– Women are less and less safe in France and elsewhere. Figures from the Ministry of the Interior confirm that in the Paris area, more than 60 percent of sexual harassment in public transport is carried out by people with an immigrant background, says Marie.
She is tired of being talked to, followed and harassed on the street or when she takes the subway.
Marie Durand is one of the founders of “Les Femmes avec Zemmour”, an organization that supports Eric Zemmour.
On Sunday, the far-right politician held his very first election rally after officially declaring himself a presidential candidate. Somewhere between 11,000 and 15,000 people had gathered in a trade fair hall on the outskirts of Paris. It ended dramatically.
An election rally that ended in violence, riots and fights. The main character himself was strangled by someone who attended the meeting, apparently disagreeing with the right-wing populist’s policy. Zemmour was also injured in the arm in the chaos. On Monday, the politician reported what happened.
Women from SOS Racism, who demonstrated peacefully in front of the media at the back of the hall, were attacked by young male Zemmour supporters. Chairs flew through the air. The news channels show time and time again the shocking pictures of a young man banging on a young woman from SOS Racism.
– I hate him
We are with Marie in the neighborhood when she pastes small posters with a picture of Eric Zemmour. Marie glues on mailboxes, trees and lampposts. In some places you see the remains of posters, which Marie has pasted up before. Zemmour is controversial, and many tear down the images as soon as they come up.
A man with an immigrant background, who passes us hisses: – I hate him.
– THE NEIGHBORHOOD: The posters Marie hangs up were often torn down again. But she does not give up and sticks up Eric Zemmour’s face again in the neighborhood. Photo: Santiago Vergara / TV 2
–
Zemmour is called both misogynist and racist. He believes women have a different intelligence than men. The 63-year-old has been convicted several times for racist statements and hate speech.
– Of course, our opponents will accuse him of being racist and misogynistic, but I do not think that is true at all. He defends France and the French. He wants money earned in France to remain in France.
– But he is convicted of racism?
– Yes, but only the times he did not appeal. In fact, he was acquitted every time he appealed.
– NO FAVORITE: Zemmour mostly blames immigrants in France. These two give a clear message that he is not their favorite. Photo: Santiago Vergara / TV 2
–
The 24-year-old engineer lives in a dormitory in a bourgeois neighborhood of Paris. In the small street, the houses are stately, with wrought iron balconies and man-high windows. The room is simple, but she is only five minutes away from work.
She shows us several posters of Zemmour. On Friday, he revealed his slogan in the election campaign. All posters are in sober dark blue, with Zemmour’s intense gaze looking straight at you.
– «Impossible is not French», is the slogan. It is a slogan inspired by Napoleon, she says.
Politically incorrect
For several years, Eric Zemmour has drawn millions to the television screen by provoking and presenting politically incorrect opinions. Earlier this year, he was taken off the screen on the channel CNews, because the country’s media supervision believed he was campaigning to become president.
– He wants us to feel safe in France. I think he has many sensible suggestions. Which a few decades ago was completely normal, but which today is perceived as completely extreme.
Zemmour was born in France to Jewish-Berber parents from Algeria. He was for many years a political journalist in the conservative newspaper Le Figaro. He applied several times to the elite school ENA, which many politicians and top bureaucrats have completed. Zemmour never got through the eye of the needle.
– YOUNG PEOPLE AND WOMEN: Despite Eric Zemmour being called both misogynist and racist, there was a large turnout of both young people and women at the public meeting on Sunday. Photo: Santiago Vergara / TV 2
–
Earlier this winter, he was second in the polls after President Emmanuel Macron. Now he has been overtaken by Marine Le Pen from the national conservative and right-wing populist party, Rassemblement National. Translated, it means national gathering. The presidential election will be held in April, normally in two rounds. In the last round with two candidates against each other.
During Sunday’s public meeting, he presented himself as the man who can save France from the elite and from the media.
– Is he not too extreme to become president?
– Well, I think he has managed to increase the polls in recent months, because the French have been waiting for this type of clear speech. I think he is brave, honest and clear and that is why he is popular.
Eric Zemmour is often called France’s answer to Donald Trump, both because he attracts enormous media attention and because he uses many of the same techniques. He talks about France being on the brink of collapse. That immigrants, and preferably Muslims, are about to take over the country. That France must be for the French, and that welfare goods must be reserved for those with French citizenship.
– TRUMP SIMILARITIES: Marie admits that Zemmour has much of the same tactics and policies as Donald Trump, but she believes French politics is different than in the US and it is impossible to be Trump in France. Photo: Santiago Vergara / TV 2
–
– We are in France, not in the United States. That’s how it is. Of course there are some similarities, but he is not a copy of Donald Trump. It is impossible to be Trump in France.
New polls are coming soon, which will show if Zemmour hits with his message after he declared himself presidential candidate.
–
