On Sunday, September 15, La France Insoumise MP Éric Coquerel spoke on BFMTV about his disagreement with Picardie Debout-NFP MP François Ruffin, who had expressed his “shame” at having canvassed his potential voters in a differentiated manner during the legislative campaign.
“It bothers me a little that he made different leaflets depending on the electorate he is addressing, that poses a problem for me,” declared the elected official on our BFM Politique show.
“It is he who, in a certain way, is telling us that there are tracts that he has distributed that are ‘racial’ tracts and then on the other side of the tracts where it would be appropriate to put Jean-Luc Mélenchon, and thereby our programs and our anti-racist fight, under the table so as not to shock certain voters who he suspects could prevent them from voting for us,” believes the MP.
Differentiated leaflets
In his new book Itinerary, my France in its entirety, not halfwayin which he relates campaign anecdotes, François Ruffin recounted having distributed different leaflets depending on the people he was addressing.
Racialized people received a leaflet with a photo of Jean-Luc Mélenchon because he is popular with this electorate, according to François Ruffin, while the others received a leaflet without the photo.
“It’s a worry, I felt ashamed when I came to do that. Unfortunately, I confided in my comrades who told me they were doing the same thing,” the MP said on BFMTV this week.
“A problem”
“I think that François (Ruffin) is going astray and that poses a problem for me, because I respect him and I respect him,” Eric Coquerel repeated.
“He is divisive at the wrong time,” laments the elected representative from Seine-Saint-Denis, recalling that after the legislative elections, François Ruffin had already publicly criticized the NFP for not being able to agree on a candidate for Matignon.
“This time, he, who is the champion of unity, finds a way to be direct and slanderous in the way he attacks us,” Eric Coquerel further accuses of François Ruffin.
“It’s beyond my understanding”
On the substance of the case, the LFI MP also expressed his disagreement with François Ruffin. “Considering that because a left-wing movement (the NFP, Editor’s note), whose role it is, fights racism, it is communitarianism, excuse me, I think I hear the Republican Spring”, he said about the association advocating the defense of secularism and saying it is opposed to communitarianism.
“To think that doing this is communitarianism is beyond my understanding,” worries Éric Coquerel.
“Racism is a global phenomenon, if we do not take it into account, then we betray the very promises of the Republic,” he believes.
Ruffin should “return” to his words
On the future of François Ruffin within the NFP, Éric Coquerel believes that “it would be necessary” for the elected representative from the Somme to “fundamentally reconsider what he has just said”, to “recognize that he has gone too far”.
“What worries me is that for several years now, I have been watching those who are starting to go astray in this way and in general it doesn’t stop,” stressed Éric Coquerel.
François Ruffin also confirmed his “deep moral and electoral disagreement” with Jean-Luc Mélenchon and La France Insoumise, Saturday during a debate at the Fête de l’Humanité in Brétigny-sur-Orge (Essonne). The Fête de l’Huma is “a family celebration”, and it is normal to “argue as a family”, he declared, between boos and applause.
- BFMTV.com
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