“I very firmly ask that the sports community be extremely vigilant in its civic role,” says Roselyne Bachelot.

The march against anti-Semitism this Sunday in Paris “was up to the task, it was a very nice gathering”, says Roselyne Bachelot, former Minister of Sports, on franceinfo. 105,000 people marched in Paris and 182,000 nationally according to the Ministry of the Interior.

For Roselyne Bachelot, “we must translate”this mobilization “in concrete acts of daily life. There is a deep anti-Semitism that runs through French society”she protests. “Everyone needs to get involved and the sporting world too. It’s the responsibility of the clubs, the organizers, the federations not to let anything go to waste.” Former Minister of Sports “requests very firmly that the sporting environment be extremely vigilant in its civic role and not let anything go unnoticed about anti-Semitism, but also about racist or homophobic insults”. Athletes have “a special aura among young people” if they mobilize “I can only encourage them to do so.”

“Each of us is the heir of this anti-Semitism”

“It’s also the role of all of us” this fight against anti-Semitism since “Every French person must protect their Jewish fellow citizen. Anti-Semitism is something that concerns us all. During the Second World War, it was individual actions that saved France from the dishonor of Vel’ d’Hiv’.” This “anti-Semitism is deep, we know the anti-Semitism of the far right, we know the anti-Semitism of part of the left and each of us is the heir of this anti-Semitism which has more or less permeated us”recognizes Roselyne Bachelot. “I was raised in a religious school where I was told throughout my childhood that the Jewish people were a people of suicide and it took years for this matter to be settled in the Catholic Church.”