Bordeaux manager, Willy Sagnol, apologises for "non-racist" racist comments

Willy Sagnol, the manager of Ligue 1 side FC Girondins de Bordeaux, has apologised for the way in which remarks he made recently appeared to some to be racist when he suggested  that African players are "powerful" but "lack technique, intelligence and discipline".

Willy Sagnol (screenshot BFM TV report)

"I apologise if my comments were misinterpreted and if I offended some people," he said at a press conference on Thursday.

"I was referring on a purely sporting level and not on either a political or social one."

The 37-year-old former French international was referring to comments he made while being interviewed by the regional daily Sud Ouest earlier this week - comments that angered some.

“The advantage of the typical African player is that he isn't expensive to recruit," he said.

"He’s generally ready to fight and is powerful on the pitch.," continued Sagnol.

"But football is not just about that. It's also about technical skills, intelligence and discipline.”

The proverbial "you know what" soon hit the fan.

Lilian Thuram, a former international team mate of Sagnol's from 2000-2008, and arguably one of the most articulate men in the game, said he was both "surprised" and "disappointed" by the Bordeaux manager's comments.

Lilian Thuram (screenshot Bourdin Direct, July 2014)

"There has always been a certain prejudice about players originating from Africa, and that has  always focused on strength over intelligence," said Thuram who, since he retired, has been active in the fight against both racism and discrimination.

"When you read or listen what Willy Sagnol said, you can see that it simply reinforces those preconceptions," he continued.

"That surprises me as he has never made such comments in the past. It is true, unfortunately, that we live in a country in which prejudice remain. And such comments simply strengthen that."


Thuram : "Sagnol renforce les préjugés" sur les... by Europe1fr

 It strengthens them. I am extremely surprised that he can keep that kind of talk . Because , whether the national team or club , he ( Willy Sagnol ) had to play with players of African or African origin and had found that there was intelligent players , disciplined and tactically very good .

Others were less gentle in their criticism with the French anti-racist French NGO SOS Racisme calling on the Fédération française de football (the French football federation, FFF) and the minister of sports to take action and labelling Sagnols comments as, "Laid-back racism".

And Pape Diouf, the former president of  Olympique de Marseille, called on all African players in Ligue 1 to boycott one day's play in the championship.

Not everyone was so incensed by Sagnol's comments - least of all the president of Bordeaux, Jean-Louis Triaud.

"We don't want to widen the scope of what was happened especially as we find it totally unjustifiable," said Triaud.

"I'm angry because anyone who knows Willy Sagnol knows he is anything but racist. The interpretation of his statement was totally wrong."

Meanwhile sports journalist Jean-Michel Larqué went a step further.

Jean-Michel Larqué (screenshot BFM TV report)

"I'm sure that Willy Sagnol was referring to the 'intelligence of the game'," he said.

"A couple of decades ago young African players were referred to as 'rough diamonds' because they had learned the game on the streets and had little knowledge on the tactical level: they didn't know 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 meant. Was that racism?"

"Let's just stop with all this polemic."

So there you have it. Sagnol's comments were clearly "laid back" or "non-racist" - depending on whose arguments you follow.

Or better still, they were accurate - as some of these Bordeaux supporters seemed to think, when questioned.

"Much ado about nothing," says the first man interviewed.

"What he says is simply the truth," says the second.

"There's a little bit of everything - African and European - in the side and there's no need to get into an argument about anything," says the third.



The bottom line?

Already expressing racist (and maybe now would be a good time for those naysayers to reach for their dictionaries to discover the definition of racism) thoughts in private is indefensible and against so much of what the so-called beautiful game has tried to combat over the past decades.

But to express them publicly  is both inexcusable, ignorant and downright stupid.

Sarcelles - two months after anti-Semitic violence at pro-Palestinian rally

"Is there a ‘rising tide’ of anti-Semitism in the West?" asked the BBC on its site back in August 2014.

While the figures the Beeb presented in its piece seemed to question newspaper headlines suggesting a significant increase, it admitted that anti-Semitism clearly remained a problem.

And this clip from a recent edition of France 2's investigative news magazine "Complément d'enquête" will surely only fuel the debate here in France.

(screenshot from "Complément d'enquête")

The TV crew revisited Sarcelles, "a multi-religious suburb north of Paris with a vibrant Jewish community", the scene of attacks on Jewish-owned businesses and a synagogue during a banned demonstration in July again the Israeli offensive in Gaza.

It was to "take the temperature" among those living in the town, two months after the events, and one young man they interviewed had no qualms expressing sentiments which, to say the least, were shocking.

So much so that the mayor of Sarcelles, François Pupponi, condemned the "calls of hatred and murder" expressed during the interview and said on his Facebook page that he would ask the justice minister, Christine Taubira, to "begin proceedings" against the individuals interviewed.

The clip is in French, of course, and you can judge for yourselves whether the interviewee was fully aware of what he was saying or whether it was a more a case of a puffed-up few minutes of (hateful) television "fame".

Face caméra, un jeune de Sarcelles déclare: "Ici, les juifs on les tue si on veut !" sur WAT.tv 

Monkey slurs aimed at French justice minister Christiane Taubira - not once, but twice

She might well be a seasoned politician, well-used to sparring with the best and worst of them, but the French minister of justice, Christiane Taubira, has had to face some pretty (perhaps not the best choice of words) odious comments over the past couple of weeks.

