France adopts law that makes discrimination based on 'regional accent' a criminal offence

French lower house of parliament on November 26 passed a law that banned discrimination against individuals based on their regional accents. Labelling it as “a form of racism", the house passed the new legislation that made the discriminatory act a punishable offence with at least three years' imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros. Proposed by centre-right deputy Christophe Euzet, the law was adopted with overwhelming 98 votes to 3, comprised on the list of other discriminatory acts of prejudice such as racism, sexism and discrimination against the specially-abled. 

The law comes after the leader of the France Insoumise [France Unbowed] party minister Jean-Luc Mélenchon attracted widespread flak for a discriminatory outburst at a woman reporter from French regional TV with a strong southern accent. The episode happened last week when the far-right politician Jean-Luc Mélenchon mocked the reporter’s question, saying, “What does that mean?” He further went on to add, "Does anyone have a question formulated in French and more or less understandable? Because your level exceeds me”. Jean-Luc snapped at the woman’s accent who hailed from Toulouse in the Salle des Quatre Colonnes of the National Assembly. An organised pushback emerged as rulers and leading French media criticised the minister for prejudice against the reporters’ regional accent. 

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'Audible' minorities rights

The crew from France 3 condemned the former presidential candidate’s behaviour as they recalled a similar incident with their reporter when he questioned about legal setbacks of François Fillon and Marine Le Pen, Jean-Luc Mélenchon. The minister imitated the Toulouse accent of the journalist as he mocked, “So what? What does that mean uh?”, sources of Le Journal du Dimanche present at the conference revealed. At the parliament, Euzet argued that while at the time the 'visible' minorities benefit from the legitimate attention of public authorities, the 'audible' minorities face inequality. Deputy for French Polynesia, Maina Sage who spoke with an accent from outside the French mainland, supported the bill in the house, according to French broadcaster France 24 report. Meanwhile, Patricia Miralles, the daughter of North Africans discussed the challenges of the accent discrimination at the parliament chamber and the “mockery” that was hurled at her daughter for the Algerian accent. 

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