For almost two years, the SOS Racisme Moselle association has been back in action. And she is not idle.
They had been motivated by the observation, in their daily life, of racist events: news items, personal experiences, administrative blockages. Since March 2023, Jean-Rémy Dushimiyimana, the president, and volunteers have been restructuring the SOS Racisme Moselle association. Objective: promote the values of living together and fight against racism, anti-Semitism and all discrimination.
Two years after taking over the association, how do you view the needs you meet locally?
“We receive a lot of requests from victims of racism and anti-Semitism. At least two to three per week. People do not dare to file a complaint, they think that they do not have the arguments, nor the evidence, that it would be of no use. The release of racist speech is blatant. It causes a lot of suffering. In particular, we have a podcast project to broadcast these victims' testimonies so that this voice is also freed. And let her have a place. »
The messages are deliberately blurred by racists and anti-Semites.
You also have the power to take legal action. What about it?
“Precisely, we are a civil party in the Jacobelli-Belhaddad trial [En 2023, à Hayange, le député RN avait, entre autres, traité le député Renaissance de «racaille», N.D.L.R.]. The hearing will be held this Tuesday, January 21 in Thionville. We, SOS Racisme Moselle and SOS Racisme national, have also filed a complaint against X in the FC Metz photo affair. The club did not wish to act itself but sent us information which was transmitted as part of the investigation to identify the authors of the flood of clearly racist comments spilled on social networks [des groupes d’extrême droite ont noyé le réseau social X de messages haineux, en lien avec la couleur de peau des joueurs , N.D.L.R.]. The investigation continues.”
-Politically, the climate is hardening. How to act effectively?
“The rise of the RN has clear consequences on all questions of discrimination, even locally of course. This is a subject that no one should let go of. We need to take a reflective approach. Why is immigration becoming a major topic? Why is it used by politicians? Why do we hear about immigration morning, noon and night? In this world, we confuse everything. The messages are deliberately blurred by racists and anti-Semites. The fight we are waging, especially in the period we are living through, requires a lot of work. To seek the truth, see how facts and ideas are presented.”
One of the big moves you carried out in 2024 was your testing with real estate agencies. Some had agreed to “exclude blacks and Arabs”. What are the consequences?
“We have contacted the supposedly racist agencies to see with them how to change these practices. We also work with Fnaim and national collectives to improve training in the field. And of course, we will renew our testing operations. But we are not going to reveal everything on the subject obviously. »