And, although opponents might claim otherwise, those comments have had nothing to do with her competence in fulfilling her ministerial portfolio and everything to do with her skin colour and origins.

Add captioChristiane Taubira (screenshot FranceTVinfo)

First up there was the infamous photo montage posted on the Facebook page of Anne-Sophie Leclere.

She's a candidate (or at least, she was) for the far-right Front National in next year's municipal elections and decided a touch of racism (although heavily in denial over such a definitiion when asked about it during a report on France 2's "Envoyé Spéciale") wouldn't go amiss.

Leclere posted a photograph on Facebook of a baby monkey alongside one of Taubira with the accompanying titles "18 months" and "Now".

"It's not racist," insisted the 33-year-old. 'The monkey in the photo remains an animal, the black [woman] is a human being," she said.

"I have friends who are black and that's not a reason to tell them that they are monkeys,' she continued in true FN fudge fashion, reiterating that she was not a racist but would "rather see Taubira on a tree among the branches than in the government."

The photo was eventually taken down. The FN suspended Leclere and dropped her as a candidate.



In the meantime Taubira, not exactly known for being one to mince her words, had reacted.

"We know what the FN thinks: the blacks in the branches of trees, Arabs in the sea, homosexuals in the Seine, Jews in the ovens and so on," Taubira said, describing the party's policies as "deadly and murderous".

It was a response which immediately drew the wrath of the FN with a call for Taubira to resign and the threat of legal action because, "Nothing justifies such an expression of hate against an entire party and its millions of voters?"

http://www.frontnational.com/2013/10/communique-de-presse-du-front-national-21/

Really? Not even being compared to a monkey?

Sound the bell for the end of round one in the category racial slurs.

Where the FN left off, those other mild-mannered democrats - the ones still opposed to same-sex marriage - continued.

Last Friday Taubira was on a visit to the western French town of Angers as part of her Tour de France, if you will, to explain how the reforms she wants to introduce next year will make the country's judicial system more accessible for everyone.

It was an opportunity also for a hundred or so members of "La manif pour tous", the movement which had opposed same-sex marriage to express their unhappiness with the minister who had steered the legislation through parliament.

Yes, even though it's the law, they remain quite within their rights to demonstrate their disaccord.

But the manner in which they did so was what the local online news site Angers Mag Info  suitably summed up as "pitiful".

They were there to greet her when she arrived at the town's Palais du Justice, and they brought their children along because, let's face it, they defend family values.

And they did that by chanting original and charming slogans such as "Taubira, casse-toi" (you may translate) or "Taubira, resign!"

Unruffled - well, over the months she must have become well used to such a reception - Taubira reportedly blew the demonstrators a kiss at the door of the building before she went inside.

But they were far from satisfied, changing position and upping the decibels somewhat as they continued shouting their "objections" and allowing the children to join in.

And that's really where any dignity their demonstration might have had, disappeared as the protest took a distinctly racist slant.

Because alongside "casse-toi" and "resign" the well-meaning parents taking part also allowed their children to fire off phrases through the megaphone such as "Taubira, you smell. Your days are numbered" with one 12-year-old brandishing a banana skin while shouting, "A banana for the monkey."

Apparently even some of those hardened chaps from the riot police were taken aback by the vitriolic nature of the language with one of them heard to comment that it "could be grounds for arrest as it constituted insulting a government minister.

The episode didn't go unnoticed by French parliamentarians though with both a former agriculture minister, Jean Glavany, and the prime minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault paying tribute to Taubira and denouncing all forms of racism.

"When we, the country's elected representatives, hear racist comments being made, we must not remain silent," said Glavany.

"We must express both our shame and disgust."

Daniel Schick interviews Fleur Pellerin - racist and misogynistic or simply provocative?

Fleur Pellerin isn't exactly a household name in France - well not yet.

But that could be about to change especially after she was named to the government in June, taking over the portfolio as junior minister for small and medium enterprises, innovation, and the digital economy.

Fleur Pellerin (screenshot Europe 1 interview)

By way of a bit of background, Pellerin is 38 years old, was born in South Korea and abandoned on the streets of the capital Seoul when she was just three or four days old.

At the age of six months she was adopted by a French couple.

She's bright, very bright even - Pellerin passed her baccalaureate aged just 16 - and has the profile typical of a high flier; a graduate from the prestigious École supérieure des sciences économiques et commerciales (ESSEC business school), Institut d'études politiques de Paris and, of course, the École nationale d'administration.

She has worked at the Cour des comptes (the French court of auditors) and during François Hollande's presidential campaign was his digital economy advisor.

Oh yes - and even though she has never been back since she left, Pellerin is something of a national heroine in South Korea.

Why the potted history?

Well, so that you have a clue as to how talented she is and are able to put into context what was arguably one of the most impertinent beginnings to an interview when she appeared on Europe 1 national radio on Monday.

Just look how journalist Daniel Schick - in an attempt to tease out of Pellerin the reasons behind her appointment - started the interview.

