The theme of anti-Semitism has emerged in the campaign for the early legislative elections in France. On the ground, those involved in training in the fight against this scourge testify to the confusion that reigns around this issue, while anti-Jewish acts have exploded in recent months.
A “ exchange time » on racism and anti-Semitism in middle and high schools. This is what the president proposed Emmanuel Macron in reaction to the anti-Semitic rape of a Jewish child in Courbevoie, a Paris suburb. “ This is so not up to the challenge », laments Marie-Anne Matard Bonucci, historian and specialist in anti-Semitism. In her university diploma (DU) training in the fight against racism and anti-Semitism at Paris 8 University, she prepares teachers or members of associations required to intervene in educational establishments. But she deplores “ largely insufficient means » given the scale of the task.
An opinion shared by Hélène Bouniol who regrets “ a lack of courage » : « An hour of discussion before the holidays, breathes the co-president of the education network of the International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism (Licra), which regularly intervenes in schools: at the political level, we do not want to take the problem head on », she judges.
Since the attacks of October 7, anti-Jewish acts have nevertheless been multiplied by four in one year, according to the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (Crif). And in recent months, not a week goes by without an anti-Semitic event being reported. Attempted fire on a synagogue in Rouen, ambiguous statements during the campaign for the European elections, tags, insults…
Events which highlighted the persistence of this scourge. The subject has even become central in the campaign for early legislative elections: while left, certain politicians are trying to get rid of the accusations of anti-Semitism to which they are subject, the National Rally (RN), historically marked by its links with anti-Semitic figures, presents itself as the new protector of the Jews. To the point that Serge Klarsfeld, the famous hunter of Nazi criminals, openly defends the RN vote.
If this political exploitation distresses them, on the ground, those who educate around this issue are not “ not surprised ” of this situation. In their daily work, they observe this resurgence of anti-Semitism, “ everywhere, in all social strata », specifies Hélène Bouniol. They also experience the great ignoring » which surrounds the subject, again in all strata of society.
“ An ignorance of the Jewish fact »
For several years, since he felt a ” faintness » faced with the outings of his fellow activists associating Jews and power or whom he saw in the demonstrations brandishing signs containing anti-Semitic clichés like that of the puppeteer, Jonas Pardo sets out to fight against ” denial » on the left, by providing training to parties, unions or even the media. “ There is something absolutely unbearable for people on the left to think that they might be susceptible to anti-Semitism. But they are like everyone else. Anti-Semitism is a phenomenon that crosses all levels of society. It has no political boundaries, it is found everywhere since the moment it became formalized in the nineteenth century », he comments.
For him, part of this “ denial » is linked to a “ ignorance of the Jewish fact. Many think that “Jewish”it’s only a religion, not that it’s a people, a history… » Which therefore creates in addition, on the left, he notes, “ disinterest through anticlericalism “.
Very present in the post-Shoah period, over time, the reflection of anti-Semitism has almost disappeared on the left. “ It’s no longer a question », summarizes Jonas Pardo. “ Take what racism produces in its paroxysmal version – the Holocaust – can also have an inhibitory effect », underlines Marie-Anne Matard Bonucci, also co-founder of the association Alarm (Association for the fight against anti-Semitism and racism through the mobilization of teaching and research). As if the focus on this event had paralyzed the debate and made all other forms of anti-Semitism disappear. The Dilcrah National Plan to Combat Racism, Anti-Semitism and Discrimination Linked to Origin recommended as a flagship measure the visit once during schooling to a place of memory. “ That’s good, but it doesn’t inoculate against anti-Semitism. We believe that we must address all forms of racism, including ordinary racism, basic stereotypes and analyze and deconstruct. »
Recognize references to combat evil
A vision shared by Jonas Pardo, who also took his courses. “ Since the Holocaust, anti-Semitism has been socially discredited, unlike other forms of racism. Today, we can no longer call ourselves anti-Semitic openly “, explains Jonas Pardo. Anti-Semitism therefore often advances hidden. To recognize and combat it, you need to have certain knowledge. This is one of the key points of his workshops, which are based on image analysis. As anti-Semitism thrives in conspiracy theories, the Covid-19 period has been particularly conducive to its expression. He cites the example of these posters during demonstrations against the health pass beginning with the question “ Who ? », an anti-Semitic motif which designates Jews as responsible for the pandemic. Or more recently the case of this tweet of the LFI deputy David Guiraud, in which he relayed an image referring to “ celestial dragons », characters from a manga, but used by anti-Semites to talk about Jews without naming them on the networks. THE tweet was quickly erased. “ Even if he denied any reference, the reactions behind it are not misleading », analyzes Jonas Pardo.
