INTERVIEW. Salomé Saqué: “It’s time to wake up”

La Dépêche du Midi: What sparked the desire to write this book, “Resist”?

Salomé Saqué: This is my recent experience as a journalist. I have been confronted with an increasing amount of fake news, conspiracy theories and intolerant comments. This is something I link, in part, to the explosion of far-right thought. For the legislative elections, I covered the National Rally, in particular its economic policy, which allowed me to have a more in-depth knowledge of this party. There really was an organization, notably the Bolloré media, to help the far right win. I try to show the mechanisms of the sprawling progression of their ideas and their leaders via websites, very active blogs, social networks, digital platforms…. The result is an unprecedented breakthrough of xenophobic, Islamophobic, anti-Semitic, nationalist ideas.

What meaning do you give to the word “Resist”?

It's time to wake up. Resisting under a far-right regime is much more dangerous. Today overall it is not. I have the right to write this book, to be interviewed in your newspaper, to say what I see. Let’s preserve these rights. To resist is, when you have the energy and the capacity, to start informing yourself in the most effective way possible.

Who did you write this book for?

I speak to people who more or less already share my values. At the Republic school, I was taught that our motto was Liberty Equality Fraternity. And today, that’s what is being called into question.

This book confirms that you are a committed journalist.

I am only relaying proven facts. In the book there are 184 notes and references to verify what I write. This is not an ideological essay. It is a tool for transmitting information. I wrote this book because I am convinced that I would have regretted not having done it if the extreme right came to power.

Certain journalists have become relays of what you call “the wonderful world of the fascist sphere”…

Yes. I devote part of the book to it and I cite several of them. It is important to understand how they managed to divert journalists to media that spread disinformation and which have sometimes been the subject of court convictions.

Have you read Jordan Bardella's book?

I flew over it. Jordan Bardella's way of communicating makes him likable. This book is part of the strategy of demonization of the National Rally. But we have to look at who their deputies are, what they vote for in the Assembly, the comments of some of them.

Should we consider the 10.6 million voters who voted for the RN in the 2024 legislative elections as far-right people?

That's the big question. I do not lump together people who vote for parties and the leaders of these parties who, for me, have a form of cynicism. Which their voters do not necessarily have.

Resisting, what does it start with?

Do not give in to discouragement, do not add contempt to contempt. And don't give up on dialogue. I know it's difficult sometimes, that family meals can be tense!

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