"Do you really know why you were chosen," he asked rhetorically before launching into a number of factors that might or might not have played their part in Hollande's decision.

"Is it because you're an attractive woman from a minority background that's not particularly well represented?" asked Schick

"Is it because you're an example of a successful adoption process or perhaps a strong signal being given to Asian markets," he continued.

"Or is it because you're good at what you do?"

Yes that really was the opening gambit to what, let's face it, could only get better.

Pellerin replied with aplomb that Schick hadn't exactly started the interview off well, in fact quite the opposite.

"You've begun badly," she laughed.

"I would like to think that the president and the prime minister appointed me for my abilities and commitment," she said, before continuing comfortably with the rest of Schick's interview, part of a series which allows listeners to get to know more about an invited guest - and not necessarily along the most conventional of lines.

(Take a listen - it's well worth it)

Schick's rather inelegant start wasn't to the liking of all though, and in particular Laurence Rossignol, a Socialist party senator, who said his questions had been insulting and bordering on racist.

"The misogynist who interviewed Fleur this morning was offensive," she Tweeted.

"Europe 1 should fire him."

And Rossignol wasn't alone in not appreciating the manner in which Schick had begun the interview.

Other reactions on the Internet included "rude", "stupid" and "shamefully macho".

The only person who didn't seem to take any real offence at what had been said was Pellerin herself - both during and afterwards.

She has made no comment.

Schick is known for being provocative - posing the sorts of questions that are bound to displease in a manner which won't always be appreciated - either by the guest or the listeners.

For example early on in an interview with Jean-François Copé, the leader of the centre-right Union pour un mouvement populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) a couple of weeks ago Schick "asked" him whether it was really possible to be a political leader without being either paranoid of manipulative - thereby implying that Copé was both.

But did he go just a little too far with Pellerin?

Or is it all right for a journalist - in this case Schick - to ask whatever he or she wants in any manner deemed acceptable or not just to see how capable the interviewee is of handling the situation?


Extrait de l'interview misogyne de Fleur... par LeNouvelObservateur

Nadine Morano's multicultural culinary recipe for not being branded a racist

She's at it again.

Just when you thought it was safe to turn on your radio or telly, up pops former minister Nadine Morano with the latest "proof" that she's anything but a racist.

Last week, you might remember, she managed to put both feet decidedly in her mouth at the same time by claiming that she couldn't possibly be accused of being racist because, "Some of her closest friends were Arabs."

And if anyone needed proof of just how open and accepting she was they only had to look at the fact that her best friend, "Was originally from Chad and so even blacker than an Arab."

Never one to know quite when its time to stop, Morano this week has gone all culinary to prove her multicultural credentials.

Nadine Morano (screenshot from Jean-Marc Morandini show on Europe 1)

She was the guest on Jean-Marc Morandini's show on Europe 1 radio on Wednesday morning and of course one of the questions she was asked was about the brouhaha caused by her comments the previous week.

Morano defended herself (to the best of her ability) giving the context in which her...er..."clumsy" references had been made and then, just for good measure throwing in suitable ingredients (of the edible sort) just to drive home how badly her comments had been misinterpreted.

"Actually I don't need to justify myself because I'm not a racist although I'm more of a fan of the classic pizza rather than the 'oriental' one mentioned in a supposedly humorous sketch which had preceded my comments," she explained before happily clodhopping her way on.

"On the other hand, I absolutely adore couscous and the traditional (North African) egg brik."

Groan.

Nobody in the studio seemed to find what was later reported as Morano's attempt to raise a laugh, in the least bit amusing.

The big question perhaps is not when this woman will stop.

It seems to be a foregone conclusion that although she no longer a parliamentarian, let alone a member of the government, she cannot keep out of the limelight and is similarly incapable of not dropping a clanger.

No, the real issue must be that of when will journalists and radio or television hosts stop inviting her on to their programmes and giving her a platform from which to lumber from one idiotic statement to the next?

The answer -  it seems - is not any time soon.

So with that thought it mind, dear reader, here's a solemn promise.

This is the very last time you'll read a piece on Nadine Morano here...until the next time that is.

Nadine Morano a racist? Of course not - some of her best friends are Arabs

You kind of know that when someone comes out with that sort of statement (or variations on the same theme to deny they're a homophobe or sexist for example) they're leaving the door wide open to accusations of indeed being what they're claiming not to be.

The claim that because some of her friends are Arabs she cannot be described as a racist is just the latest in a very long list of statements Nadine Morano has made over the years which have put her fairly and squarely in the firing line for ridicule.

Nadine Morano (screenshot "C à vous")

Morano,  you might remember, was the woman for whom there was no difference between "Renault" the French car manufacturer, and "Renaud" the singer.

Oh yes, Morano was well known for her blunders during her time as a junior minister and later a full ministerial post under her former boss Nicolas Sarkozy.

She was one of his most fervent - rabidly so, some might say - supporters, not afraid to disengage her tongue from her brain and whenever television, radio or press needed a rent-a-mouth quote, Morano was on hand to oblige.

Her views already appeared at times somewhat extreme in a centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) party some of whose members often flirted with the ideas of the far-right Front National (FN).
She once described gay pride parades as an "excuse for exhibitionism" and on another occasion she earned the wrath of the French anti-racist non-governmental organisation SOS Racisme when she turned around and said France's young Moslems should, "dress properly, find a job and stop speaking slang".

