{"id":1286,"date":"2014-10-29T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-10-29T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/29-10-2014-luc-jousse-in-court-because-of-racist-abuse-against-rroma\/"},"modified":"2022-07-26T13:50:35","modified_gmt":"2022-07-26T12:50:35","slug":"29-10-2014-luc-jousse-in-court-because-of-racist-abuse-against-rroma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/fr\/29-10-2014-luc-jousse-in-court-because-of-racist-abuse-against-rroma\/","title":{"rendered":"29.10.2014 Luc Jousse in court because of racist abuse against Rroma"},"content":{"rendered":"

Miguet (2014) reports on \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe trial against Luc Jousse, mayor of Roquebrune-sur-Argens. Jousse had announced \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthat it was a shame that somone called the fire department so quickly, after a \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfire had broken out in a local Rroma camp. The prosecution now asks for a 20,000 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEuros fine and the non-eligibility of Jousse for a one year period: \u201cSOS Racism and the League for Human Rights \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfiled suit. In order to defend himself, he had declared that this statement did \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tnot come from himself. \u201cThis is not a faux pas. It is the comment of an \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\texasperated local resident, and I explain every time that the statement is not \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmine. I could never have done that\u201d, he assured.<\/em> Problem: Two weeks later, the mayor of Roquebrune-sur-Argens made \u200ba \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tnearly identical statement about the Roma at another public meeting.<\/em> When it learned about this, the state \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tassociation of UMP Var decided to exclude him from the party. The decision that \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twas supported by the national association.\u201d<\/em> With his racist remarks against \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe Rroma, Luc Jousse is not an isolated case. Several French mayors and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpoliticians have attracted attention in recent years with racist remarks about \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma. Some were sentenced to mild fines, others were completely acquitted, referring \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tto the freedom of expression: For example Manual Valls, who stated that the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma do not want to integrate and have a culture incompatible with that of France. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe judgment in Luc Jousse case will be passed on November the 17th (compare \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMalongo 2014, Verdi 2014).<\/p>\n