A couple of days ago, a French newspaper (Midi Libre) published a video that is at the same time frightening and indicative: a group of French policemen is patrolling in the streets of Carcassonne, a medium-sized town that is located in the South of France. They are talking freely, between uninhibited racism towards the people they come across, misogyny and dream of a coup to overwhelm the government. Disgusting, but really unexpected ?
The video dates back to November 2025. Night is surrounding the city of Carcassonne. Two policemen are talking in a car while patrolling in the streets. They think that the camera is off, but this is not the case. It is still filming, and mostly, recording the words. Sentences. Remarks. Jokes. And this is nothing less than an anthology of racism and misogyny. The worse? No complex, no questioning, no reserve. One of the policemen, former skydiver, is close to Rassemblement National, the far right political party once ruled by Jean-Marie Le Pen. Not that surprising to hear him talk the way he talks, but still.
Some people talked about an isolated case. Everyone started to condemn the words and the ones who had said them. All right then, this is the least we can do. But one more interrogation, whose response might not be known for the sake of social peace, stands before us: how many people make that kind of statement in the private sphere, far away from cameras and recording devices?
Of course, you have the dumb ones, who forget to cut off the recording like that policeman. You also have some people who will say something inappropriate and delete it when they notice it is wrong. Too late. Some people apologize because they were drunk, because they were not in their normal state or so. If you said it, then you mean it. No matter the context. Some words cannot be said. Racism is a crime punished by the law.
We all know that far right political parties are becoming increasingly successful in France when you see the results of the last elections. The presidential election of 2027 is coming close, and we do not want to see that happen. This is not a French issue, but a world problematic. Look at Italy with Meloni.
Take a look at what is happening in Germany with Ulrich Siegmund too. Do not forget what Trump once said about African countries, and how he considers them. Look at Bolsonaro in Brazil. Think about police violences towards Black people in the United States. The list can be developed much more than that. Being tolerant and open-minded in this changing world has never been so easy to say and so difficult to implement.
Guillaume Mahot