So perhaps it should come as no surprise that Morano's real colours shone through during the recent parliamentary elections.

First of all Morano gave an interview with the weekly far-right magazine Minute in which she openly called on those who had voted Front National in the first round to help her defeat her Socialist party rival Dominique Potier in the second-round run-off for the Meurthe et Moselle constituency seat she was trying to hold on to.

"We share common values," she said of herself and those FN voters.

And shortly after that interview appeared, Morano found herself "tricked" by radio presenter and comedian Gérald Dahan, who rang her pretending to be Louis Aliot, FN's vice and the partner of the party's leader Marine Le Pen.

Morano told "Aliot" (Dahan) that Le Pen was a woman with "a lot of talent" and the Front National a party which had "a lot of social policies with which I agree."

Fear not though, because Morano is clearly neither a racist nor a xenophobe - in the same way as the FN is simply a party which has built up its support based in its belief in the importance of French values and the threat they are under from immigration.

How do we know?

Because Morano said as much on the early evening magazine "C à vous" on France 5 last week, when she was talking about how difficult the parliamentary campaign had been and how hurtful she had found all those inaccurate accusations of racism.

"Some of my closest friends are Arabs," she said, saving the best to follow.

"And then there's my best friend who is originally from Chad - so she's even blacker than an Arab."

Oh dear.

Out of government and out of parliament (she lost in that run-off against Potier) let's just hope it's a long, long time before we hear from Morano again - if ever.

Claude Guéant's "France doesn't need foreign bricklayers and waiters" racist remarks

Proving once again that he is in no way a racist and only makes comments that are factually correct and amount to the truth because he says so, France's interior minister Claude Guéant was back on familiar territory at the weekend.

Claude Guéant (from Wikipedia)

This time it was to tell the French that the country didn't need immigrants to fill positions as waiters in restaurants or builders because France already had enough people to fill the vacancies.

In a marvellous train of logic that seems to have become a Guéant speciality, the interior minister pointed to the country's 2.6 million unemployed, some of whom could presumably take up those low-paid jobs in restaurants and learn to flex their muscles as builders.

What he said during a radio interview on Sunday showed a true understanding of the nature of unemployment and how to get people back to work.

"Those people who are looking for a job cannot refuse to take up positions indefinitely and should have their benefit cut if they don't at some point take what they're being offered," he said.

"It's true that we need immigrants with skills and talents," he said, seeming to backtrack on comments he made a couple of weeks ago on the need to reduce legal immigration; comments which were also criticised by some within his own party at the time.

But remember this is Claude Guéant and what might at first appear to be a softening in tone turns out to be anything other and that.

"There are about 2,000 people we really need every year who have those skills and talents," he continued.

"But we don't need bricklayers or waiters because France already has the resources to fill those posts."

Ah the sensitivity and insight of the man!

Of course Gueant would probably deny that his comments are aimed at currying favour with those inclined to vote for the far-right Front National during the next presidential and parliamentary elections in 2012.

But that's exactly what Dominique Sopo, the president of the anti-racist non-governmental organisation SOS Racisme, thinks are behind the interior minister's thinking.

"There's currently a trend to create among the French a mistrust of foreigners as part of an attempt to appeal to those who might be attracted to the Front National," he said.

"But the direct consequence of these remarks is the rise in popularity of Marine Le Pen (the leader of the Front National) to an unprecedented level, one year away from the presidential elections."

Guéant might not yet have taken up the tongue-in-cheek offer Le Pen made of "honorary membership" of her party in March.

That offer came after his comments that the French were becoming worried about feeling at home in their own country.

But he's going the right way about securing himself another governmental job - maybe even as prime minister - should the unthinkable happen next year and the French return a far-right president: be that Le Pen or Nicolas Sarkozy.

The number of Moslems in France causes problems says Claude Guéant

He's at it again.

Hardly a week goes by - no strike that - hardly a day goes by - without France's recently-appointed interior minister, Claude Guéant, making a remark guaranteed to hit the headlines.



Guéant is proving himself to be the master of the provocative comment that doesn't just border on the racist, but is clearly meant to appeal to any xenophobic tendencies that might and do exist among some French.

And his comments have once again ignited outrage from the opposition Socialist party and angered anti-racist groups.

After saying that the "French didn't not feeling at home in France" and suggesting that "Obviously anyone working in a public service shouldn't wear a religious symbols or show any religious preference" Guéant has continued with the same theme.

"This growth in the number of Moslems and a certain number of behaviours causes problems," he said on Monday.

"There is no reason why the nation should accord more rights to one particular religion than others that were formerly anchored in our country."

Highly appropriate and timely from the interior minister given than the comments came on the eve of the debate organised by governing centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire's (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) debate on laicity.

It's a debate which is supposedly about secularism but is really more about the place of Islam in French society and comes shortly before the implementation of the ban on wearing full face veils in public places on April 11.

It's surely hard to defend Guéant's comments, even if some of his cabinet colleagues such as the higher education and research minister Valérie Pécresse have tried, when she suggested that the "Left was trying to whip up anti-Claude Guéant propoganda."

