The Unef and its single-sex meetings were at the heart of the debates this Thursday evening in the Senate. – Bertrand GUAY / AFP
The UNEF animated the debates Thursday evening in the Senate, with the adoption of an LR amendment to the bill on “separatism” which aims to allow the dissolution of associations prohibiting the participation of a person in a meeting in because of its color or origin.
The left-wing student union is at the center of a political controversy linked to the organization of single-sex racialized meetings.
A text against single-sex meetings
This news “highlighted that the conditions for the dissolution of a trade union organization in our law are complex,” said Stéphane Le Rudulier (LR) by presenting an amendment to “fill this legal void”.
His discussion was an opportunity for the Minister responsible for Citizenship, Marlène Schiappa, to “reiterate very clearly (his) personal opposition and the government’s opposition to this type of meeting”.
The initial wording of the amendment was debated and was modified during the meeting to target associations “which prohibit a person or a group of people on the basis of their color, their origin or their belonging or not belonging to an ethnic group, a nation, race or religion determined to participate in a meeting ”.
She finally rallied widely on all the benches, even if the leader of the PS senators, Patrick Kanner, specified, like several of his colleagues, not to agree with the explanatory memorandum, which explicitly mentions “single-sex meetings, that is to say, forbidden to” white people “, organized by the UNEF”.
“There is a need to meet with people who are going through the same things”
The minister issued a “wisdom” opinion on the amendment, while expressing doubts about its constitutionality.
Laurence Cohen (predominantly communist CRCE) defended the UNEF, explaining that what the union wanted to organize, “it’s called support groups”. “At certain times, there is a need to meet with people who are going through the same things, to build a common thought, a collective thought that is far from racist behavior,” she said.
For Sophie Taillé-Polian (environmental group), “the question we should ask ourselves is how we ensure that these meetings no longer need to exist”.
“Any separation, any discrimination, any segregation, whatever the circumstance, linked to the color of the skin, is unacceptable,” said Jean-Pierre Sueur (PS) for his part.