage informed political opinion that develops through critical reading. And we don’t tolerate political campaigning, slogans, and recruitment.
5: A place for sincere intellectual expression, not every passing thought.
ILLE Paris is not a general-purpose platform for self-expression. Your personal social-media account has bravely volunteered for that job.
6: Refrain from self-promotion.
Self-promotion, solicitation, recruitment, or seeking endorsements and favors for personal gain is not welcome.
7: Private relationships should remain private.
Friendships, romantic relationships, professional relationship, and disputes between members are not ILLE Paris business unless resulting conduct affects community safety.
8: Respect boundaries.
Threats, stalking, harassment, unwanted physical or sexual attention, repeated unwanted contact, retaliation, or other unsafe conduct will lead to immediate removal and exclusion from the community.
9: Following the event chair’s safety and conduct instructions is obligatory for participation.
Remember, the event chair is in-charge of the safety of all the participants. Hence, when they ask you to stop or change a behavior with respect to a safety concern, do so immediately, or else you would be asked to leave the event.
10: If something feels unsafe, tell us.
In case of concern or to report an incident, contact the event chair or contact executive_council@ille-paris.fr.
The detailed version
Scope
This Code Of Conduct applies to ILLE Paris events, related venue spaces, official online channels, and interactions connected with participation in an ILLE Paris activity. It applies equally to members, guests, speakers, volunteers, event chairs, and the Executive Council.
ILLE Paris does not regulate members’ private lives or opinions, but at the same time acknowledges the responsibility to ensure that their conduct does not impose a threat to the safety, dignity, accessibility, or functioning of the community.
Constructive Deliberation
ILLE Paris sees disagreement as a normal and valuable trait among the intellectual community it aims to foster. Encountering an idea that challenges your worldview is not, by itself, a personal attack. At the same time, your disagreement to such ideas should still leave others able to continue participating as intellectual equals.
We encourage participants to:
- listen to understand before responding;
- question claims and interpretations rather than the worth of the person making them;
- explain the reasoning behind disagreement;
- ask for clarification before assuming intention;
- use textual or contextual evidence where relevant;
- make room for quieter or less experienced readers;
- remain open to correction and changing one’s mind;
The purpose of discussions at ILLE Paris is understanding, not establishing intellectual superiority.
ILLE Paris is committed to keeping participants safe. It does not promise protection from challenging, complex, or unfamiliar ideas. If intellectual discomfort becomes a genuine safety concern, tell the event chair.
Reading, politics, and sensitive subjects
Reading can expose us to questions of power, identity, history, inequality, representation, and public life. ILLE Paris therefore acknowledges that literature can not and should not be separated from politics.
We encourage political reading and the development of informed political opinion through reading. Subsequent discussions should meaningfully connect to the work being read, its author, language, historical context, translation, publication, circulation, or reception. Discussions can include caste, religion, gender, sexuality, nationalism, colonialism, migration, class, communal violence, censorship, state power, regional identity, minority rights, etc.
What we discourage is political expression detached from critical reading, which is the primary purpose of our gathering. This includes:
- unrelated political slogans or talking points;
- steering discussion toward a pre-existing political agenda;
- campaigning or political recruitment;
- demanding declarations or denunciations from other participants;
- treating the gathering as an audience for political messaging;
Criticism of an idea, doctrine, institution, political movement, historical practice, literary representation, or argument should not become judgment of another participant because of their identity. Disagreement with a dominant view is equally welcome as agreement.
Intellectual Expression
ILLE Paris is a place for intellectual expression, and you are encouraged to share observations, questions, interpretations, arguments, and experiences that contribute to collective thought.
Before taking the floor, we expect members to reflect on:
- Does this originate from something I have read myself?
- Can I authentically reference the source?
- Does it connect to ILLE Paris’ reading interests? For example, is the text written in or translated from an Indian language, written by an Indian or person of Indian origin, or substantially about India?
Members are further advised to distinguish between thoughtless self-expression vs sincere intellectual expression. Something that made you think, and that might make others think too, is always welcome.
Refrain from self-promotion
Do not use ILLE Paris events or official spaces for persistent self-promotion, commercial solicitation, recruitment for personal projects, or requests for endorsements, testimonials, recommendations, votes, introductions, or other favors for personal gain.
No participant should feel that goodwill within ILLE Paris depends on supporting another member’s career, publication, business, application, campaign, or project.
Personal and Professional Relationships
ILLE Paris welcomes new participants at all its events. What relationships participants choose to form outside the event in their own personal capacities is their personal business. Resulting friendships, romantic relationships, professional relationships, and disputes are not matters for ILLE Paris to supervise or mediate merely because the people first met at an ILLE Paris event.
However, the boundary changes when conduct arising from a private relationship or dispute makes an ILLE Paris event unsafe, threatening, or hostile. Threats, intimidation, stalking, harassment, unwanted physical contact, repeated unwanted romantic or sexual attention, repeated unwanted contact, deliberate confrontation, or retaliation are serious misconduct. They are grounds for immediate removal from an event and will result in exclusion from the community.
These standards apply equally to everyone. Gender, age, sexual orientation, professional status, popularity, or the nature of a relationship neither excuses unsafe conduct nor creates a presumption of wrongdoing. ILLE Paris remains committed to responding to every reported misconduct.
Role of the Event Chair and the Executive Council
Nobody at ILLE Paris plays ideological referees, including the event chair and the members of the executive council. They do not decide which literary interpretation or political opinion is correct. Their role is to protect the deliberative process and the safety of participants.
An event chair may bring discussion back to the reading, ask for reasoning or clarification, stop repeated interruptions, ask someone to rephrase a personal attack, give quieter participants room to speak, pause an escalating exchange, or end a discussion that has ceased to be constructive.
Participants may disagree with such an intervention, but must comply with it during the event. Concerns about the intervention can be raised with the executive council after the event.
Misconduct
ILLE Paris does not tolerate conduct that makes participation unsafe, degrading, coercive, or hostile. This includes:
- violence, threats, intimidation, or stalking;
- harassment or discriminatory abuse;
- unwanted physical contact or repeated unwanted romantic or sexual attention;
- degrading remarks, sustained personal attacks, or deliberate humiliation;
- repeated disruption after being asked to stop;
- deliberately preventing another participant from taking part;
- retaliation for raising or supporting a concern;
- sharing private or identifying information without permission;
- non-consented photography or recording of other participants;
- repeated unwanted contact after a clear request to stop;
- coercive pressure for personal, professional, commercial, political, or romantic purposes;
- refusal to follow event chair’s instructions to restore order and ensure safety at an event;
Reporting Misconduct and Consequences
If something at an ILLE Paris activity makes you or another participant feel unsafe, threatened, harassed, or unable to participate, speak to the event chair or write to executive_council@ille-paris.fr.
The reporting person does not need to confront the other person first. Share whatever information you comfortably can. If there is immediate physical danger, seek help from the event chair, venue staff, security personnel, or emergency services.
Please note that submitting fabricated reports intended to harm another participant is also a serious misconduct.
The Executive Council will handle reports as discreetly as possible. In the case of direct involvement or a significant conflict of interest of a council member, the council will also ensure that the report is processes without that member’s involvement or influence.
For ordinary failures of discussion etiquette, ILLE Paris prefers correction and learning. Depending on severity, event chair / executive council’s responses will include:
- a polite request to stop or rephrase
- a private warning
- removal from an event
- temporary suspension from the community
- permanent expulsion the community
Serious violence, threats, stalking, harassment, intimidation, or immediate safety risks will skip intermediate steps and lead to calling security and immediate removal from the event as well as from the community.
