AFP
Legislative: Wembanyama new tenor in a concert calling to “move away from extremes”
After football star Kylian Mbappé, basketball star Victor Wembanyama also called on Thursday to “move away from extremes”, three days before the first round of early legislative elections, the main voices of a concert of French sportsmen concerned by the current political issue. “Of course, political choices are personal, but for me it is important to move away from extremes, which are not the direction to take for a country like ours”, declared the basketball player, interviewed Thursday during a press conference in Paris, at Insep. A world basketball phenomenon, Wembanyama (20 years old, 2.24 m) set out to conquer the NBA last year, after being the first Frenchman in the history of No. 1 in the draft. Author of a very convincing first season, marked by some records, with the San Antonio Spurs, he will be one of the big attractions of the Games (July 26-August 11), where the Blues hope in his wake to once again climb onto the Olympic podium, three years after the silver medal obtained without him in Tokyo. His captain, Nicolas Batum, who was one of the heroes of the 2021 campaign in Japan, simply called for people to go and vote, believing that “it can be a very good thing that the level of abstention is very low”. – “Citizen’s job” – “Afterwards, I don’t live in France (he has been playing in the United States since 2008, Editor’s note) (…), I can’t judge people’s daily lives, so I can’t push or influence them”, he added. “Everyone must form their own opinion about what they are experiencing, what they think is good for the country and from Sunday do their job as citizens.” Wembanyama’s words, which resonate very strongly, echo the position expressed by Kylian Mbappé at the start of the Euro football championship currently being played by the French team in Germany. The captain of the Blues had stated on June 16, on the eve of the first match against Austria, that he was “against the extremes.” “I call on young people to go and vote, we can see that the extremes are on the verge of power, we have the opportunity to choose the future of our country,” said the future Real Madrid striker. “We need to identify with the values of tolerance, diversity and respect. I hope we will still be proud to wear this jersey on July 7,” the date of the second round, he added. The day before, another French striker, Marcus Thuram, had clearly called for a blockade of the National Rally (RN) on June 30 and July 7, as the first act in a concert of similar statements by several French sports figures. – “Critical situation” – A column published by L’Equipe brought together nearly 300 signatories including former athlete Marie-José Pérec, former Roland-Garros winner Yannick Noah, sailor Isabelle Autissier, former footballer Vikash Dhorasoo and former rugby player Serge Betsen, who collectively called for a vote against the far right, stressing that this party “exploits (the) differences and manipulates our fears to divide”. Last week, the captain of Toulouse and the French XV Antoine Dupont highlighted “the values of diversity” of rugby to encourage the French “to go and vote” in the early legislative elections. In recent days, it was Estelle Nze Minko, captain of the French women’s handball team, who had much stronger words to express her concern, also calling for “the fight against the extreme right”. “As a citizen, I am affected by the situation which is critical, dangerous”, she said. The latest renowned sportsman to join the movement, the star of the French volleyball team Earvin Ngapeth said he “encourages votes against the National Rally, which conveys ideas, values, principles that are not mine”. “The France that I love is a France where everyone mixes” he stressed.nk-nip/hpa
