Mr. Retailleau, you have too fueled the hatred to be credible – Liberation

There is The words pronounced by Bruno Retailleau Monday June 2 after the racist attack perpetrated in the Var. They are impeccable or almost. The Minister of the Interior said that « Each racist crime is an anti-French crime », spoke of this « Poison that kills », adding that « The Republic makes no difference according to origins, skin color, religions ». But there are also the acts, the choice of the place from which we speak, the displacement that we decide to do or not to give weight to his word. And if Bruno Retailleau struggles to convince us of his sincerity, it is, in particular, because he made the decision not to go there. The arguments put forward to justify themselves not being very convincing. Talk to the Matignon steps at the exit of a meeting proportionalwith his cap of boss of the Republicans and Laurent Wauquiez by his side, sorry, but that does not have the same force as a displacement on the spot. It is a choice that a visit to the Tunisia Embassy does not repair. Some will say that traveling would have only symbolic value … but that counts the symbols!

Defend republican values, Pierre Nora We have learned it masterfully, very often goes through symbolic acts. If Bruno Retailleau has been refused, it is actually not to symbolically support the contradiction between his words on Monday evening and his usual speech. When we stir up the hatred all day long, the fear of the other, when his main political business is to brandish a fantasized French identity, when we have a good number of ideas with the extreme right, it is not easy to be audible, as Minister of the Interior, when It is this extreme right that is pointed out by the anti -terrorist prosecution. Its radical extensions anyway.

As a reminder, with twelve attacks foiled since 2017, the extreme right remains the second terrorist threat in France behind jihadism.