In Roubaix, a city in Northern France, a meeting of the La France insoumise party took place on April 17, 2024, for the upcoming European elections. The hall was filled with supporters of the party, including Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Rima Hassan, a Palestinian refugee who is seventh on the party’s list, and David Guiraud, a member of parliament for LFI. While the official theme of the meeting was the European elections, many participants were also concerned about the Palestinian issue, with one attendee stating it was the most important issue to them.
The day leading up to the meeting was eventful for the La France insoumise party. A scheduled debate at the University of Lille with Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Rima Hassan was canceled due to concerns about the security of the event. Some political figures, including Xavier Bertrand, president of the region, and other opposition members, had called for the debate to be banned, citing concerns about the nature of the conference organized by the student association Libre Palestine. The event was labeled as having “anti-Zionist undertones” by Bertrand, leading to its cancellation.
During the meeting in Roubaix, Jean-Luc Mélenchon criticized those who had disrupted the planned debate, stating that they were spreading lies about him and Rima Hassan. He emphasized that they were not promoting racism or anti-Semitism, and that they had not intended to hold a racist conference. Rima Hassan, on the other hand, chose not to address the controversy directly and instead focused on broader themes of exile and displacement in her speech. She mentioned her experiences with racism in France, including hearing derogatory terms such as “bougnoule” for the first time.
The attendees at the meeting in Roubaix expressed their support for Rima Hassan, with one long-time sympathizer of LFI stating that she had come specifically to listen to her. The audience was captivated by Hassan’s message of resilience and her personal experiences as a refugee. Despite the controversies surrounding the cancellation of the debate at the University of Lille, the event in Roubaix was a rallying point for supporters of the La France insoumise party, who were energized by the speeches of Mélenchon and Hassan.
The presence of Rima Hassan, a representative of the Palestinian diaspora in France, highlighted the diversity within the La France insoumise party and its commitment to social justice issues. The meeting in Roubaix served as a platform for discussing not only the European elections but also broader themes of discrimination, displacement, and resistance. Supporters of the party expressed their solidarity with Rima Hassan and her message of inclusivity and anti-racism, despite the challenges and controversies that have surrounded her candidacy and public appearances.
