Toulouse vs. Nantes and the rainbow of scandal

Football is a metaphor for existence, said good Sartre with certainty. Kind of good The sickness He made her come to me with all existentialism, through these pimps from the terror of existence. However, Jean Paul had his good reasons, and without going too far, I’m sure we can all agree on that Football is an impressive mirror of society: its anthropological, cultural, political changes. You know, no, the things we’ve been writing in these miserable columns for years.

But also with regard to i short circuitsFootball can provide a pretty good insight.

Take Toulouse-Nantes, a Ligue 1 game played last Sunday. On the occasion of the “big” occasion or the national holiday against homotransphobia that will take place in a few days, the French league has decided to color the numbers on the team jerseys with a rainbow. And here the problems began. Several Muslim playersfive from Toulouse and one from Nantes for not wearing rainbow shirts They refused to take the field. So much so that Toulouse even after remarking “his many years of commitment to the fight against homophobia and all forms of discrimination”had to specify:

«To mark the international day against homophobia on May 17th, Toulouse Football Club and all professional football mobilized against homophobia on the 35th match day of Ligue 1. However, it was the players of the professional team did not agree on the association of their picture with rainbow colors representing the LGBT movement. Although he respected his players’ individual decisions and after numerous exchanges, Toulouse Football Club has decided to ban the above players from the game scheduled for this Sunday at 3pm at the Toulouse stadium».

The game then ended 0-0 between a suspicious package with a bomb threat attached that delayed kick-off by an hour and a half and a half-hearted brawl in the dressing room. A quiet day. But it was of course the question that occupied the court Anti Rainbow Islam. First, let me say that I would not like to be in the velvet shoes of the French left. I can already imagine them desperately searching for an answer: Whose side are we on? Of the freedom of expression of Muslims or of the freedom of existence (and propaganda) of LGBTQIA+? Which minority do we protect, which do we stigmatize? Pretty big headache, comrades. let’s think

But I also don’t want to be in Ms. Le Pen’s suit or in her man’s shoes: What are we doing at the front with Islam – despite everything – traditionalists in the name of freedom of thought and above all the fight against rainbow propaganda Or instead defending Western freedoms against black men, bad muslims who don’t integrate? Stuff to rock a partywith the young revolutionaries suggesting unlikely Euro-Eastern syntheses in the name of traditional values ​​(God and family) and the movement’s cadres committed to defending these values way of life Western film.

A real short-circuit that has plunged many into crisis and which, even if partially resolved – the most popular line that advocates for the defense of LGBT people – has not had the strength to draw clear conclusions. Instead, think of a French, Caucasian, and Catholic soccer playerHe had refused to wear the offending shirt. God knows how many would have said them: caveman, reactionary, sovereignist, fascist, homophobic, illiberal, discriminatory and so on. Instead, after several Muslim players had done it (and it wasn’t the first time), there was a general embarrassment: words were weighed, concepts measured. It was all a “but also” Veltronian.

Then, between us, what did these guys do wrong? A beautiful nothing. They didn’t attack anyone, they didn’t ask for the game to be postponed or for the shirt to be removed.

For reasons of their own belief, they simply chose not to enter the field. But will they be free to do so? The problem is with usas usual, The We call for a liquid nutritional supplement in which everyone, happy and uprooted, gives up their identity to conform to western values. The integration of colored chalks and Introduce performed by a street performer at the piano, the integration of Nike and Amazon ads with the different shades of color of its members: a Caucasian, an Asian, a Middle Eastern, a Central African, all keen to order from Glovo while watching the TV series on Netflix. Except for the (racist) family Mulino Bianco, the family gathered at the breakfast table.

Anyway, back to the point: this is a big nut to crack. The same inclusion apologists who defend all ethnic minorities and third-generation immigrants to the bitter end are beginning to see this thisIn many cases, From integrate they don’t intend to. And that certain characteristics for which they stigmatized the fascists – homophobia, extremism, anti-Semitism, religious or value rigidity, sometimes even misogyny – are easily found in parts of Islamic communities.

Just remember that Toulouse themselves did so two days after the offending game exposed forward-forward Zakaria Aboukhlal for saying, referring to the city’s sports councilor and deputy mayor Laurence Arribagé – who had asked the players to make a little less noise for the celebrations following the French Cup win ( played always against Nantes) – in short Aboukhlal apparently said: “In my house, women don’t talk to men like that”. His home, or at least the one where he was born, is Rotterdam. To the readers the arduous sentences.

how do you get out now It is the dilemma of the French utopians who hoped Islam would be a dying religion like Western Christianity, which would instead live on and thrive even in Europe outskirts transalpine. But without talking about politics, the problem remains: who to stay with? As long as the freedom of others is not compromised, so should we, and for the same pillar that underpins our societies uphold the right to freedom of expression and decision-making the six; Even more so when they didn’t expect the LGBT community to be marginalized or discriminated against, but simply didn’t want to associate their image with specific claims.

But it’s not that simple, so much so that few have come to the rescue Islamic dissidents in the stands.

Many, poor, even deluded rich, reckon that over time, over the years, the thing will be reabsorbed. Yes! Secure. An idea that can be credible, especially in Capalbio or in the third arrondissement of Paris. Meanwhile, in Ligue 1, the grumbling and non-wearing of rainbow colors is increasing year after year. The peaceful sleep of the West is long gonebut we’re on Xanax and we don’t know yet.

Sooner or later we will have to face reality and realize that the big multinationals – and even our little Series A – are by the days of the Proud Their logo is rainbow colored for the European and American social media accounts. not for them in the Arabic language. And that the values ​​of the West, if they exist, are not those of the world. Where Aboukhlal, Hamulic, Diarra and Mohamed were born, four of the six rebels, in short, their home is not quite so. Where were you born you say? Now in Rotterdam, in Leiderdorp (also Holland), in Stains (Île-de-France) and in Saint-Denis.

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