These French people tell how racist speech has been freed since the European elections

Since the European elections and the National Rally’s score, have we seen the emergence of unabashed racism within society? While it is difficult to quantify, witnesses tell franceinfo of an increase in cases and a deleterious atmosphere.

“Soon, it’s the end of France for bumpkins like you!”, “Dirty Arab”… Journalist Mohamed Bouhafsi, columnist for the show C to you on France 5, published racist messages targeting him on Tuesday June 26, received on his Instagram account. France 5 journalist Karim Rissouli, for his part, received a racist message at his home which states that “the historic French people have had their asses full of all these idiots”. In a report from the program “Envoyéspecial”, broadcast on France 2 on June 20, we discovered a caregiver who was the victim of racism from her neighbors, activists of the National Rally.

A few days later, the government spokesperson, Prisca Thevenot, denounced “the release of certain hateful speeches“since the victory of the National Rally in the European elections.

Like these racialized personalities, more and more testimonies are in fact reporting an increase in insults or racist acts over the past few weeks. As Samantha, 31, confides. Born in France of Caribbean origin, she lives in Ermont, in the Val-d’Oise, in a residential complex where she has no conflict with the neighbors. However, for the past few days, “I was left on the windshield of the car, words where he wrote: ‘Fuck you’, ‘get out’, etc.she says. I have a friend who receives trash in her mailbox. I have another friend who lives in a suburban residence and she finds banana peels in her garden, etc. I feel it, I see it around me: the atmosphere has changed since the European election“, laments the young woman.

In the case of Samantha, as in the letter or the messages received by France 5 journalists, the authors are anonymous. If it is all the more difficult to quantify these acts, ““There is a general form of liberation of speech that has taken place and above all, there are small signs,” he believes. Véronique Reille-Soult, president of Backbone Consulting, specialist in opinion and social networks. “For example, there is a space like LinkedIn, which is a professional social network, where people spoke little about politics or at least were more positive. We see that people are making more and more unpleasant reflections. These are more and more often words that we would not have used before“, she notes.

These insults, sometimes presented as jokes or expressed in the second degree, have therefore begun to invade the professional sphere. And this is what concerns Audrey, 27, who lives in Seine-et-Marne. “Right now, I’m looking for a new job. I’m interviewing, getting asked crazy questions that I’ve never been asked in my entire life… There are questions about my religion , about where I come from. People ask me how many brothers and sisters I have. I think it’s just become normal for me.

“My problem is that my life is going to become unmanageable. I don’t care if people call me monkeys, now it’s about life, everyday life. My life is just going to become unbearable.”

Audrey, 27 years old

at franceinfo

For Audrey, it is because public opinion has changed, that the National Rally won the elections, that some people now allow themselves these behaviors.