In Marseille, where a huge Algerian community lives, there is concern about the far right coming to power after the second round of Sunday’s legislative elections. Here, people’s minds are still marked by the many racist excesses of Jean-Marie Le Pen’s old National Front. No one in this diaspora seems to believe in the de-demonization strategy undertaken by his daughter Marine over the past ten years. The fact remains that some people say they understand that more and more “native French” are inclined to support the party, now renamed the National Rally (RN).
Because the themes dear to the RN, such as the fight against insecurity and illegal immigration, also find an echo in these very cosmopolitan neighborhoods that adjoin the Old Port of Marseille. “We must recognize that the Marseille that I knew as a child no longer exists. Before, here, it was coolit was clean. But today, it is much less the case with the massive arrival of illegal immigrants. We feel less safe than before,” says Otman Belounis, who is also a tough guy. He makes no secret of his past as a delinquent, which has led him to spend several periods in prison.
That said, there is no question for the man who has retrained in the construction industry to vote for the RN. Sitting on the terrace of a café, the thirty-year-old says he has noticed that xenophobic speech has become considerably more free in the country since President Emmanuel Macron decided to dissolve the National Assembly. He even says he was insulted just a few days ago on the metro by someone who told him to “go back to his country”.
According to him, it will be even worse if the RN, led by the fiery Jordan Bardella, 28, wins the elections. Otman Belounis is biting his fingers for not having gone to vote in the first round last Sunday, during which the RN came out on top nationwide.
“Every presidential election, we get this story. We’re told that the far right is on the verge of power. But in the end, they’re always far behind. Until Sunday, I thought it was going to be the same story. But I was wrong. This time, it’s true: they really are on the verge of power,” laments the man who was born in France to Algerian parents.
Mélenchon’s stronghold
In the fourth constituency of Bouches-du-Rhône, where we are, there will be no vote next Sunday anyway. The outgoing MP, Manuel Bompard, a close friend of left-wing leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, was triumphantly re-elected with nearly 70% of the vote in the first round.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon is not a candidate in this election, but he still plays a central role. For some voters, the unofficial leader of the La France Insoumise party is a turn-off. His positions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict regularly cause controversy, when they are not outright accused of anti-Semitism. The figures of the traditional right do not hesitate to today send La France Insoumise and the National Rally back to back.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s statements have sometimes been a drag during the campaign for the more moderate left, which has formed an alliance with La France Insoumise for this election under the banner of the New Popular Front. But here, in the Belsunce neighborhood, it is precisely for his unwavering support for the Palestinian cause, among other things, that the charismatic strongman of the left remains popular.
“Mélenchon is the only one who cares about the Arabs. Is this opportunism on his part? I don’t think so. I think he’s sincere,” says Hatouti Wari, who left Oran for Marseille about twenty years ago.
Since he is not a French citizen, he was not eligible to vote in this election. But his three children who are old enough to vote all cast ballots for the New Popular Front in the ballot box on Sunday. A choice approved by Hatouti Wari, who is devastated by the rise of the National Rally, which he blames on the media, particularly the conservative news channel CNews, owned by Breton billionaire Vincent Bolloré, often described as the “French Fox News.”
“There have always been racists in France. But before, we didn’t hear them in the media. Now, they have a voice, which carries everywhere and has an influence. How else can we explain that in villages where there are no Arabs, no foreigners, everyone votes for the RN?” says Hatouti Wari between two sips of pastis.
Between fear and understanding
In the neighborhood, it is also one of the only places where you can see people drinking alcohol on a terrace. It is also one of the only places where women are seated at tables. The owner of the place, Faouzi Bendaas, stands out. Especially since he voted last Sunday not for the New Popular Front in the first round, but for Ensemble!, President Macron’s coalition.
“It was the only realistic option,” said Bendaas, who, like many small business owners, is not in favour of the left-leaning New Popular Front programme, which among other things promises a substantial increase in the minimum wage.
But Faouzi Bendaas fears above all that the National Rally will win Sunday’s elections, which would lead President Macron to appoint Jordan Bardella, Martine Le Pen’s young protégé, as prime minister. He also fears a huge protest, or even violence, if the extreme right comes to power for the first time in the history of the Fifth Republic.e Republic.
However, he is not inclined to judge the 33% of French people who supported the RN last Sunday. “I understand their anger. It’s true that there is a problem with immigration. It’s true that there are Algerians who behave badly, who allow themselves things that they wouldn’t even allow themselves in Algeria, where it’s very strict. There has been a lot of laxity in recent years. I think there is some cleaning up to do,” says the man who has lived in France for 40 years.
Plan B, Plan C
He is particularly against the influx of illegal immigrants from all over Africa, including Algeria. Among them: Azzedine, who has been living in France for six years with fake cards. So far, the young man says he has never been bothered by the French authorities. He manages to live decently by doing odd jobs paid illegally.
He is preparing to have to pack his bags if the National Rally forms the government. Even if, deep down, he doubts that France has the luxury of expelling all illegal immigrants, who are often the only ones willing to do certain difficult jobs.
“When you’re undocumented, you prepare for all eventualities. You always need a plan B, and a plan C,” says Azzedine, who agreed to testify on condition that his last name be withheld. His “plan B” would be to go elsewhere in Europe, possibly to Portugal. Because for him, it’s better to live anywhere on the Old Continent — even as an illegal immigrant, even with the rise of far-right parties everywhere — than in Algeria.
“You don’t realize how lucky you are [les Occidentaux]. I learned English and French. I think I work harder than many people who were born in France. But I had the misfortune of being born in Africa. I wonder what I could have accomplished if I had come from somewhere else,” he says fatally, before smiling again and lighting another cigarette.