The final match between PSG and Inter Milan in the Champions League was, of course, politicized. First there were the demonstrations of solidarity with the Palestinians. Hundreds of fans in Munich, where the match was being played, and in Paris too, took the opportunity to voice their revolt against the massacre taking place in Gaza. And they were right to do so!

Above all, there was the after-match. In an atmosphere electrified by victory and collective rejoicing, incidents broke out on the Champs-Élysées and around the Parc des Princes stadium. The violence of a few dozen young idiots was immediately blown out of all proportion by the French Interior Minister, Retailleau, who denounced “barbarians invading the streets of Paris”.

This was followed by a deluge of hateful comments from the right and far right, equating young people from working-class neighborhoods with scum, as Sarkozy had done in 2005.

For months now, Retailleau, Darmanin, Le Pen and Bardella have been seizing on any news item involving a young immigrant or Muslim to spew their xenophobic venom and rival each other with reactionary proposals. Ten days ago, they tried to scare people with a report on the Muslim Brotherhood.

They remain silent in the face of the abuses taking place in Catholic institutions such as Notre-Dame de Bétharram, but become hysterical in the face of the Muslim religion.

Deliberately conflating the Muslim religion with fundamentalism and terrorism, they have all engaged in one-upmanship against the hijab. The same politicians who criticized Le Pen and Bardella's proposal to ban the hijab in public spaces are now taking it up in one form or another. And it's obviously not the plight of women that concerns them! Their one and only aim is to cast suspicion on all Muslims.

This is also the specialty of the Bolloré group's media (Cnews, Europe1, JDD...), which broadcast their racist poison 24/7. Low wages, unemployment and company closures are no longer worth reporting on: the only “issues” and “problems” they talk about are related to immigrants, i.e. the most exploited workers.

And it’s not limited to words! Not a day goes by without a new measure against foreigners. Since Retailleau became Minister of the Interior, it has become even more difficult to renew a residence permit or become a naturalized citizen. Faced with the impossibility of making an appointment with the authorities, tens of thousands of workers who used to have a legal status have become undocumented and have lost their job.

In this white-hot atmosphere, the press is reporting an upsurge in anti-Semitic acts. But there is also a rise in attacks on Muslims.

A month ago, the young Aboubakar Cissé was stabbed to death in a mosque in the Gard (South of France). And on Saturday May 31st, in the Var (also in the South), a racist shot at his Tunisian and Turkish neighbors, killing one and wounding the other. Racism and xenophobia spread by the highest levels of government do not only divide workers, they also kill.

To realize the danger that threatens us all, we only need to look at what's happening in the United States. Today, Trump is organizing roundups of migrants and spectacularly deporting them to El Salvador. He is cutting off funding to prestigious universities that refuse to hand over students who demonstrated against the war in Gaza. He is laying off tens of thousands of civil servants, a brutal attack on the American working class.

In France, the U.S. and everywhere, anti-immigrant propaganda is used as a diversion to prevent workers from attacking those truly responsible for society's setbacks, i.e. Trump, Macron and their capitalist friends. It serves to divide the working class and prevent it from realizing the strength it represents.

This rise in reactionary, xenophobic and racist ideas is part of the chauvinist evolution of society and of the march to war, which we must fight with all our might.

The future does not lie in barricading ourselves against those poorer than us, nor in being afraid of them. Whoever is at the mercy of a boss, whatever his or her origin, skin color, beliefs or ideas, is part of the working class – and should take his place in the fight against exploitation and to change society.

There will never be one fighter too many on the side of the workers!

Nathalie Arthaud