The big question remains though, where is the Omnipresent One, usually so keen in the past to rein in ministers when they step out of line?

The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy has been noticeably quiet giving the impression that he is more than happy to allow his interior minister to be his "unofficial spokesman" in making an appeal to those who might be attracted to the far-right Front National and its leader Marine Le Pen in next year's presidential elections.

Perhaps it's Eva Joly, a European Member of Parliament for the Europe Écologie party, who best sums up the sentiment many have about why Sarkozy, far from reprimanding Guéant, could actually be encouraging him.

"Nicolas Sarkozy seems determined to overtake Marine Le Pen on the Right," she said after Guéant's most recent remarks.

"He's allowing his chief spokesman to 'surf' on subjects such as national identity, the Roma immigration and Islam," she continued.

"It has become an ignoble competition with the xenophobic Right."

Hear hear!

Lilian Thuram quits French Football Federation

A sad day for French football after one of its most eloquent and frank spokesmen quits the sport's governing body here, la Fédération Française de Football (the French Football Federation, FFF).

Lilian Thuram (screenshot from TF1 after France's World Cup debacle)

The FFF's interim president Fernand Duchaussoy confirmed on Wednesday that Lilian Thuram had handed in his resignation after just two years as a council member saying that the former international hadn't felt particularly happy in a purely administrative role.

"He has wanted to leave the council for a couple of months now," Duchaussoy told RTL national radio

"He told me he still wanted to work with the FFF but in an area in which he excels and enjoys, namely in a 'social role'."

Although he hasn't yet spoken publicly about the reasons for his departure, the writing has been on the proverbial wall since France's World Cup fiasco in South Africa.

Of that now infamous strike he said that it had "awakened the underlying racism in society" and said the then-captain, Patrice Evra, should never play for France again.

He warned at the time that, "If there are no sanctions, I shall resign."

And he hasn't shied away from criticising some of the decisions made by the recently-appointed coach of the national side, Laurent Blanc.

Thuram is France's most-capped international player and was of course a member, along with Blanc, of the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 winning sides.

The 38-year-old played at the highest club level in France, Italy and Spain, before being forced to "hang up his boots" two years ago after a health scare.

He has long been politically and socially active particularly in campaigning against racism in football and became a member of France's Haut Conseil à l'intégration (High Council for Integration) while still a top defender.

Among his many activities he currently serves on the board of the L'Institut de relations internationales et stratégiques. and in October was appointed as a Unicef ambassador to Haïti

Most famously perhaps back in November 2005 in response to the then-interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy's description of youngsters after they burned cars and attacked police and public buildings in two weeks of rioting in various parts of France Thuram said, "If they are scum, then so am I."

Ambassadeur De L'Unicef: Lilian Thuram - Funny blooper videos are here

Racism in France - one man's experiences

It's hard to overlook a piece* written in Thursday's issue of the national French daily, Le Monde, by the journalist Mustapha Kessous.

It's another reminder as to just how racism persists here in France.

And of course it couldn't be more timely in light of the recent remarks made by the interior minister, Brice Hortefeux at the ruling centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) party's summer conference at Seignosse in southwestern France at the beginning of the month.

Hortefeux was captured on video saying in the presence of Amine Benalia-Brouch, a young party activist of Algerian origin, that he (Benalia-Brouch), "Doesn't match the prototype. We always need one. It's when there are lots of them that there are problems."and the reaction there has been to them.

Many viewed the comment as a racial slur, but others shrugged it off and tried to explain it as part of the minister's "sense of humour".

Kessous of course begins his piece with a reference to that incident, describing how he first met Hortefeux for an interview in April 2008 when he was still the immigration minister.

"I had never met him before," he writes.

"We waited at his ministry and when Brice Hortefeux arrived, he shook my hand, smiled and said 'Do you have your papers?"

Kessous outlines some of the difficulties he has had even in his job as a journalist for such an illustrious newspaper simply because he is "of Arab origin with a slightly darker complexion and a Moslem."

He writes how he thought that his status as a journalist at one of the country's most respected newspapers would somehow shield him from encountering racism.

He was wrong.

When he covered the Tour de France in July 2008, one spectator refused to talk to him preferring instead to be interviewed by one of his colleagues, who later admitted that an employee for the organisers had also rung him to ask whether Kessous was his chauffeur.

Kessous tells of the time when he wanted to interview the director of a psychiatric hospital, and how he easily got an appointment with her when he introduced himself over the 'phone as Monsieur Kessous from Le Monde (dropping his first name).

"When I arrived, the director's secretary informed her that I was there," he writes.

"A woman on crutches passed in front of me and when I opened the door for her she looked at me without saying 'thank you' or 'hello'," he continues.

Then the woman, who was in fact the director with whom he had an interview, asked the secretary where the journalist was and received the reply that he was just behind her.

"'You have your press card? You have your identity card?'" was what Kessous was asked, reminding us that there had been no welcome yet.

Kessous writes of how he has had to put up with racism and insults from an early age.

"We were one of the few families of North African origin where we lived (in the centre of Lyon)," he says.

"In order to 'succeed' I requested to be sent to a catholic school, and there I went through hell being told to 'Go back to your country' from fellow pupils and teachers alike."

