The condemnations were unanimous on Saturday after the publication of an article and an illustration depicting the LFI MP Danièle Obono as a slave in the pages of the conservative magazine Valeurs Actuelles . Emmanuel Macron called parliamentarian Danièle Obono to support him and the weekly finally apologized.
Jean Castex denounces a "revolting publication"
In this "summer novel", Valeurs Actuelles has published a fictional text of seven pages which transports Danièle Obono in time. She finds herself in Africa at the time of slavery and herself becomes a slave in this text, which is accompanied by an illustration depicting her in chains.
The condemnation goes beyond partisan divisions, up to the highest point of the state: before Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister Jean Castex had denounced a "revolting publication", calling for "an unambiguous condemnation" and assuring Danièle Obono of "the support of the 'whole government', earlier Saturday.
Within the left, the PS, the PC, and in the ranks of France Insoumise, this publication is also condemned. And on the far right, an official of the National Rally, Wallerand de Saint-Just, also denounced a publication of "absolute bad taste".
"It is absolutely not a text that justifies slavery"
At the microphone of Europe 1, Tugdual Denis, the deputy director of the editorial staff of Current values , apologizes but also expresses his incomprehension. "What was a mistake, it was indeed these images not always well chosen and too violent in relation to the symbolic load that they represented. And it had no purpose to personally hurt the principal interested", is justified t -he.
"There is no political message other than denouncing slavery. It is absolutely not a text that justifies slavery or that stigmatizes any community. We are a conservative, right-wing newspaper, which is politically incorrect but we are not an outrageous newspaper, ”he adds.
In a press release, the SOS Racisme association explained that it was studying the possible legal consequences. A possibility that the editorial staff of Valeurs Actuelles sweeps aside. "There is nothing racist in this text" repeats the magazine.