By Toby J. Shay
As is often the issue with mass protests, they become a platform to remonstrate anything and everything, usually far adrift from the original cause. Recent protests in France, which have occurred across the country for six consecutive weekends through July and August, against the Government's instatement of the “pass sanitaire” or health pass necessary for citizens to go about their habitual activities are a clear demonstration of this.[1] It has been reported that placards displaying antisemitic messages have been spotted within these rallies, the most disturbing of which was in Metz where a lady brandished a sign with the question “Mais qui?” (“But who?”), a new slogan adopted by anti-Semites in France, which subsequently lead to an uproar in the media and a police investigation.[2] Antisemitism has haunted France since the Nazi occupation and the Vichy government’s collaboration in deporting an enormous number of Jews to concentration camps during the Second World War.
However, what does this possible unsavoury increase of antisemitism mean for France?
Today France hosts the largest Jewish population in Europe and the third-largest in the world, after Israel and the USA,[3] yet it seems that antisemitism has gradually developed into an ordinary and trivial element of life there. This has been emphasised by protesters holding placards depicting swastikas formed of syringes and some even choosing to adorn a yellow star and equate President Macron to Hitler, arguing that the oppression they are currently being subjected to is comparable to that of the Jews in the Holocaust, and labelled the introduction of the “pass sanitaire” as the imposition of a “health dictatorship.”[4] The general acceptance of the trifling of such discrimination is proven once again by a poll from Ifop for the Journal du Dimanche. They found that only 53% of people who profess support or sympathy for the anti-pass movement consider the exhibition of antisemitic placards or social media posts as shocking and an “incitement to hate.”[5] Robert Ejnes, the executive director of the Conseil Représentatif des Institutions Juives de France (Council Representing Jewish Institutions in France, CRIF) made the following response:
“To compare symbols of the exclusion of people who were rounded up, deported and killed, to a health pass aimed at protecting people and protecting others … we have enormous intellectual difficulty understanding this.” [2]
What is even more disheartening is that these are not isolated events. On August 11th a stone memorial in Brittany for Simone Veil, a former French minister, and Holocaust survivor, was defaced and vandalised with swastikas according to police.[6]
Where did this resurgence of antisemitism come from?
The incident which triggered the most media attention surrounding this matter was when a woman at the anti-pass protest in Metz wielded a sign with the question “Mais qui?” (“But who?”) surrounded by the names of notable French and International Jews, including that of President Macron. Although the question on the placard may appear innocent enough, it is in actual fact a heavily loaded antisemitic slur. The question, “Mais qui?” or just “Qui?”, has evolved into an antisemitic catchphrase after the discriminatory comments made by retired army general Dominique Delawarde in a television interview in June, which could be disputed as the catalyst for the latest rise in antisemitism. In the interview he made a strong implication that certain groups were controlling the media and when the interviewer probed further, in an attempt to get the interviewee to reveal who exactly he was referring to, with the question “Mais qui?”(“but who?”), Mr Delawarde responded by saying “that well-known community.”[2] It can be inferred that this prejudice displayed in the interview is an accusation that the Jewish community spread propaganda about Covid in the media to profit from vaccination campaigns. This pejorative belief presented by Mr Delawarde has grown into a conspiracy theory, particularly among far-right supporters, who now seem to hold the Jews responsible for these unfounded and disparaging claims. This was reiterated by the 2020 annual report of the Service for the Protection of the Jewish Community (SPCJ), published in January, which confirms that 2020 revealed “the proliferation of conspiracy theories pointing to the Jews as the instigators of the of the global crisis of Covid-19.”[7]
It is almost unsurprising that “Qui?” has become the title of such unsubstantiated ideas given that the letter “Q" is now an iconic symbol of several far-right conspiratorial movements globally. One of the most prominent examples would be that of QAnon in the United States. This was specifically highlighted on the placard flaunted at the protest in Metz, as the “Q,” of “Qui?” was even adorned by a set of devil horns.
The popularity of such conspiracy theories with the far-right is no different in this circumstance as the lady who carried the placard at the protest, Cassandre Fristot, was a teacher and a former far-right National Front official. She now faces trial in September for provoking racial hate. As a result of her actions, the education authority has suspended her from her job and if she is convicted by the court, she will receive a one-year jail sentence and a fine of €45,000 (£38,000). [2]
However, what will all this mean for Marine Le Pen’s presidential campaign? Will Cassandre Fristot’s connection with the National Front and thus the party's link to antisemitism and other possible far-right conspiracies be detrimental to their campaign?
