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POLITICS

France’s Zemmour gives finger to critic as campaign woes mount

French far-right presidential hopeful Eric Zemmour on Saturday gave the finger to a passer-by during a troubled visit to Marseille, in a gesture seized on by critics as a sign his campaign was beginning to implode.

French far-right media pundit Eric Zemmour gives the finger as he leaves in his car.
French far-right media pundit Eric Zemmour returns the offensive gesture to a woman who had made the sign at him as he leaves in his car after a visit in Marseille, southern France, on November 27th, 2021. Nicolas TUCAT / AFP

Zemmour has yet to formally declare he is standing in the 2022 elections but intense campaigning has left little doubt over his intentions and some polls had suggested he could make it to a second round against President Emmanuel Macron.

But tensions have been mounting in the Zemmour camp as the most recent polls suggested the support of the far-right commentator was beginning to wane in favour of the traditional standard-bearer on the far-right, Marine Le Pen.

Leaving a restaurant in the southern city, Zemmour was given the finger by a passer-by and responded himself with an identical gesture, an exchange captured by an AFP photographer.

A source close to Zemmour, who asked not to be named, told AFP that the gesture was “instinctive”, an action for which he assumed full responsibility.

“He told us ‘I was insulted, I was shown the finger so I responded’,” said the source.

France’s Europe Minister Clement Beaune, a close ally of Macron, told LCI TV that the gesture had shown the “true face” of Zemmour, who won notoriety as a commentator for his strident attacks on Islam and immigration.

“It is the lack of the respect, the division, the hatred and the violence,” he said.

‘Anti-racist Marseille’ 
Zemmour’s trip to Marseille ran into trouble from the start: arriving on Friday he got off the train early in the nearby town of Aix-en-Provence to avoid protesters at Marseille station.

Attempting a 15-minute walkabout in Marseille, he was shouted down by protesters chanting “anti-racist Marseille”.

A walk planned for Saturday in the famed Vieux Port waterside area of the city was cancelled.

A source close to Zemmour however insisted there was “not the slightest doubt” he would declare his candidacy.

“We are just waiting for him to press the button,” said the source.

There has been speculation that his candidacy could be announced in the coming days before Zemmour gives a major address in Paris on December 5th.

Macron has yet to declare his candidacy — but is widely expected to do so early next year. The traditional right-wing Republicans are due to announce their candidate at a congress on December 4th.

Member comments

  1. Class? Mind you, if he made it to President, meetings with the British court jester could be epic and very entertaining.😀

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POLITICS

How disinformation targeting Brigitte Macron spread to the US and UK

Years after false posts began circulating on social media claiming that Brigitte Macron is a transgender woman, the French first lady remains the target of fake claims with the transphobic disinformation now being spread in the US and the UK.

How disinformation targeting Brigitte Macron spread to the US and UK

President Emmanuel Macron, 46, has in recent weeks lashed out at the false information spread about his wife, 70, who is taking legal action against those behind the allegations.

Prominent US right-wing commentator Candace Owens vehemently attacked the first lady in a now-deleted YouTube video posted on March 11th, propagating a false claim that first exploded in France just weeks before the 2022 presidential election.

Brigitte Macron is falsely said to have been born as a man called Jean-Michel Trogneux, her maiden surname, with that name going viral as a hashtag.

Macron is among a group of influential women – including former US first lady Michelle Obama and New Zealand ex-premier Jacinda Ardern – who have fallen victim to a growing trend: disinformation about their gender or sexuality to mock or humiliate them.

While this gendered disinformation is particularly visible in repeated attacks on prominent figures, it also affects women in general and sexual or gender minorities with differing levels of responsibility in public life.

According to the US-based observer group, the National Democratic Institute (NDI), the goal is to drive women “off the platforms and out of public life”, which has serious consequences for democracy.

Originally shared in the United States on sites like notorious disinformation hub 4chan, the claim snowballed when figures “with very large audiences gave it visibility”, doctoral researcher Sophie Chauvet, specialising in audience metrics, told AFP.

In her video, conservative commentator Owens cites a “thorough investigation” by so-called independent journalist Natacha Rey, published in the French newsletter Faits et Documents in 2021.

Founded in 1996 by far-right French figure Emmanuel Ratier and now headed by Xavier Poussard, Faits et Documents regularly promotes stories targeting the first lady, a journalist at the French weekly L’Obs, Emmanuelle Anizon, told AFP.

“But what is new is that Xavier Poussard started translating his articles at the end of 2023,” Anizon said, adding that he claims to have sent an English version to those close to former US president Donald Trump.

Anizon, who spoke to Poussard and his associate Aurelien Poirson who advised on the translation, explained that it was no accident that the US far right had taken up the false claim ahead of the November US elections.

“It was their dream to export this claim across the Atlantic,” she said.

And it worked, spreading like wildfire after Owens posted her video with two associated hashtags shared tens of thousands of times on X, according to social network analysis tool Visibrain.

The false claims have also been repeated by tabloid newspapers in the UK.

The disinformation “was available as and when required”, said Sebastian Dieguez, an expert in conspiracy theories at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland.

The “secretly trans” narrative is a long-standing feature of online, sexist violence, according to a 2021 Wilson Center report.

The bottom line, according to the NDI, is that silencing women has “serious consequences for human rights, diversity in public debates and the media, and ultimately, democracy.”

The impact is also personal for those targeted and their families.

Emmanuel Macron addressed the fake claims on International Women’s Day, saying, “the worst thing is false information”.

“People eventually believe them and disturb you, even in your private life,” he said.

The president’s relationship with his wife 24 years his senior, whom he met while she was a teacher and he was still a teenager, is periodically a source of media attention in France and abroad.

On March 22nd, a 51-year-old man was arrested in southwestern France for allegedly writing “Brigitte Macron, transsexual” on his garage, according to the French daily Le Figaro.

The first lady and her brother Jean-Michel Trogneux have taken legal action against two women who posted a YouTube video in December 2021 alleging she had once been a man named “Jean-Michel”.

A Paris criminal court is to try them on charges of defamation in March next year, a source close to the case has said.

The first lady’s daughter from her first marriage, Tiphaine Auzière, on Tuesday said she hoped the trial could quash the “grotesque” claims.

“Whether it’s my mother or anyone else in society, it can do a lot of harm,” Auzière told the BFMTV broadcaster.

“The justice system… can put an end to this misinformation and severely condemn the perpetrators because it’s a form of harassment like any other.”

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