Warning : Work in Progress
Overview
Robert Ménard’s Anti-Kebab Controversy refers to the online backlash against the rants of Robert Ménard, the mayor of the town of Béziers, southern France, in which he announced his intention to ban kebab restaurants from his town. The said announcement was perceived by numerous french netizens as an attempt to gather far-right wing conservative voters against the immigrant population as a reaction to the european migrant crisis.
Background
Robert Ménard[1] is a french politician and former journalist, co-founder of the organization Reporters without borders[2]. In 2014, he was elected as mayor of the town of Béziers, in southern France, with the support of the far-right wing nationalist party “Front National” (despite running as an independant). Since his election, he took many controversial decisions that appeared in most mainstream media as directly targeted against the muslim immigrant population of the town.[3]
On october 29th, 2015, Mr. Ménard declared in an interview given to the TV news magazine “Envoyé Spécial”[4] his intention to forbid any new Kebab restaurant to open in downtown Béziers.
In the said clip, he also claimed that there were too much immigrants in the country and that “France is a country of judeo-christian tradition, that’s hard, but you’ll have to deal with it”.
Spread
Following the airing of the TV report, the announcement became widely mocked on the mainstream and social media[5][6][7], most users criticized the announcement for appearing as ridiculously inappropriate and racist-oriented, and beginning to exchange kebab-themed photoshopped images, and inviting other users to “replace a word in a famous book title by kebab” [8].
On october 30th, Mr. Ménard officially reacted via his twitter account :
J'assume, je ne veux pas que #Béziers devienne la capitale du #kebab. Ces commerces n'ont rien à voir avec notre culture ! @leLab_E1
— Robert Ménard (@RobertMenardFR) 30 Octobre 2015
Translation : “I assume it, I don’t want Béziers to become the capital of kebab. Those shops don’t have anything to do with our culture!”
Notable Developments
“Béziers’ International Kebab Festival”
On October 31, 2015, Facebook user Baptiste Fluzin organized an ironical event called “Festival international du kébab”[9], expected to be held in Béziers, on May 6th, 2016, in which participants are invited to come to Béziers, and eat oriental food and celebrate oriental traditions. Within the following days, the event’s Facebook page gathered over 44,000 participants, nearly reaching half of Beziers’ population[10].
Notable examples
Search Interests
Work in Progress
External References
[1]Wikipedia – Robert Ménard
[2]Wikipedia – Reporters without borders
[3]The New York Times – French Mayor Who Once Defended Journalists Now Denounces Immigrants– 11/02/2015
[4]France Télévisions – Envoyé spécial– 10/29/2015
[5]20 Minutes – Twitter moque les propos de Robert Ménard sur les kebabs– 10/30/2015
[6]Topito – Top 20+ des tweets sur Robert Ménard et les kebabs de Béziers– 10/30/2015
[7]Le Monde – Robert Ménard et le « grand remplacement culinaire » à Béziers– 30/10/2015
[8]Twitter – “Remplace un mot dans un titre de bouquin par kebab”
[9]Facebook – “Festival international du Kebab.”
[10]The Washington Post – A French mayor ranted against kebabs. His critics retaliated by declaring an international kebab festival.– 11/03/2015