Robert Ménard

Oct 31

**DOB:** 6 July 1953

**Nationality:** French

**Location:** France

**Ideology/ Affiliation:** Far-right

**Type of Leader:** French politician, former journalist

Current Status: French politician and Mayor of Béziers

Biography

Robert Menard is a French politician, a former journalist, and the Mayor of Beziers in France since 2014. Born in 1953 in the French-controlled Algerian city of Oran, Menard was raised in a Catholic French family who decided to return back to France when he was nine years old, following the Algerian War of Independence. He studied religion and considered becoming a priest for a time, but opted for philosophy studies at the end. He is also one of the founders of the NGO Reports Without Borders and was its secretary-general until 2008. Recently, he started working with TV channels such as RTL and after with I-Tele as a columnist.

While in college, Menard became alig ned with the Trotskyist elements and was part of the Socialist Party until 1981. Despite the fact that he is not part of the National Front (now National rally), he gradually embra ced right-wing ideas and was suppor ted by the party during the Beziers municipal elections in March 2014.

Since then, Robert Menard has been at the center of several controversies and shared reactionary ideas and openly anti-immigrant, xenophobic, and anti-Islam viewpoints. He is well-known for his vociferous opposition to migrants whom he compares to invaders, saying they must be stopped at all costs.

In May 2015, Robert violated French law by recor ding the number of Muslim children in schools in his city, based on their first names, claim ing that they were 64.9%. In September, he visi ted a refugee complex to tell them that they are not welcome in France. He also said that he will not allow more Kebab restaurants to open in his city.

After the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack in France, he publi shed a column under the title “They hate us” and made explicitly anti-Muslim declarations.

In May 2018, two months after he announced he would run for the 2020 municipal elections, Menard was physically att ack ed while visiting Saint-André-de-Cubzac, Gironde to attend a conference, by what he called “left-wing fascists”. In 2020, he was re-e lect ed as Mayor of Beziers with 65% of the vote.

Banned

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Banned

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Evidence of Hate Speech/Incitement:

January 2021: The French town of Beziers, led by Menard, deci ded to ban “non-pork” food menus in the primary schools of the city. Non-pork menus were always defended by the parents of Muslim pupils as they consider them as a food alternative for Muslim kids. The controversial decision triggered several reactions. SOS Racism, an NGO fighting racism in France stated that the decision “undermines an important factor of social integration” and called Menard to “rethink his decision.”

September 2016: In an interview with French news channel LCI, Menard s a id that “being French, in the words of Charles De Gaulle, is being European, white, and Catholic”. In the same interview, he also said that in one of the classes in his city (Beziers), “91% of children are Muslims”, and for him, obviously, this is “a problem”. He added that in such a case “you do not put your children in this school, instead, you will ask for an exemption to register them in the private section”. He finished by saying that “living together is an invention”.

September 2012: Following the Charlie Hebdo attack, Robert Menard wrote two blogs. In one of them, he asked the question “is Islam soluble in democracy?” He answ ered “As if we had to constantly back down in front of the Islamists, to kneel down in front of the Madmen of Muhammad! As if, basically, the anger of the Salafists was legitimate, understandable. As if we had to justify ourselves for doing so, be Democrats”. He even added, in response to what Veronique Genest said regarding Islamophobia, “She said if to be Islamophobic is to be afraid, then I am Islamophobic, like many French people.”

Video Links:

Menard: “If you come to a prison in my city, you will find a majority of people from the Maghreb and Sub-Saharan Africa. Two-thirds of children at school are from Muslim families and that’s too much.”

Robert Menard claims that he would not accept any other Kebab restaurant opening in the centre of his city (Beziers) because the French culture is built on Judeo-Christian traditions.