It was a racism that followed him through the education system to the time when he was taking a higher course at journalism school in 2007 and was faced by questions during his oral examination such as, "Are you Moslem" and "If you're a journalist at Le Monde, is it because they need to have an Arab on staff?"

Clearly those working in the field of education are just as prone to racism as the country's police force.

Who can forget the case of Abdeljalel El Haddioui, a 40-year-old police officer who in 2007 made it through to the final stages of a selection process for a higher grade and had to face questions from the board such as "Does your wife wear a headscarf?" and "Do you practise Ramadan?" or "Don't you find it strange that there are Arab ministers in the government?"

And apropos the police, Kessous ends his piece with an incident that occurred recently as he parked his scooter outside the building housing Le Monde and how he was approached by officers asking him what he was doing there and for proof that he was a journalist.

"I could recount any number of events like that," he writes.

"I'm described as being of foreign origin, a beur, rabble or riff-raff (racaille), an Islamist, a delinquent, a 'beurgeois' a child of immigrants...but never a Frenchman. In short, French."

*You can read the full article (in French) here.

Sarkozy sidesteps minister's racial slur

It's a story that has been making the headlines here in France for over a week now; the incident when the interior minister, Brice Hortefeux, apparently made a remark which many interpreted as being racist.

It occurred at the ruling centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) party's summer conference at Seignosse in southwestern France at the beginning of the month.

Hortefeux was captured on video saying in the presence of Amine Benalia-Brouch, a young party activist of Algerian origin, that he (Benalia-Brouch), "Doesn't match the prototype. We always need one. It's when there are lots of them that there are problems."

When the video made its way on to the Net, the reactions and criticisms came thick and fast.



The opposition Socialist party and groups representing ethnic minorities and those campaigning against racism roundly condemned the remarks, with some calling for the minister's resignation.

And the spokesman for the Socialist party, Benoît Hamon questioned what Hortefeux was "still doing in the government".

But just as quickly, colleagues of Hortefeux leapt to the minister's defence.

The prime minister, François Fillon, told national TF1 television that the interior minister had been "the victim of a fairly scandalous campaign of defamation," and that, "I reiterate that he (Hortefeux) has my full support."

The environment minister, Jean-Louis Borloo insisted that "Brice Hortefeux is anything but a racist," and Fadela Amara the junior minister for urban policy and herself of North African origin, shrugged off the remark as being part of Hortefeux's "sense of humour".

It seems that Hortefeux is well known for making jokes that aren't always appreciated.

From Brussels though came a somewhat dissenting voice within the UMP in the shape of the reaction from a former cabinet colleague, Rachida Dati, also of North African descent.

Now a member of the European parliament, Dati said on national radio that although she hadn't seen the clip but had only read the transcript in the newspaper, she still found the remark inappropriate.

"I don't agree that it is humourous rather that it's tactless," she said.

"For me racism has nothing to do with humour."

For his part, Hortefeux has not apologised for the remarks he made but has said that he "regretted" the resulting controversial and "unnecessary" debate that followed.

And he had the support of Benalia-Brouch, who said that he didn't understand why there had been such a debate surrounding the video and that there had been no racist intent in what the minister had said and no offence taken.

But noticeably quiet up until now has been the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy.

The two men are close political allies and long-time friends, and indeed it was Sarkozy who brought Hortefeux into the government in June 2007 as immigration minister, then appointed him at the beginning of this year to employment before offering him the job of interior minister in June's reshuffle.

Sarkozy is keen to keep Hortefeux in government, and twice in recent months has taken steps to ensure that he remains there; first by preventing him from taking up the seat he won in June's European parliamentary elections and then by insisting that he should not run in next year's regional presidential elections.

So what has Sarkozy's comment been on the whole matter?

Well according to the national daily, Le Figaro, the French president had rather a different reaction to most on seeing the video.

"When you're a minister you are always on duty," Sarkozy reportedly told him.

"And when you're minister of the interior that counts double," he continued.

"You should have been wearing a suit and tie and not have put in an appearance so casually dressed."

Local French politician caught napping

Oh dear, we've all been there haven't we?

Attending some meeting perhaps where the subject was as dry as stale bread, or back in our student days battling the heavy-lid syndrome as the lecturer attempted to bring new meaning to the word "boring".

Whatever the cause might have been, a quick forty winks when inappropriate never really used to be that embarrassing or much of a problem as there was usually a helpful person sitting next to you able to give a discreet prod when necessary.

But those days it seems are long gone, and the ease with which anyone can now take a compromising photo' or video with a mobile 'phone or digital camera and then distribute it on the Net leaves us all vulnerable.

And such perhaps, is the case with a certain local politician here in France, who was quite literally caught napping caught on the job..

Jean-Marie Albouy-Guidicelli is the deputy mayor of the town of Montereau-Fault-Yonne in the département of Seine-et-Marne, south east of the French capital.

At just 38 years of age, the member of the governing centre-right party, Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) is a busy man with a packed schedule; take a look at his website for proof of that.

A website that's evidence that he's more than aware of how he can promote himself via the Net and backed up by the fact that he can also be found on Facebook.

