Fake news and avocado sandwiches
From the tsunami of disinformation about violent social unrest in France to calls to change the date of the French presidential election, via protest-themed sandwiches and ridiculous shark films, here’s what we have been talking about in France this week.
I felt a moment of empathy with Emmanuel Macron this week (don’t tell anyone, I’ll never live it down) as he exasperatedly lashed out at “stupid comments” from world leaders about the recent violent protests in France – he didn’t name names but the chief culprits for nonsense about immigration and Islam were US president Donald Trump and Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu.
He also warned that it is “not normal” for France to be in such turmoil just six months before a presidential election.
The same point was made by The Local’s politics expert John Lichfield, who has spent 25 years observing France: “It’s very unusual to have this kind of social unrest so close to an important election.
“Normally protests start about six months after an election when people get fed up with the person they have just elected – it happened that way with Macron and the Gilets Jaunes in 2018, it happened with Sarkozy too.
“To have protests six months before an election is unusual, and therefore it’s difficult to predict which way it’s going to go, there isn’t a template from the past one can follow.”
Those outside France may assume that the country is always on fire or rioting about something – but actually there are long periods of calm, which don’t make international headlines for obvious reasons.
And while the country slightly nervously prepares for a third Saturday of protests under tight security, some people are starting to look further ahead – there are even calls for the dates of the presidential election to be moved to avoid the traditional protest day of May 1st (the second round is currently scheduled for May 2nd).
Violence may disrupt an election, but so can disinformation, especially when that is coordinated and deliberate.
The country’s foreign minister this week revealed that 60 percent of social media posts falsely linking France’s October 17th violence to immigration or Islam came from abroad, with accounts in the US, Israel, Iran, Russia and China the most prominent.
And sometimes, disinformation can be fatal – the man arrested for the shooting in Trappes last week told investigators that he had targeted the town because it was a “hotbed of Islamism”, according to the prosecutor.
Trappes, in the outer suburbs of Paris, holds the grim distinction of being the subject of a lot of made-up articles about being ‘under Sharia law’ or a ‘no-go zone for non-whites’. Here’s the mayor back in 2021 pleading with people to stop spreading fake news about his town.
Don’t miss our journalists’ daily news roundup from France
Talking France
We discuss the latest on the protests and the fallout of the Trappes terror attack in the Talking France podcast – as well as the controversial new highway in south west France, Beaujolais Nouveau Day and how the French celebrate Halloween. I also learned, thanks to my Breton colleague, that Brittany hosts Samhain festivals every year, in a nod to its Celtic roots. Listen here.
Avocado law
I’ve written before about the tradition of witty and clever placards at protests, but now the boulangeries are apparently getting in on the act too.
The below ‘garde à vue‘ (arrested) sandwich contains avocado and chicken – avocat in French can mean either avocado or lawyer, while les poulets is a slang term for police.
Sharktastic
And this week we learned that quite possibly the worst film ever made is getting a sequel. Sous la Seine (Under Paris) was an absolutely bonkers tale of killer sharks in the Seine that entered the ‘so bad it’s hilarious’ category – and evidently enough people watched it to persuade Netflix to make a sequel.
Sous la Seine 2 is due out next year. The film ended with the whole of Paris under about 20m of water after an insane finale that involved all the bridges somehow getting accidentally blown up, so I’m fascinated to know what the sequel involves. Popcorn at the ready . . .
PS I was worried that the news from France all seems a bit serious at the moment, so I also wrote a list of all the things to look forward to in November.
Thanks for reading and bon weekend !
Inside France is editor Emma Pearson’s weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in France that you might not have heard about. It’s published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article.
