Alexis Delafontaine with AFP / Photo credits: LOU BENOIST / AFP
The Europe Ecology Les Verts party is making its political comeback this Thursday in Le Havre and will welcome the rapper Médine to his summer days, despite the controversy that has been swelling for several weeks. The leader of the Greens, Marine Tondelier, who “takes responsibility for it”, made a point of apologizing to the activists during her inaugural speech.
Environmentalists are making their political comeback this Thursday in Le Havre, against a backdrop of controversy around the arrival of rapper Médine at the summer days of the Europe Ecology Les Verts (EELV) party. In her inaugural speech, the secretary general of the party Marine Tondelier directly wanted to defuse the controversy that she herself had provoked a few weeks ago, by inviting the rapper.
“A local guest unleashes passions”
An invitation that “totally ruined” these summer days, according to several participants. Marine Tondelier, the leader of the Greens, apologized to the activists. “A local guest, corresponding to a line on a 50-page program, unleashes passions. And I confess to you that we did not see it exactly like that”, she began before continuing. “Obviously it’s a regret. [Je souhaite] that Medina can get something useful out of this exchange, that it will reduce anti-Semitism in this country. In fact, what happens at 6:45 p.m. will have an impact.”
“We wanted the buzz but we were wrong from A to Z”
The high point of this first day, the controversial artist is expected at the summer days of environmentalists in his hometown of Le Havre, for a “text explanation” at 6:45 p.m. with the secretary general of EELV. A real clash-test for the boss of the Greens, whose star guest has been at the heart of a controversy for two weeks for her tweet deemed anti-Semitic against the essayist Rachel Khan, Jewish and granddaughter of qualified deportees of “resKHANpée”.
If he recognized “an error” in the press, affirming that “anti-Semitism is a poison (which he) has been fighting for a long time”, to better castigate a “living room anti-racism” which seeks to “discredit the left through (him)”, the rapper should speak this Thursday afternoon in Le Havre to apologize. Will this be enough to ease internal tensions? Marie Toussaint, the head of the Greens list who was to launch her campaign for the European elections on Thursday, remains very bitter. “We wanted the buzz but we were wrong from A to Z”, she decided.