France’s racial gap between the Olympics and reality

Beyond the Headlines

Olympic fanfare has swept across Paris in recent weeks, but there is an elephant in the room that’s difficult to ignore – the glaring disparity between France hosting one of the most multicultural events in the world, while at the same time cracking down on diversity.

Only weeks before the Games started, the far right gained huge momentum in a tense parliamentary election in France, reigniting xenophobic sentiment and anti-immigrant rhetoric. The country has been the subject of criticism over its hardline policies for some time. Last year, it introduced a contested immigration bill, parts of which were deemed unconstitutional. And now, even though it says it has hosted the “first gender-equal” Olympics in the history of the event, some of its own Muslim athletes were forced to remove their hijab merely to compete.

Researchers say these policies have bred a mainstream culture of racism, so much so that more ethnic minorities of North African origins and French Muslims are opting to emigrate.

In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, against the backdrop of the Olympics host Fethi Benaissa looks at the contrast between France’s multi-ethnic fabric and rising xenophobia. He asks what the tipping point will be for those who want to leave their country amid a growing racial divide.