Keyword: racism

The notion of 'anti-White racism' is an ideological construct aimed at downplaying the systemic, social and cultural racism endured by black people and people of North African origin in France. Mediapart publishing editor Edwy Plenel says that its emergence in public debate is a sign of how France has failed to face up to the issue of colonialism, to both its long past and its persistence today.

Nearly 7,000 demonstrators marched in Paris on March 19th, 2017, against police violence. © Reuters

The residents of France's working-class multi-ethnic areas abstained from the first-round elections in greater numbers than the national average. Yet if they turn out in force in Sunday's second round vote between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen they could yet have a big say in the outcome. Though fed up with being told who to vote for, many of the inhabitants come from immigrant backgrounds and already experience everyday racism they fear will only get worse if the far-right win power. However, many are also afraid Macron's liberal economic policies will make their lives even harder. Carine Fouteau assesses the mood in areas that have been largely overlooked in the French presidential campaign.

Balck Italian footballer Mario Balotelli, now playing with French team Nice, bitterly denounced racist chanting against him by fans of Corsican team Bastia, who he says directed monkey imitations at him during the Ligue 1 match between the two sides.

July 18th: tributes to the Bastille Day attack on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice. © Reuters

The Bastille Day attack in Nice, when a Tunisian immigrant from the city drove a truck into crowds walking the seafront Promenade des Anglais, killing 84 people, has heightened the already prevalent racial and social tensions in the Riviera capital. Ellen Salvi reports from Nice, where local politicians have long fuelled the fires of division that threaten to engulf the city.

The French forward, implicated in a sex tape scam, tells Spanish magazine he was left out of squad for Euro 2016 because of his North African origins.

The ‘March of Dignity’, headed by women, was held to protest against racism, police heavy-handedness and injustice.

Former French president Sarkozy came under fire for singling out two non-white female ministers in a largely white government as incompetent.

Reports says that discrimination is 'main source of inequality' in France for young men of sub-Saharan African or north African origins.

The former RUC policeman, 50, was identified as among a group of football supporters who pushed a black man off a metro train last week.

French police have given their British counterparts the images of seven suspects after a black man was pushed off a Paris metro train on Tuesday.

The Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muižnieks, on Tuesday released a report entitled ‘France: persistent discrimination endangers human rights’. The Latvian appears largely unimpressed with what he saw during a fact-finding mission to France last October, and denounces increasing anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim acts and racism in general, homophobia, a rise in "hate speech", the poor treatment of asylum seekers and the “social exclusion and marginalisation of persons with disabilities”. Carine Fouteau reports on the Commissioner’s conclusions.

From his alignment with the Israeli far-right to the banning of demonstrations in solidarity with the Palestinian people, and the suggestion that this show of solidarity is in fact anti-Semitism disguised as anti-Zionism, French President François Hollande has lost his way, writes Mediapart editor-in-chief Edwy Plenel. In this opinion article presented as an open letter to the head of state, he argues that Hollande has adopted a position of incoherence and hypocrisy that will bring him no political gain and which ignores the lessons of history.

Zaïr Kédadouche, France's man in Andorra, writes to President Hollande that he 'met the most abject racism' in elite diplomatic service.

© Reuters

The internal police force run by state-owned railway company SNCF is supposed to protect both passengers and other rail staff from attack or abuse. But officers in one section of the force in the south of the France have been accused of sending a racist text message, playing neo-Nazi songs and mistreating passengers of North African origin. According to documents seen by Mediapart, senior management at SNCF is fully aware of the claims, yet has failed to take any action. Meanwhile one of the officers who was a victim of the taunts has been ostracised by colleagues. Michaël Hajdenberg reports.