Does France have a problem talking about racism? After a prominent black journalist was sacked from an internet advisory body for being too controversial, anti-racism campaigners think so. France's National Digital Council (CNNum) is in chaos after almost all its members resigned in protest Tuesday at a government decision to force Rokhaya Diallo out, apparently yielding to criticism over her appointment. The 39-year-old writer has been an outspoken critic on issues such as police stop-and-searches of young black and Arab men and the country's ban on full-face veils, and has described France as "institutionally racist".
Digital Minister Mounir Mahjoubi - himself a rare non-white face in the cabinet, who led the CNNum before quitting to join Emmanuel Macron's presidential campaign - said Diallo had to go because the controversy had become a distraction.
"After this nomination, everyone forgot what the CNNum was supposed to be doing," he told Le Figaro newspaper.
For her critics, including the rightwing lawmaker Valerie Boyer, as well as some on the left, Diallo's defence of the Islamic veil as a "mark of femininity" in secular France made her inappropriate for a government position - as did her repeated criticism of France as rife with discrimination.
"The country sees itself as a white country," Diallo told Al-Jazeera this year.
Her support for "nonwhite" anti-racism events is also problematic for many in France, where the concept of communities isolating themselves is seen as deeply opposed to the ideal of everyone uniting around shared republican values of liberty, equality and fraternity.
But anti-racism campaigners say this makes it difficult to discuss problems around race, such as widespread complaints of discrimination in the workplace, particularly from those living in immigrant-heavy suburbs.
It is illegal to collect data on ethnicity in France - a principled effort to build a colour-blind society - but activists say this also makes it harder to fight racism.
Comments
Comments are closed.