YOUR LIFE EXPERIENCES
From Algeria seven years ago to finish his studies, Idir, 31 years old, was immediately confronted with prejudices. At the micro Europe 1 Eve Roger on Thursday, he recounts the racist jokes of which he was the victim of his colleagues, this incomprehension in the eyes of people who see him in a relationship with an American, and this malaise " terrible "that he experiences every time an attack is committed on French soil.
"I had a lot of prejudices, the most sticky is the one who wants the Arab to be a thief, there's an anecdote with my colleagues in the office: to make a joke and laugh all together, somebody hiding another colleague's mobile phone, and when he finds it, he is told 'you do not pay attention to your things, especially since there is an Arab here!' I know that's not wanted, but they do not realize that they are reproducing prejudices, even if they are colleagues or even friends.
In general, I do not say anything but sometimes I lose patience because it is repeated and I am not a thief. Doing that kind of rotten jokes, I can not let that go. At first, I wanted to try to understand, even if it is unfounded.
"How come an Algerian and an American?"
There are other prejudices: for example, my girlfriend is American. When we are in the evening with friends, we are asked the question: 'What is this accent? How come an Algerian and an American? ' It is the machismo prejudice that emerges, as if someone from a democracy like the United States could not be with someone from a society like Algeria, where machismo is widespread. And my girlfriend gets angrier than me.
I think the reason why it worked between us was because at first she did not even know where Algeria was. She only knew Morocco. It's as if it was a blank page that had been created one and the other in the head. She discovered my family, the culture, the beauty of the landscapes, the cooking ... She left on its bases there, on the true image of Algeria.
For the prejudice, close people allow me to say that because they know me. Some friends tease me sometimes, but I make them understand that they are perpetuating a prejudice. I also try not to take everything seriously but, with delicacy, make them understand that we should not over exaggerate either.
There are also prejudices related to the Algerian flag. In the last African Cup of Nations final, I was physically assaulted with a bottle, in the head, by people apparently from the far right. With the racist insults they made to me, I think they were of that political color.
And then every time there is an attack, we feel terrible because the eyes are changing vis-à-vis us, while we have suffered terrorism for more than a decade, in Algeria [in the years 1990, note]. In the city where my parents live, when I was in high school, I came to school and people told me that they had met people who had been murdered in the morning. I was traumatized by that. Every time there is an attack, all these memories come back in my head. When people look at me, as if I have to justify myself, it's really terrible. "
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Marie, 42, has a new life after a divorce: "We treat his couple when we have no children in common"