In other words Albouy-Guidicelli belongs to a generation which is certainly more than au fait with modern technology, its uses and abuses and its potential pitfalls.

Posted on the video hosting service site Dailymotion on Tuesday, the 42-second clip shows Albouy-Guidicelli losing the battle to concentrate during a meeting in the town hall.

Grosse fatigue pour le 1er adjoint de Montereau-Fault-Yonne
par HAUTEKIET

All right, so he doesn't have the profile of the interior minister Brice Hortefeux, who was captured on camera (a mobile 'phone) making what many in France consider to be a racist comment at the UMP’s summer conference at Seignosse southwestern France last week.

But perhaps the polemic that surrounded that particular incident might have encouraged Albouy-Guidicelli to be a little more vigilant.

Hortefeux, you might remember, was filmed saying to a young activist of Algerian origin, Amine Benalia-Brouch, in an apparent reference to North Africans that, "He doesn't match the prototype. We always need one. It's when there are lots of them that there are problems."

The video inevitably found its way on to the Net and hit the headlines with opposition calls for the minister's resignation.



For his part, Hortefeux has not apologised for the remarks he made but has said that he "regretted" the resulting controversial and "unnecessary" debate that followed.

Facing racism in the business world

Toufik Bellahcene is looking for a job. In fact he has been looking for one for over a year now.

And last month he took the step of trying his luck on eBay* and bringing his plight to the attention of the national press.

But he didn't auction himself as another young graduate, 23-year-old Yannick Miel,** had done in February.

Instead Bellahcene chose to try to sell his "ethnic origins" to the highest bidder.

"It was," he says. "An attempt to draw attention to racial discrimination in the job market as I think we don't talk enough about the subject."

Just in case you hadn't realised, 27-year-old Bellahcene is of North African origin - Algerian to be precise - one of three children brought up in the inner city of Strasbourg in Eastern France to a working class family.

All three children did well at school and graduated from university, but while his brother and sister both became teachers, Bellahcene decided to enter the business world, one which he says poses many more problems in terms of racial discrimination for those from ethnic backgrounds.

And based on his experience, he might have something of a point.

Since graduating from one of the top 10 business schools in the country, Bellahcene has applied for almost 800 jobs. He has been called for an interview just five times.

"According to statistics published by my university, 95.8 per cent of its graduates find jobs within four months," he says.

"The average length it takes is two weeks."

As well as placing an advertisment on eBay, Bellahcene sent an email to the left-of-centre national daily, Libération, giving a little more background to his unusual step.

"According to Adia (a French employment agency) my chances of finding a job are three times lower than a Frenchman with generations of roots in the country," he wrote.

"And my chances are even further diminished (seven times lower) because I'm after a position which matches my (graduate) qualifications here in Eastern France," he added.

"The conclusion I draw from that is that I have to say to children from the area in which I live and with a similar background, that there's no point in trying to do well at school and getting qualifications because they will more than likely be subjected to discrimination."

To illustrate the sort of difficulties that Bellahcene has faced, Friday morning's edition of La Matinale on Canal + television offered up the story of how, when he rang one company and gave his name, he was informed that there was no job available and the person the other end then hung up.

Of course when he rang back 15 minutes later and gave a "typically" French name "Nicolas" he was told there was no problem and advised to submit a formal application.

Anecdotal perhaps, but given his qualifications, lack of success in finding a job and ethnic origins, not unimaginable even in a supposedly multi-cultural modern democracy such as France.

But there again, perhaps it's not really racial discrimination after all.

There are bound to be some out there who would argue the contrary.

* The advertisement on eBay has now been withdrawn.

**The plight of Yannick Miel reached the ears of Martin Hirsch, the junior minister for youth and active solidarities against poverty, who offered him a position. Miel accepted.

Bellahcene is still looking for a job.

A clear case of racism within the French police

The following story first began well over a year ago, and although it has only now been partially resolved, it shows perhaps that racial discrimination within the French police is still very much alive and a force with which to be reckoned.

The least that can be said is that this country's highest administrative court and the one that provides the government with legal advice, the Conseil D'Etat, has taken an exceptional step in an effort to stamp out racism.

In 2007 Abdeljalel El Haddioui, an officer in the French police, applied to enter an examination which would allow him to move up a grade.

He was one of 700 original candidates nationally for just 27 posts and after completing six of the seven required stages with an average which put him in the top 20, he was one of 50 remaining candidates to be called before a jury for the final oral phase.

And that's when his problems began and racial discrimination appeared to rear its ugly little head.

The 40-year-old, who had been in the police since 1998, was the only remaining candidate with a name that marked him out as being obviously Moslem.

And here's a taste of just some of the questions he claimed the jury chose to put just to him during that oral session.

"Does your wife wear a headscarf?"
"Do you practise Ramadan?"
"Don't you find it strange that there are Arab ministers in the government?"
"What's your view on corruption within the Moroccan police force?"

As he pointed out afterwards the other candidates were apparently not asked whether they celebrated Christmas.

El Haddioui's score for the oral was just 4/20, which meant that he had failed.

When he made an initial complaint, the president of the jury at the hearing, Jean-Michel Fromion, refused to comment.

