Controversy over festival ‘banned to whites’
A festival in Paris said to be ‘banned to whites’ has stirred up controversy since Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo tweeted she ‘condemns it with firmness’ and wants the police to shut it down.
The Nyansapo festival planned on July 28-29 is being organised by ‘militant afro-feminist’ group Mwasi, and is advertised as being organised into four areas – a ‘non-mixed’ area for black women constituting 80% of the festival, an area for black people, an area for all ‘racialised’ [ethnic-minority] women and an area open to all.
Socialist mayor Ms Hidalgo and leading anti-racism groups reacted following a complaint by the leader of the Front National group on the Ile-de-France regional council, Wallerand de Saint-Just.
Mr Saint-Just put out a statement saying the mayor should explain herself over the holding of an ‘openly racialist and anti-republican’ event in municipal premises (the Paris hall La Générale, which is let by the mairie).
Ms Hidalgo said she would ask the prefect of police to ban the festival and would consider suing the organisers for discrimination. The prefecture said Ms Hidalgo had not contacted them, but they would make sure the law and Republican principles were respected.
The charity SOS Racisme says the festival is “a mistake – if not an abomination – because it encourages ethnic separation whereas anti-racism is a movement that aims to move beyond race.”
Licra (League international contre le racisme et l’anti-sémitisme) also said ‘Rosa Parks must be turning in her grave’ and ‘the fight against racism has become an excuse for identity politics, turning in on oneself’.
In a statement released by Mwasi and La Générale they state they have been “victims of a campaign of misinformation and fake news orchestrated by the most mouldy part of the far right” and they are “saddened to see certain anti-racist associations allowing themselves to be manipulated”.
“We also notice that when it’s not a matter of race, feminist discussion groups ‘between women’ have never caused much of a problem to anyone.”
Having ‘non-mixed’ events for people of a specific group seen as suffering discrimination, is “a classic method, of proven usefulness, so speech can emerge freely and so that an open exchange of ideas takes place in a relaxed atmosphere,” they add.
“Finally, we are also very amused to see all these people with a white identity politics agenda, who suddenly demand the right to go to a militant afro-feminist event that, for that matter, is open to all outside the workshop groups.”
