Audrey Pulvar and Anne Hidalgo. – Bertrand GUAY / AFP
- Audrey Pulvar sparked controversy by believing that she was not “deeply” shocked by certain meetings organized by the student union Unef, where white people are not invited to talk about discrimination and racism.
- The words of this close to Anne Hidalgo have been widely criticized on the right as well as within the government, and supported by part of the left.
- In the PS, the media release created unease while the national office of the party had condemned, a few days earlier, the “excesses of the UNEF”.
The Socialist Party at the heart of a controversy after the statements of Audrey Pulvar, its regional candidate in Ile-de-France, this Saturday on BFMTV. Asked about meetings prohibited for whites, said to be single-sex, organized by UNEF to discuss discrimination and racism, Anne Hidalgo’s assistant in Paris sparked controversy. “That people discriminated against for the same reasons and in the same way feel the need to meet among themselves to discuss it, that does not shock me deeply,” she said. And “if it turns out that a [personne blanche], we can ask him to be silent, to be a silent spectator or spectator, ”said the candidate supported by the PS.
Comments castigated on the right, as in the National Rally and within the government, but supported by part of the left. In the PS, the media release aroused unease, while the party had just condemned, a few days earlier, the “excesses of the UNEF”.
Comments opposed to the line of Olivier Faure and the PS
Last Tuesday, the national office of the Socialist Party criticized “identity assignments and any form of essentialization” in a resolution which targeted the practices of the student union. The party boss, Olivier Faure, also denounced the next day, at the microphone of Sud Radio, this “incredible drift on a subject like racism”. “To think that only his fellows can share his suffering is to renounce our common humanity”, added the deputy for Seine-et-Marne, last Thursday,
in an interview with Figaro.
Is this line not opposed to the comments made by Audrey Pulvar, yet supported by the party? Since Saturday, socialist officials have not been numerous to speak, leaving their candidate under fire from critics. “It seems to me that Audrey Pulvar, part of the Unef, part of the Socialist Party are following indigenous ideas by wishing to qualify people according to their skin color”, for example blasted Marlène Schiappa, the Minister Delegate in charge of Citizenship this Monday on RTL.
Stéphane Le Foll, former PS minister and mayor of Le Mans, was one of the few to react on Twitter, stating his disagreement with Audrey Pulvar. “The values of the left are progress and universalism. To make them move forward, we must not exclude ourselves but talk to each other on the contrary. “
Radio silence among the socialists
If Audrey Pulvar’s media release is embarrassing within the PS, it is because the party had made this question of “universalism” a strong stake for the next presidential election, and a way, too, to distinguish itself from the rebels. or environmentalists. Anne Hidalgo, to whom Audrey Pulvar is very close, had she not estimated last week that these “single-sex” meetings of the UNEF were “very dangerous”, during an interview with Europe1 / CNews / Les Echos ?
The entourage of the mayor of Paris did not respond to our requests. Several elected officials and PS executives also refused to comment on this controversy, to the regret of Jean-Christophe Cambadélis. “The words of Audrey Pulvar are unfortunate and, without being fooled by the instrumentalisation which is made of it by some, the PS must reaffirm its opposition to the essentialization of the political debate as proposed by the UNEF, while measuring that the words of Audrey Pulvar do not engage him ”, assures to 20 minutes the former boss of the PS, who calls on his party to “lead this fight for an impartial Republic”.
Olivier Faure finally reacted on Monday by providing shy support to his candidate in an article from World. “Support groups that allow victims of racism or sexism to speak out, I have no problem with that,” he said, without giving further details.