France’s defeat of far-right extremism met with cautious optimism
FRANCE-The results of last Sunday’s parliamentary election, which seemed to embrace the nation’s ethnic diversity rather than give the far-right, xenophobic forces a win, were a relief to many French voters from a range of backgrounds.
Will France’s far-right regroup?
Loven Bensimon remarked of the election results, “It was a moment of joy, a light at the end of the tunnel.” She celebrated on Sunday in the Place de la Republique in Paris among hundreds of other protestors against the extreme right, gathered around a massive patchwork French flag with the words, “France is the fabric of migrations.” The 27-year-old Black woman who works in communications, Bensimon, stated, “But the fight is not over.” “We need to fight against the racism that we encounter on a daily basis and that has become more apparent in recent weeks.” After uniting with leftists and centrists, the anti-immigration National Rally which was once predicted to take the lead in the National Assembly finally finished third in Sunday’s vote. In three-way contests, contenders opted out of the runoff in favor of the opponent seen to have the best chance of defeating the far right. However, concerned people and civil society organizations claim that the campaign has brought to light racial hate speech and sporadic acts of violence, which are unlikely to disappear after the new parliament enters office. 61-year-old Franco-Algerian Nacera Houngues claims that during the campaign, she was subjected to insults because of her roots. Houngues claims that during the first round of the June elections, her neighbors threw over her garbage can, swore at her, and spit at her.
Can optimism overcome fear?
Houngues fought back tears as he continued, “I am afraid, really afraid, a feeling I never had before.” The next day, she made a police report, but she claims she is terrified to leave her home. She has spent 37 years with her husband, a Franco-Beninese, and their five children in the tranquil hamlet of Chacrise, north of Paris. The government does not count individuals by race or religion as part of its colorblind universalism policy, making it impossible to quantify race and ethnicity as variables in French society using statistics. For example, it’s unclear if overseas voters turned out in greater numbers than anticipated on Sunday, despite a strong turnout overall. Voting trends by ethnic group are not monitored by polling organizations. However, a human rights tribunal has noted a notable rise in the number of complaints over activities that are racist and antisemitic. According to France’s National Consultative Commission on Human Rights, there was a 32% increase in racist occurrences in 2023 and a 284% increase in antisemitic crimes from 2022, which is considered “unprecedented.” The research said that as many victims of racism do not report their experiences, the numbers were probably underestimated. The national statistics office of France reports that one million people reported experiencing racism at least once in the previous year.
What’s next for Marine Le Pen?
According to stamfordadvocate, Although the human rights panel stated that there has been a decline in tolerance toward Black, Arab, Roma, Jewish, and Muslim persons in France, neither body provided a breakdown of the complainants by race or ethnicity. The National Rally is named by the panel as a major party that has encouraged hate speech, but it also claims that other parties have had a role, notably militants associated with the far-left group France Unbowed, which has been charged with antisemitism. Serge Klarsfeld, a well-known Nazi hunter in France, went so far as to suggest that, given the choice between the country’s two major parties, voters should select the far-right party over the leftist alliance, citing his fear of France Unbowed’s “antisemitic overtones.” The leader of the civil society organization SOS Racisme, Dominique Sopo, believes that the figures show a particularly difficult political environment. As per chapelboro, The National Rally’s core message, he claimed, is that French people would benefit “if they strike, one way or another symbolically, legally immigrants and their children.” Support for the rally has been steadily rising over the last ten years. His organization recently lodged a complaint when citizens of a posh suburb in Western Paris claimed to have received fliers with the slogan “Stop the Blacks” distributed anonymously.
Call to action: Boycott Pairs Olympics 2024
Pair these days is going through many types of hurdles like Racism , human rights violation and olympics boycott. Public is not voting this year dua to very bad resonance towards the government. Hence it is necessary to boycott Pairs Olympics 2024.
