Every presidential election comes with its recurring theme. For Éric Zemmour, it’s always the anti-immigrant mantra, sounding like a broken record, “foreigners are not welcome”. With the 2027 election approaching, here he comes again, with a new idea that’s hardly a matter for laughter: “robots instead of immigrants.”
The formula is chilling. If it were economically or technologically justified, it would apply to all workers. Yet it targets only foreigners. Beneath the surface of modernity lies a deliberate coldness towards those who are earning a living in a decent manner. Between the warmth of a human being and the coldness of a machine, Zemmour has opted for the machine.
His remarks hit two targets. Firstly, the elderly in nursing homes (EHPADs), who would be asked to accept a machine in place of human presence. Secondly, the immigrants themselves, whom he reduces to a mere labelled stereotype. They work long hours, providing care, building infrastructure, keeping the economy running and looking after French people living with specific needs. He sees them only as invaders, scapegoats for the country’s current woes. Nothing surprising from a man who has been convicted on several occasions for incitement to hatred or racial or religious discrimination.
Then comes the irony of the story. Zemmour was born in Montreuil in 1958 to parents from Algeria who were Berber Jews speaking Arabic and who subsequently settled in mainland France in 1952. His father, Roger Haïm, was a paramedic while his mother’s name was Lucette Lévy. Now the son of immigrants is lashing out at those walking in his parents’ footsteps. What if France had slammed the door in their faces? Would he even have been born here – the very man who now feels entitled to decide who has the right to stay? Amnesia can be very convenient.
From one election to the next, he pushes the boundaries ever further: deporting unemployed foreigners, those with a criminal record and prison inmates. No one should be granted asylum. He goes so far as to claim that ‘one cannot be French with a Muslim first name.’ Should we remind him that France is a nation with diversity?
So go ahead and deport them. But then don’t forget the French football team. Tell us how long your hospitals will still be able to cope. Tell us who will run your nursing homes and operate your construction sites.
And amongst those he would like to send ‘back home’, how many are Africans – the grandchildren and children of troops who shed their blood for France to be free? Their ancestors planted and watered the tree; are their descendants no longer allowed to taste its fruit? What a display of ingratitude.
Zemmour will have to learn to live with the fact that these people have no intention of leaving, and they’re here to stay. Let’s hope his political ambitions remain at the doorstep of the Élysée. For France’s sake, and for humanity’s.
