Isabelle Assih, a socialist mayor, refused to allow a banquet organized by the “French Cannon” to take place in her town. This decision led to a wave of harassment from the far-right. Assih and her husband have decided to file a complaint in response to the racist and threatening remarks made.
The French Cannon has been hosting banquets across France for several years, promoting products as “local” in a setting reminiscent of the past. The co-founder of the Cannon, Pierre-Alexandre de Boisse, claims there is no political message behind these events, but they are popular among the far-right for expressing racist views with relative impunity.
Investigations by France Inter revealed the involvement of wealthy businessman Pierre-Édouard Stérin, known as “more right-wing than the far-right,” in these banquets.
Recent testimony from a banquet held in Caen led Isabelle Assih to propose cancelling a reservation made by the French Cannon in Quimper. Following this decision, Assih faced a wave of insulting, hateful, and racist remarks on social media.
Assih received support from the prefect of Finistère, the leader of the Socialist Party (PS) Olivier Faure, and parliament member Annaïg Le Meur. The Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nuñez, expressed support against harassment but emphasized the need for public order to be disrupted to prohibit such events.
The fight against the far-right requires a step-by-step argumentative approach. The Humanité newspaper is committed to battling such extremism and calls for support in promoting a different voice in the public debate against racism and hatred.
