United we stand

The Union of Jewish Students of France is suing the editor of Valeurs Actuelles for inciting racist hatred. Le Monde says 'Shocked by the hateful cover of the weekly Valeurs Actuelles' the Union of Jewish Students of France (UEJF) announced on Wednesday 25 September its intention to sue Yves de Kerdrel, director of the publication for inciting racist hatred.


The cover of the weekly that appeared on 26 September featured the picture of a Marianne (symbolising the French Republic) wearing a face veil next to the alarmist title 'The naturalised: The invasion they hide'. The title utilises a common spatial metaphor that gives the abstract phenomenon of migration - an essentially unplanned and decentered process characterised by disjuncture - the characteristics of an intentional, planned and, at the end of the day, malicious effort to undermine the sovereignty of
the French Republic (see also Sofos and Tsagarousianou, Islam in Europe, chapter 1).

Although the articles are primarily Islamophobic, the Union of Jewish Students of France considered that islamophobia, antisemitism and, more generally, racism are not that distinct ideologies and practices and therefore decided to move against the journal.