“Decline in tolerance”, “increase in racist acts”, “explosion of anti-Semitic acts”, “persistence of a discourse tinged with xenophobia”. This is a particularly alarming observation delivered by the public agency, this Thursday, June 27, following the publication of its annual report on the fight against racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia.
“An unprecedented rise” in anti-Semitism, which remains “more marked on the right than on the left”
If the number of anti-Semitic acts remained at a relatively high level in recent years, the year 2023 marked a turning point in the prevalence of these acts, in “a particular international context”, following the terrorist attacks perpetrated by Hamas last October 7. In one year, anti-Semitic acts increased by 284%, from 436 to 1,676, with a major concentration of all of these acts after October 7 (almost ¾ of them). An “unprecedented increase” according to the report: “Since 2000 and the start of the second Intifada, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has often triggered waves of anti-Semitism in France but never at such a level.” A figure to be compared to the number of French Jews, which amounts to around 500,000 people. In other words, almost 1 in 30 French Jews would have been the victim of an anti-Semitic act in the year 2023.
In the same vein, the commission observes an “exceptional drop of 4 points in the tolerance index towards the Jewish minority”, going from 72 to 68 on a scale of 0 (intolerance) to 100 (tolerance). “The perception of Jews has become polarized around the fact that they are not French like the others,” analyzes Nonna Mayer, researcher in political science and emeritus research director at the CNRS. In the figures, 10.8% of respondents believe that “Jewish French people are not French like the others”, up 3.4 points compared to November 2022. In addition, 42.1% of those questioned said they agreed with the proposition according to which “for French Jews, Israel counts more than France”, up almost 7 points compared to 2022 (35.4%).
However, the report notes that “despite the emergence of a “new anti-Semitism”, which would be based on an anti-Zionism that amalgamates and demonizes “Jews”, “Israelis” and “Zionists”, the results of the barometer tend to show that anti-Semitic opinions remain largely structured by old stereotypes associating Jews with power and money”. Thus, “if a negative vision of Israel is more frequent on the left and the far left, it is relatively dissociated from the classic anti-Jewish prejudices that remain more alive on the far right and among those close to the RN”. In detail, “34% of RN supporters believe that “Jews have too much power” (…) and 51% attribute to them a particular relationship with money, which is systematically significantly more than the average French person and supporters of other major political parties”, notes researcher Nonna Mayer.
Racist acts “largely underestimated”
In parallel with this “exponential” increase in anti-Semitic acts, racist acts are also experiencing a worrying increase, with the latter having increased by 32% in 2023, according to figures from the Ministry of the Interior. “France is not a racist country, but there are too many racist and anti-Semitic acts and they are probably not pursued enough,” notes the president of the commission, Jean-Marie Burguburu, who notes a “permanence of racist, anti-Semitic speeches, which are expressed in the public space, but also on social networks anonymously.” In this regard, racist acts reported on the PHAROS platform (which lists illicit behavior on the Internet) have also increased by 20%.
However, for the CNCDH, the total figure is probably much higher than that recorded by the various State administrations. Going so far as to speak of a “dark figure”, to designate “the invisibility of all unreported racist acts, which escape justice”, the organization explains that racist acts are “largely underestimated”. On the one hand, the reports and complaints directly addressed to the prosecutor are “not counted” by Beauvau. On the other hand, the researchers point to a phenomenon of under-reporting, which can be explained by several factors: “the fear of not being believed”, the “repetitive nature” of these acts, or even the “shame” felt by the victims of these actions.
“In reality, only 4% of victims file a complaint,” explains Jean-Marie Burguburu, who adds that “when the complaint is opened, it does not always result in a prosecution, and the prosecution does not always lead to a condemnation.” Worse still, the prosecution rate before the courts is only 0.16% since “only 1,606 people were prosecuted before the courts”, whereas according to the survey “Experienced and felt in terms of security” carried out by the commission in 2022, “1 million people claim to have been victims of at least one racist, anti-Semitic or xenophobic attack each year”.
And this, despite the 2023-2026 national plan, put in place by Elisabeth Borne when she was Prime Minister. Broken down into 80 measures, this plan includes “naming the reality of racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia”, “measuring this phenomenon”, “better educating and training”, “sanctioning the perpetrators”, and “supporting the victims “. Insufficient according to the president of the commission, who considers that “it is clear that 18 months later [la mise en place du plan]things have not really changed.” Worse still, the authors of the report are very harsh on political leaders, whom they accuse of having “taken up a vocabulary from the extreme right”, such as the “great replacement”, “immigrationism”, or even the “clash of civilizations”. Without excluding the polarization of the political debate that occurred at the time of the “immigration” law, voted on at the end of last year: “The persistence of a discourse tinged with xenophobia throughout 2023 has deeply marked the socio-political landscape of the country. The immigrant, a convenient receptacle for all criticism, has regularly been singled out as responsible for the difficulties encountered in our societies, in particular during the political debate around the law to control immigration and strengthen integration”, notes Jean-Marie Burguburu.
Prejudices still very strong
Finally, the reality is not much brighter regarding the persistence of prejudices, which turn out to be very tenacious, and even take a relatively worrying turn. Thus, the tolerance index towards Muslims and Roma fell by 2 and 3 points respectively compared to 2022, reaching an index of 57 for the former and 42 for the latter. Along the same lines, 63% of those questioned believe that the Roma form a separate group (down slightly by 4 points compared to 2023). On the other hand, an increase of 3.5 points is noted for Muslims, since 35% of respondents describe them as a “separate group”.
The report also notes “a strong correlation between the different registers of intolerance”. In detail, “it is the anti-immigrant sentiment that appears the most correlated with the other forms of hatred and intolerance captured by the barometer. Thus, a person who strongly rejects immigrants will be more inclined to express a misogynistic, anti-Semitic, anti-Islam, anti-communitarian opinion, to say they are racist or to consider that there are races superior to others”.
In the same way, certain very stereotypical sentences are shared by a significant part of the people interviewed. Thus, 60% think that “many immigrants come to France solely to benefit from social protection” (59.6% in November 2022). 43% think that “children of immigrants born in France are not really French”, double the number from the previous year. 43% of respondents believe that “immigration is the main cause of insecurity” (42% in November 2022), and 37% believe that “Jews have a particular relationship with money” (37.6% in November 2022). November 2022).
This persistent and aggravating trend undoubtedly requires us to remember that all forms of racism constitute offenses punishable by law, and not opinions. On the eve of legislative elections where the political debate is more polarized than ever, the increase in uninhibited racist speech in recent days, including towards journalists, is not reassuring.