Anti-Semitism can even be unconscious. Like the belief that Jews dominate the world or that Jews are associated with wealth. In my training courses, I often have participants who tell me: it’s true that in my country, we always say: “Turn off the light, we’re not at Rothschild’s.” People who say that are not anti-Semitic sure, but in the era of industrial capitalism, Judaism has been equated with economic domination, so naming it is not innocent. Why don’t we say: “we are not with Bernard Arnault or with Jeff Bezos or I don’t know who” ? » To deconstruct these clichés, Jonas Pardo works to demonstrate how this prejudice was created when, according to a 2021 study by the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights (CNCDH), around one in four French people consider that “ Jews have a special relationship with money “.
Another bias can also prevent us from tackling the problem of anti-Semitism. “ To the left, analyzes Jonas Pardo, the idea developed that there would have been a replacement of anti-Semitism by Islamophobia, as if there were a set of communicating vessels of racism, and that we would move from one target to another . When in reality, there is an increase in both phenomena. »
Added to these ancient roots of anti-Semitism is an explosive international context since the terrorist attack carried out by Hamas in Israel and the war waged by the Jewish state in Gaza in response. A context which has already strongly influenced the European campaign. “ In schools, what I see is that today there is great confusion between Jews and Israelis, which is expressed in an extremely violent way. », relates Hélène Bouniol, from Licra. Same observation from Jonas Pardo who, in his workshops against anti-Semitism, often witnesses positions taken in favor of the Palestinians “ oppressed “. If he shares their emotion, these conflations can have serious consequences, he recalls.
This same rapprochement is also found in the political debate which pits those for whom anti-Zionism is a form – or at least conceals – of anti-Semitism, and others who fiercely contest it.
Rethinking teaching
To combat these confusions, there is no miracle recipe. “ We work on History, on the notion of the scapegoat, and then through critical analysis workshops to make them think about what they read on social networks or hear. But it takes a lot of time and investmentinsists Hélène Bouniol. It has to be part of the school curriculum. »
With the foundations of anti-Semitism, launched last May and which she was to lead, Marie-Anne Matard-Bonucci hoped “ innovate in remedies “. But the dissolution swept them away, she regrets. The academic calls for a rethinking of the teaching of this issue. “ Today, at school, we talk about anti-Semitism regarding the Shoah, a little about the Dreyfus affair, and that’s it. We are not interested in the long roots of anti-Semitism which are religious. »
According to her, we need to move away from an approach that relies exclusively on memory. She pleads for a multidisciplinary approach, with legal, historical, sociological training, a global approach to the issues which understands racism and anti-Semitism as a whole, while highlighting the specificities in order to avoid the phenomena of memory competition “. Train on a larger scale too, as the needs are great. Magistrates, for example, who know the law perfectly, but struggle to determine whether an act is anti-Semitic or not. With her association Alarmer, she intended to carry the idea of setting up “ a research and teaching institution dedicated to these subjects “.
Read alsoHow to break the spiral of anti-Semitism?
Historian and director of Maison Dreyfus, Philippe Oriol regularly welcomes young people for citizenship courses as part of alternative sentences for anti-Semitic offenses, often convicted for publications on the internet. Far from seasoned activists propagating ideological anti-Semitism, “ I see lost little guys arriving “. Minors who do not have the words or the weapons to understand the seriousness of “ astonishing things they write on social networks “. They have never heard of the Dreyfus affair. “ They know that there are Jews, that there is the question of Palestine. And swim in this great absolute fog. »
The challenge is therefore rather to show its relevance. Show that if the enemy changes, the rhetoric remains the same. “ They are reminded that anti-Semitism at the end of the 19th century was included in xenophobia. The subtitle of the largest anti-Semitic newspaper of the time, La Libre parole, is “La France aux Français”. One of the songs sung during the Dreyfus affair says: “Today in France, we are no longer at home, it is an entire race that lays down the law for us, let us chase away the foreigner…” The idea is to make them understand that the discourse, 130 years apart, between [Édouard] Drumont and [Êric] Zemmour, don’t change. And it stuns them. ” Do them ” hit » : « What I want to make them understand is that hatred of others is global and that from the moment we start to hate someone because they made a certain choice, that they come from such a corner or that he has a particular religion, from the moment we start to attack someone like Dreyfus, because he is Jewish for example, it is the humanity that we deny. »
As for the effectiveness of these days? Difficult to know, Philippe Oriol modestly acknowledges, but “ they leave telling us that they learned lots of things “.
* Forthcoming : A short manual for combating anti-SemitismJonas Pardo, Samuel Delor, editions of the common.