Ever since the National Front was established in 1972 by Jean-Marie Le Pen, Marine Le Pen’s father, it has had strong ties with antisemitism. Jean-Marie Le Pen himself infamously belittled the atrocities of the Holocaust and in 1987 he even said that the gas chambers of the Nazi concentration camps were merely "a detail in the history of the Second World War."[8] These outragious statements subsquently lead to several criminal charges for "incitement to public disorder or racial discrimination."[8] These hugely derogatory comments, as well as sympathising with the collaboration of the Vichy Government, eventually lead to the National Front expelling Jean-Marie Le Pen from the party in 2018. This decision was all part of Marine Le Pen’s plan, since she took over as leader in 2011, to progress the party forward and away from its associations with antisemitism and anti-immigration.
While it might be assumed that this would aid her presidential campaign, many have criticised her for becoming too conformist. By disassociating the party from its previously anti-establishment identity and attempting to develop a more palatable mainstream right-wing standing has contributed to the dampening of the party’s extremist edge which initially attracted so many voters. Although Marine Le Pen remains neck and neck with Emmanuel Macron in the polls for the Presidential elections next year, this drop in popularity can be seen in the National Front’s recent failure in the regional elections at the end of June. Jean-Marie Le Pen said the following in regard to his daughter’s new approach for the party:
“(That) was a political error and translates into an electoral failure, and perhaps electoral failures.”[9]
Taking this into consideration, it is plausible that in a bizarre roundabout way the recent headlines drawing relations between antisemitism and the National Front may even improve their popularity in the polls.
How has President Macron responded?
While President Macron may not have explicitly mentioned anything in relation to the events that occurred at the anti-pass protests, he did tweet, in response to the desecration of Simone Veil’s memorial, that “We will never tolerate antisemitism.”[2] This condemnation of discrimination against Jews was echoed by his decision to boycott the upcoming UN racism conference in Durban, South Africa, next month. His office released this statement justifying his choice on August 13th:
"Concerned by a history of anti-Semitic remarks made at the U.N. conference on racism, known as the Durban conference, the President of the Republic has decided that France will not participate in the follow-up conference to be held this year."[10]
It is probable that this zero-tolerance attitude to antisemitism will prove popular with a large section of the electorate, especially with a large number of Jewish citizens, and help his presidential campaign.
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1 "Another weekend of protests against France’s ‘health pass’ restrictions" France 24, 21st August 2021, https://www.france24.com/en/france/20210821-another-weekend-of-protests-against-france-s-health-pass-restrictions
2 "Hate speech inquiries launched in France over antisemitic protest banners" Kim Willsher, The Guardian, 16th August 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/16/hate-speech-inquiries-launched-in-france-over-antisemitic-protest-banners
3 "World Jewish Population, 2016" Sergio DellaPergola, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2016, https://www.jewishdatabank.org/content/upload/bjdb/831/World%20Jewish%20Population,%202016%20(Final).pdf
4 "Pancarte « Mais qui ? » : « L’antisémitisme auquel nous sommes confrontés avance en oblique, il prend des détours »" William Audureau, Le Monde, 10th August 2021, https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2021/08/10/pancarte-mais-qui-l-antisemitisme-auquel-nous-sommes-confrontes-avance-en-oblique-il-prend-des-detours_6091082_4355770.html
5 "SONDAGE. Le soutien aux anti-passe sanitaire reste stable et minoritaire" Le Journal du Dimanche, 14th August 2021, https://www.lejdd.fr/Politique/sondage-le-soutien-aux-anti-passe-sanitaire-reste-stable-et-minoritaire-4062133
6 "French Holocaust survivor Simone Veil’s memorial vandalised" AFP, The Guardian, 11th August 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/11/french-holocaust-survivor-simone-veil-memorial-vandalised
7 "Antisémitisme en France, 1er janvier au 31 décembre, 2020" Service de Protection de la Communauté Juive, January 2021, https://www.antisemitisme.fr/dl/2020-CP-FR.pdf
8 "Le Pen May Be Charged for a Remark About the Holocaust" Craid R. Whitney, 7th October 1998 https://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/07/world/le-pen-may-be-charged-for-a-remark-about-the-holocaust.html
9 "France's far-right Marine Le Pen under fire for going mainstream" France 24, 3rd July 2021, https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20210703-france-s-far-right-marine-le-pen-under-fire-for-going-mainstream
10 "France's Macron to boycott UN racism conference on anti-Semitism concerns" Reuters, 13th August 2021, https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/frances-macron-boycott-un-racism-conference-concerns-over-anti-semitism-2021-08-13/
Image source: Photo EBRA /Capture écran Twitter
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