Racism & Antisemitism in Paris’s major soccer stadium

Sorry, no real connection with information technology, but since the focus of this blog is pretty international, I’d like to take advantage of the situation to let you know what happens here in France this week. I know it harms the reputation of the city I was born and live in, but I believe public criticism is well-deserved. Tourists coming to beautiful Paris ought to know what to expect if going to the stadium. Actually, let’s say the connection with IT is that blogging allows one to display a viewpoint instantly becoming available to all. In other words, the epitome of democracy…

I recently told you how bullish I was when taking a look at the entrepreneurial landscape in France: great people, great technologies, cash available for new venture initiatives, international ambitions, and so on and so forth.

Now, here’s the dark side of the force. The day before yesterday, I went with many friends, including girls, kids, parents, etc. to watch a football game in the Paris stadium Parc des Princes. I wasn’t, unlike some of my mates, so happy about the outcome (Paris lost), and I would bet laughed at by my Tel Aviv friends for a while (I spent 5 months in Tel Aviv launching a start-up last year). Worse: going out of the stadium, we found ourselves in the middle of a hooligan gang looking for Jews to kick some ass. We could hear them shouting: “Where are you Jews? Where are you Schlomos?” (“Ils sont où les Feujs? Ils sont où les Schlomos?”). Allright, I was used to it and all sorts of racism (actually occurring more often against Muslims & black people – but wait, story not over) since, although I hadn’t been at the stadium in a while, maybe 2 years, I had had a full ‘Auteuil’ supporter membership from 1997 to 2002 – going during this time period at almost every game of Paris Saint-Germain, the Paris-based soccer club.

Some – pretty scary, I saw them – hooligans, part of a group of ’supporters’ called Boulogne Boys, finally found a lone (they wouldn’t attack a group you understand) Jewish boy (23), and started to run after him. An undercover cop ran too, to protect him. But it happened that this policeman was black, so, can you imagine how excited the neo-nazis became, chasing a Jew and a Black? The press mentions that 150 skin-heads started kicking them two, and I heard one could survive not more than 2 minutes when on the ground and kicked in the head. So, the policeman took out his gun and shot twice, killing a young hooligan, wounding another one. It was him or the other guy. He did his best and was brave enough to avoid showing the gun earlier, but eventually had to do so.

Now what? Paris Saint-Germain’s Chairman, Mr. Alain Cayzac, a guy I used to respect most, wrote an apologizing letter (in French) to all supporters including the hooligans, not mentioning racism, not mentioning anti-semitism, not striking the slightest, smallest stance against racial issues in stadiums. Same business and shame when it comes to the coach. I thought the Boulogne Boys were an epiphenomenon that couldn’t be controlled, I discovered the Boulogne Boys were not actually out of control, but rather that nobody ever tried to take control, to eradicate stadiums of such evil people. I don’t give a damn of this skin-head’s life, it has no value. There were many, many kids (see picture below) in the stadium, many families. It could’ve been a lot worse.

I had a nice time at Parc des Princes, chit-chatting football with friends of all ages, watching the game, drinking a beer, etc. A long-time football-lover and supporter of Paris Saint-Germain, even when it played against an Israeli team, I was pretty sad of the result at first. Thinking twice, I don’t know why I would support a team managed by people implicitly supporting racism through avoiding the fight.