racism

Comments from Tunisian president Kaïs Saïed over the presence of sub-Saharan migrants in the North African country and his talk of a “criminal plan” to change the nation's demographics have provoked a row. Students who come from sub-Saharan Africa now say they are living in fear and have been told to stay indoors to avoid being targeted. Meanwhile some migrant workers have been forcibly evicted from their homes. Lilia Blaise reports on a controversy in Tunisia which is also being exploited by France's far-right failed presidential candidate Éric Zemmour.

As part of Mediapart's ongoing series about everyday hate in France, Céline, aged 24, who is now a musician in Paris, and who was born in France to a French father and a Mongolian mother, describes how she suffered from racism during her childhood in the west of the country. The harm was caused, she says, by racism in general and prejudices about women of Asian origin in particular, prejudices linked to the hyper-sexualisation and fetishization of the body. Léa Dang reports.

Late in 2022 the far-right polemicist and former presidential candidate Éric Zemmour stood trial accused of verbal abuse of a racial nature. This followed a comment he made to television presenter Hapsatou Sy that African names such as hers were an “insult to France”; the verdict will be delivered in January. As part of a series about people who have suffered everyday hatred in France, Mediapart spoke to a young woman who came here from the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2002 as a child and who herself later chose to adopt a more “French-sounding” first name - in her case, Caroline. At the time, she says, the far-right were knocking on the doors of power, she wanted to become a French citizen and she felt her new name would help her 'blend in' with French society. Instead, says Caroline, she lost her way. Lou Syrah reports.

The French national football team, les Bleus, lost to Argentina in the World Cup final in Qatar on Sunday, in a thrilling game that ended in breathless manner. But while the young squad may have the blues at losing their bid for world football's ultimate crown, the new "Mbappé generation" have already surpassed their elders in the matter of popping the apolitical bubble surrounding French football, and in challenging its conservative governing federation. Ilyes Ramdani reports.  

The appointment of black historian Pap Ndiaye as education minister in Emmanuel Macron's new government has quickly brought to the surface the structural racism of French society and its political class. In this opinion article, Mediapart's Ilyes Ramdani argues that the reaction of the government to this tide of racism, and above all the response of President Emmanuel Macron himself, will set the tone for his new presidential term.

Documents seen by Mediapart reveal that some students at the school where France's future judges and prosecutors are trained used racist language on a private online document. The comments made by the students, who are poised to graduate from the École Nationale de la Magistrature and start their careers, include “France for the French” and “Arabs Out”. The college's authorities informed prosecutors in Bordeaux who have now opened a criminal investigation. David Perrotin reports.

An investigation by Mediapart has revealed a pattern of anti-Roma insults, sexist behaviour and prejudice towards residents of a high-immigration area among certain staff at an organisation helping to deliver the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. After Mediapart raised the issue with management three employees at SOLIDEO – the body overseeing construction of the Games infrastructure - have been suspended and an internal inquiry has been established. Previous attempts to raise the issue internally, including the referral of complaints to the office of Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo,  apparently had little effect. Jade Lindgaard and Antton Rouget report.

A fiery debate has erupted in France over the holding of meetings on issues of discrimination to which are admitted only those who are affected by such prejudice. In this opinion article, Mediapart’s publishing editor Edwy Plenel says the furore over such gatherings is but the latest offensive against the self-organisation of those who are dominated in society, whether that be because of their appearance, religion, gender or social condition.

Paris police prefect Didier Lallement has courted controversy before and after his appointment last year as the capital’s law and order chief. Despite his rough-and-tough policing strategy, notably of demonstrations, and his insensitive public comments, this adept of pomp and high-handed authority has survived thanks to the backing of the executive. But, as Camille Polloni reports, following the public and political outrage over separate shocking incidents last week of police violence, he may now be facing the door.

There has been widespread outrage in France after video footage emerged of three police officers apparently gratuitously beating a black music producer in Paris, who was left with serious injuries from punches, kicks, baton blows and the explosion of a tear gas grenade in his studio last weekend. François Bonnet argues here that the events highlight how interior minister Gérald Darmanin has made a policy of flattering the most extremist fringes of the police, creating disorder amid heightened police violence. It is high time, he writes, for Darmanin to go.