But El Haddioui didn't let the matter lie there and instead found himself a lawyer and took his case to the French Equal Opportunities and Anti-Discrimination Commission (Halde) saying that, "The jury had based its questions on his ethnic origins and his religion in order to eliminate him as a candidate."

With Halde's backing the case finally reached the Conseil d'Etat, which has now taken the unprecedented measure of recommending that the results for all the candidates be annulled.

The final decision as to the fate of the "class of 2007" and the future of El Haddioui lies with the interior minister, Michèle Alliot-Marie.

She has yet to make an official statement on the matter.

France - another hateful act

Racism is alive and sick in France - as in probably many other countries in the world - as witnessed in the latest shameful episode, which has brought quick condemnation from the government.

It occurred on Wednesday night at a secondary school in the southern French town of Agde.

Vandals apparently clambered over the gates to gain access to the grounds and proceeded to daub the walls, doors and outside stairwells of the school with anti-semitic and anti-Islamic profanities too obscene to repeat here, as well as Nazi swastikas and slogans.

There was swift reaction from local officials, school authorities, anti-racist groups and the government. And the story was widely reported in the French media.

The minister of education, Xavier Darcos, who visited the school on Thursday condemned the "acts of racist violence, antisemtism and xenophobia" and called for an inquiry to be opened immediately. He also told reporters that it didn't look as though it had been the action of one individual.

The 400 pupils at the school began the new academic year on Wednesday, and according to the deputy head teacher, Anne Bondy, everything seemed normal.

"It's a school without any real problems," she told reporters.

"It opened on Wednesday morning and everything went without a hitch.

"There was no tension of any sort, no indication that would have led us to imagine that such a thing could happen."

On Thursday, the school remained closed, parents were informed of what had happened and children kept away for the day while the clean-up operation went ahead.

While many here in France have reacted with understandable indignation and consider what happened a hateful crime, a quick read through the comments sections of some of the national newspapers' websites - and there has been plenty of reaction - reveals that not everyone shares the same point of view.

Most wholeheartedly endorsed the outrage felt by school officials, local authorities and the sentiments expressed by Darcos. But there were also others who sought to understand what had happened and why - without justifying the act.

And there were also some unkind words about both the level of media coverage and the reaction of the education minister.

One reader (of Le Figaro) suggested that simply painting over the problem and not allowing children to see what had happened - even though they would undoubtedly have been aware of why they were missing a day off school - was "a meaningless attempt at trying to ignore a chapter in French history that had being invoked by the graffiti."

While another (of Libération) criticised the media itself for drawing too much attention to a senseless act that was probably the result of those who knew no better, and newspapers and television would be better off reporting everyday cases of racist aggression in all walks of life rather than "publicising" purely "symbolic acts."

And then of course there were the claims that Darcos - currently under fire from teachers for a slew of reforms to the French education system that have just come into effect at this, the beginning of the academic year - was "benefitting" from the general outrage as a means of deflecting attention from upcoming strikes against 11,000 job losses.

This latest case is far from being an isolated one here in France.

In April racist and sexist abuse was painted on 148 Moslem graves in the country's largest First World War military cemetery at Notre-Dame-de-Lorette à Albain-Saint-Nazaire near Arras in northern France.

The same cemetery was also the scene of a similar racist attack in April 2007, when Nazi slogans and swastikas were painted on some 50 Moslem graves.

Racism, it would appear, is indeed alive and sick in France.

A hateful act

The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, didn't mince words in issuing an official statement denouncing the vandalism of 148 Moslem graves in the country's largest First World War military cemetery this weekend.

Racist and sexist abuse was painted on the graves, a pig's head was left hanging from one of the headstones and there were also slogans directly insulting the country's justice minister, Rachida Dati, whose parents are from North Africa.

"This is an act of unacceptable racism and the president of the republic shares in the pain of all the Moslem community in France ," Sarkozy said in the statement.

"This hateful act is also an affront to all First World War combatants irrespective of their religion," he added, stressing that he wanted the perpetrators to be caught and punished "as they deserved it."

The desecration of the graves occurred on Saturday evening in the Moslem section of the military cemetery at Notre-Dame-de-Lorette à Albain-Saint-Nazaire near Arras in northern France. It was built in 1925 on the site of one of First World War's largest battles and contains the graves of 40,000 including 22,500 unknown soldiers.

The section with 576 Moslem tombs is situated at one end of the massive cemetery with the gravestones facing towards Mecca.

Sadly it was also the scene of a similar racist attack in April 2007, when Nazi slogans and swastikas were painted on some 50 Moslem graves. Two men were convicted and sentenced to a year in prison for that act.

Although the word "graffiti" crops up in many of the reports describing what happened at the weekend, it has proven in fact too mild a word for the hate-filled slogans discovered on Sunday morning.

There was nothing decorative or artistic in the act. It was a case of vandalism pure and simple expressed in terms of the most abusive and revolting language imaginable.

Politicians were unanimous in their condemnation and a junior defence minister, Jean-Marie Bockel, quickly made his way to the cemetery on Sunday at the request of the president, where he held a one minute's silence in the name of the government.

A police probe has been launched with about 100 officers being sent to investigate the incident.

An estimated five million Moslems live in France - or eight per cent of the population - making it the largest Moslem community in Europe.