Even if I do not approve, I understand the « damage control » reaction of the two co -spokespersons of QS concerning Haroun Bouazzi’s critical comments concerning the construction of the OTHER, as different from us, taking place in Quebec’s national assembly. I understand less well the reaction of the journalists and commentators ( Masbourian , Buzzetti , Journet, Hébert, Hivon).

Have they ever spoken out against the Prime Minister of Canada, the Minister of International Affairs Mélanie Joly or the Prime Minister of Quebec to denounce their open silence regarding the genocide in Gaza? Why are we witnessing such a double talk? Why are they applying these double standards? Have they ever used the expression ‘genocide’ in their opinion pieces? Have they been banned, like the New York Times, from talking about genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza?

This reminds me of the police who let go (and still let go?) the mafia and criminal gangs, while showing intolerance towards the minor infractions of ordinary citizens. This mainstream journalistic consensus that hits Haroun Bouazzi with all its betrays a poverty in terms of public morality that I consider distressing.

In France, the news about the tens of thousands of children being decapitated, dying under the rubble, shot at close range, amputated and orphaned does not make it to television sets. In the most recent panels, there was another opportunity to transform the narrative so that it would allow the Jewish citizens of France to once again drape themselves in the victim’s clothes. The only topic of discussion was about the presence of « anti-Semitism” in the streets of Amsterdam.

Similarly, the more the West’s position is abject and complicit in genocide, the more the silence of journalists who do not question the PM about the weapons sold to Israel itself becomes unbearable. The denunciation of Bouazzi ‘s remarks comes at the right time in this context. He becomes the straw man so sought after for these commentators to put on a good face and restore a facade of dignity.

The fundamental fact of our time is the live experience of a genocide taking place in Gaza. However, almost all mainstream medias, if not all, prevent themselves from using the word. How can we explain this omerta? What is this strange restraint in the face of the unspeakable? Do mainstream journalists feel a certain malaise? A malaise that could be neutralized by espousing the first cause that comes along?

This is probably why Masbourian is having a field day vigorously launching into a rant against Haroun Bouazzi, because it allows him to play the offended virgin and pretend he is a principled journalist. Buzzetti , for her part, is playing the reverse racism card. It is Bouazzi who would apparently divide the world according to racialized people by pillorying the white majority. This way of placing oneself above all suspicion, as if Quebec’s secularism law were impeccable, is in my view perfectly detestable.