Accusations of racism were leveled last week after a Christmas market in Paris which had a Black-only policy for its merchants.
The Christmas market, organized by the association Je Consomme Noir (I Consume Black), took place last weekend at the Hasard Ludique cultural space in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, and allowed only “African and Afro-descendant creators” to sell food, drinks, and other products, French daily Le Figaro reports.
Several media and political figures have since taken to social media to express their disapproval of the Christmas market’s racialist and segregationist character.
“A community market! Far from my vision of the Christmas spirit,” Amaury Hoymans, an assistant of LREM MP Stanislas Guérini, wrote on social media.
“I think it’s very bad in the current climate to have a Christmas market like this,” the French author and political commentator Charles Consigny said during a panel discussion on the television show Les Grandes Gueules (The Big Mouths).
“It’s offbeat and racialist, I dream of a country where we could stop being obsessed with the color of people’s skin in one way or another,” Consigny added.
Benjamin Cauchyn, another member of the panel discussion, then pointed out that if White Frenchmen and women set up an “‘I Consume White’ market, SOS Racisme would surely have shown up to the market with ‘No to racism’ t-shirts.”
Je Consomme Noir was quick to push back against the accusations of racism leveled against it, claiming that the association has nothing to do with politics.
“We don’t do politics. We want to convey a positive message, by doing things for our community,” a volunteer for the association told Le Figaro, adding that they had “expected to have this kind of criticism” to be directed against the market.
Although the Christmas market only allowed Blacks to be merchants, Michaël Amado, a prominent French corporate lawyer, also claimed it was not discriminatory, saying: “It would be discriminatory to prohibit consumers from coming to enjoy the products on the sole pretext that they would not be part of the organizing community.”
The Christmas market comes as a part of a broader wave of anti-White sentiment that’s become increasingly acceptable across North America and much of Western Europe. Earlier this year, Audrey Pulvar, the leftist deputy mayor of Paris, faced widespread accusations of racism after she said that White Frenchmen and women should be “silent” when people of color discuss racism, as Remix News previously reported.
Months ago, The Humboldt University of Berlin — one of Germany’s higher learning institutions — was accused of fostering racism after the university’s student council (AstA) posted a discriminatory job advertisement that asked White people to refrain from applying.
“We ask (…) White people to refrain from applying for this advice center,” the advertisement said, insisting that the consultations work best “when the consultant is Black or is a person of color.”
The growing trend hasn’t gone entirely unnoticed, at least among much of the French public. In June of 2020, a survey was released which revealed that nearly half (47 percent) of France’s population reported that anti-White racism exists and is a problem in the country.