Maboula Soumahoro is a renowned French scholar and public intellectual. The holder of a PhD earned through studies both in France and at Columbia University in the US, she is an associate professor at the University of Tours, a specialist on the African diaspora, and one of France’s foremost academics when it comes to race relations.
So when the European parliament decided to invite her to an internal event last month as part of a dialogue to discuss ways to “promote equality and inclusion in the workplace”, it made perfect sense.
But the event never happened. First, the French far-right MEP Mathilde Androuët wrote to Roberta Metsola, the president of the parliament, seeking the cancellation of the event on the basis that Soumahoro had made statements with racist undertones and casting doubt on her expertise. Then the French far-right MEP, Marion Maréchal, formerly a member of the National Rally, led by her aunt, Marine Le Pen, weighed in, stepping up the pressure with a post on X that denounced Soumahoro in even more forceful terms as “an anti-White speaker”.
Maréchal’s criticisms would be laughable if they had not been so successful. In less than 24 hours the far right had, according to the French news organisation Mediapart, managed to have the event cancelled.
Officially the European parliament said the event was being postponed until an unknown date, but the far right has already claimed this as a “first victory”.
The accusations levelled at Soumahoro by Maréchal and her followers have been rebutted by the academic as an “unspeakable aggression”, a “violation” of her intellectual arguments and a distortion of the very meaning of racism. They have also been debunked in some detail by Mediapart: they simply do not hold up to scrutiny. Maréchal accused Soumahoro of being part of a “radical and provocative ideological fringe”, because she “promoted the concept of ‘racial burden’”, and endorsed the “conspiracy theory” of “white privilege”.
Another of the complaints is that in 2016 she took part in a summer camp devoted to decolonialism and that this was allegedly “forbidden to whites”.
Soumahoro has indeed theorised on the “burden of race”. This refers simply to what anyone who is not white has to face daily in societies not built to include them, and in which they constantly face discrimination. White people are privileged in not having to handle systemic racism. The allegedly racist summer camp was intended for people who personally face racism. Obviously this means people of colour.
Even if one wants to take issue with Soumahoro’s theories, we are in a global context in which the far right is growing in strength. It is deeply dismaying to see how easily an authoritative Black woman can be smeared and silenced by the far right of the ideological spectrum as it shifts the public discourse rightward by alleging “anti-whiteness”.
France is used to controversies over the visibility of Black and brown figures. Earlier this year, I wrote about the outrage that greeted the announcement that Aya Nakamura would sing at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics. And whenever a person gains a public profile by being outspoken on race, the risk of being sidelined is high. I myself have had to deal with cancellations and was forced off a government advisory body shortly after being appointed. The reason given was that I claim the existence of institutional racism in France.
France is also so attached to its so-called colour-blindness that it cannot stand the public existence of anyone who challenges the theoretical universalism of our republic.
According to Maréchal, Soumahoro is seeking to introduce into France and Europe “a virulent, conflict-driven approach to social relations”. This is an intentional attempt to rewrite history. Europe’s long colonial past is what has ingrained racism and white supremacy in the fabric of our societies. And that deliberate denial of our history allows far-right ideas to gain increasing influence within institutions.
Let us not forget that the National Rally was originally co-founded as the Front National by Jean-Marie Le Pen Maréchal’s grandfather, who was convicted on numerous occasions of hate speech and charged with being a Holocaust denier, alongside former Nazi collaborators.
The fact that two elected officials who honed their skills in such a party (Androuët is a National Rally MEP) are now able to publicly accuse an anti-racist Black woman of challenging the “fundamental values of tolerance and respect that [they] uphold” is an incredible inversion of reality. The agenda of these extremist parties, which pretend to care about respect for others, is fuelled by the rejection of immigrants and their descendants, and a view that appears to equate Europeanness with whiteness.
Reassuringly, a broad coalition has rallied in support of Dr Soumahoro. Along with nine other female activists, academics, artists and European citizens (Audrey Célestine, Myriam Cottias, Tara Dickman, Alice Diop, Penda Diouf, Eva Doumbia, Nadia Yala Kisukidi, Grace Ly and Mame-Fatou Niang), I have signed an open letter to the president of the European parliament, which demands the rescheduling of the event. Our petition has now garnered more than 7,000 signatures.
Soumahoro, who I am honoured to call a friend, remains unbowed. “I don’t know what they believe, but we’re never giving up,” she told a public event when asked about the far right’s allegations days after the cancellation.
But she has faced such a troubling level of hatred and online threats in recent weeks that her university has decided to support her if she takes legal action. She is now “exploring the legal options” she told me. “They need to be held accountable.”
The far right, stronger than ever after the June European elections, “has begun a strategic attack” on people like her, Soumahoro says. She “feels honoured” to be “identified as an enemy” of the far right.
Despite her resilience, this ugly episode proves her point. It reinforces the vital nature of her research into the functioning and impact of racism.
The emboldened European far right is waging a culture war, and targeting people who dare to call out prejudice, especially people of colour who embody the ideas and values it wants to annihilate. We cannot allow this thinking to dominate our public sphere: Europe and its shared institutions must be safe spaces for everyone.
Rokhaya Diallo is a Guardian Europe columnist
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