Despite the disagreements of the Quebec Solidarity caucus with his remarks, Haroun Bouazzi is not alone in thinking that political discourse in the National Assembly contributes to intolerance and racism. Several party members believe it too.
Activists from 13 local and national associations of the left party will propose on Sunday that the party “publicly expresses its support for the words of Haroun Bouazzi with regard to the construction of the Other”. Duty was able to consult the emergency resolution that they will present at the congress, and that TVA Nouvelles had first relayed, Saturday evening, a few moments before Ruba Ghazal officially became spokesperson for Québec solidaire (QS).
According to the QS communications team, another motion expressing its disagreement with Mr. Bouazzi’s speech will also be debated on Sunday.
The member for Maurice-Richard has been the subject of a series of criticisms, coming from the Coalition Avenir Québec, the Liberal Party of Quebec and the Parti Québécois, since he suggested that the speech of certain Quebec MPs favors racism against Muslims, blacks, North Africans and indigenous people.
During a speech at an event earlier this month, Mr. Bouazzi affirmed that certain elected representatives of the Quebec Parliament led daily to the emergence of racist and discriminatory speeches against ethnic and religious minorities.
“We unfortunately see – and God knows I see this in the National Assembly every day – the construction of this Other. Of this Other, who is North African, who is Muslim, who is black, who is indigenous, and of his culture which, by definition, would be dangerous or inferior”, we can hear him say as part of an organized event at the beginning of November by the Club Avenir Foundation, an organization “promoting the development of North African communities”.
Even if spokespersons Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois and Ruba Ghazal have since rebuked their MP for his “clumsy”, “exaggerated” and “polarizing” comments, the local associations of Mont-Royal–Outremont, Laurier-Dorion, Maurice-Richard , Laval, Sainte-Rose, Trois-Rivières, Montréal, Taschereau, Gouin, Bonaventure, Rouyn-Noranda–Témiscamingue, the National Women’s Commission and the Inter-Union Militant Network will ask on Sunday that QS members support a proposal in support of Mr. Bouazzi.
This advocates that the party “denounces the defamation campaign which [l’élu] is the object.
A caucus behind its spokespersons
However, in the ranks of the caucus of solidarity deputies, Mr. Bouazzi has little support. Questioned on Saturday on the sidelines of the evening of Ruba Ghazal’s accession to the post of spokesperson, in Montreal, several of them were keen to express their disagreement with their colleague’s speech.
In the press scrum, the member for Rosemont, Vincent Marissal, said he supported his spokespersons “unequivocally”. “Take word for word what Gabriel and Ruba wrote. I would have written the same thing,” he told journalists. “I very much agree” with Ms. Ghazal’s reaction, said the elected representative of Taschereau, Etienne Grandmont. “I am 100% behind [les porte-parole] », added his colleague from Jean-Lesage, Sol Zanetti.
Speaking officially to the media as the new female spokesperson for QS, Ruba Ghazal refused to say that the events of the past few days left her party divided. “There is another resolution that will be debated,” she recalled. “The members know my vision, know what the priorities are and the things that I defend for Québec solidaire. They gave me 91% support today. That still means something. »
After what he himself described as a “shit spring” due mainly to the departure of Émilise Lessard-Therrien as solidarity spokesperson, Vincent Marissal maintained that the party remained united. “This is not the first crisis, and I am confident that we can find reasonable passage routes for everyone,” he said.
The vote on the emergency proposals will be held on Sunday, at the special congress of Québec solidaire.
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