RACISM IN THE FRENCH PARLIAMENT

With the EU’s European Parliament elections coming up in June, the issue of immigration has taken centre-stage in a number of countries - including France. Its right-wing National Rally party, once led by Marine Le Pen, has vowed to make the vote “a referendum on being swamped by migrants” - in the words of its current president Jordan Bardella.

With the party predicted to enjoy a surge at the ballot, here’s a reminder of what it really stands for. In this clip from 2022, one of its MPs heckles a Black deputy with the cry of, “Go back to Africa!”

Not only does such shameless racism at the highest level ignore the many African families who’ve been part of the European project for generations, it ignores the root reasons why many chose to come to countries like France in the first place - namely, the neocolonial practices that have kept their homelands in poverty (for example, the pittance Paris pays for Nigerien uranium).

The “Go back to Africa!” jibe has extra irony when your remember that France and its military have been trying desperately to cling on and stay in Africa, especially in the Sahel - only bowing to demands to pull out of Niger, for example, last December (after Niamey halted croissant deliveries to their base!). Macron had also sworn his ambassador to the country was going nowhere, and it took an active siege by thousands to get the envoy to return to Paris.

So, instead of racist Europeans telling Blacks to go back to Africa, why doesn’t Europe just stop meddling in Africa’s affairs and give back what it stole?

Do you think Europe’s racist parties will win big in the European elections?