feminists and left-wing elected officials call for “not to get into the wrong debate”

After the murder of the young Philippine student, feminist associations and left-wing elected officials called on Thursday September 26 to “think about this crime” under the prism of femicide and not immigration. “Misogyny kills. Let’s not get the debate wrong”reacted on X the National Federation of Information Centers on the Rights of Women and Families.

Say that “women are in danger because of immigrants, because of foreigners under OQTF [obligation de quitter le territoire] »This “is not true”declared the environmentalist deputy of Paris Sandrine Rousseau on France Inter. “Women are in danger in a thousand and one ways in our country from the violence of men, of many men and men of all colors and all situations”. She also condemned “this kind of rape fantasy” who would be committed “in the street by people who are strangers”. “There we have a case, but it is a minority in the violence that women suffer”she added.

This position, vilified by the far right, which accuses the MP of “relativism” on social networks, contrasts with the political debate that arose after the discovery of the profile of the main suspect, a 22-year-old Moroccan, convicted in the past for rape and subject to an OQTF.

Several political leaders, from the right and the left, have questioned “the criminal and administrative chain” in this case, ruling that the suspect should not have been released before obtaining the pass allowing his expulsion to Morocco. The LR Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, promised “to develop our legal arsenal” while on the far right, Marine Le Pen denounced a “laxity that has become state ideology”.

A “morbid” and “deceitful” recovery

A call to demonstrate was launched by the identity collective Nemesis, attracting in return accusations of exploitation from the left and feminist associations. “It’s still strange that we don’t make the link with masculinity” while we “is in the middle of the Mazan trial” – around fifty men accused of having raped Gisèle Pelicot while she was unconscious, drugged without her knowledge by her husband – declared feminist activist Alice Coffin on BFM-TV on Wednesday evening.

In the ranks of La France insoumise, MP Sarah Legrain considered that the issue raised by the death of Philippine was above all “the fight against rape and femicide”. “On these subjects, where are those who only react to certain rapes and certain feminicides to make racist readings and serve their anti-immigrant proposals? »she asked about X.

A recovery “morbid” And “false” Who “hides the issue of violence against women”believes Maëlle Noir, from the feminist collective #Noustoutes. “Philippine’s death is the 104th^e feminicide since the beginning of the year. I have not heard the right, the far right or even the government on the 103 other feminicides that we count every day”she told Agence France-Presse.

These questions must “be considered through the capacity of society as a whole to prevent femicide and recidivism, regardless of the nationality of those convicted”argues the Magistrates’ Union, classified on the left. According to the latest data from the Observatory of Violence against Women, which specifies that this is a minimum estimate, 217,000 adult women were victims of rape, attempted rape and/or sexual assault in France in 2021 .