“Iftar Pop'” will not take place. Insubordinate France has canceled an “iftar” evening (breaking the Ramadan fast) scheduled for Friday in a working-class district of Villeurbanne (Rhône), citing “semantic clumsiness” after criticism from its local left-wing allies.
The event, announced on the Facebook page of the Popular Union and in leaflets, offered “a shared meal after breaking the fast”, at 8:30 p.m., in Tonkin Park, one of the working-class neighborhoods of Villeurbanne “to talk about the issues of the neighborhood and national news”.
In this city where they are allies of the PS mayor Cédric Van Styvendael, and where Jean-Luc Mélenchon won 37.8% in the first round of the presidential election, the elected LFI intended “just to organize a meal with the inhabitants where we would have talked about politics”, according to Gaëtan Constant, one of the LFI deputies. The event, designed as “a field action, a meeting shared with the inhabitants, by adjusting the schedule to be as inclusive and pragmatic as possible”, was finally canceled in “consultation with the Popular Union at the national level, for fear of seeing the far right land,” he said, mentioning the echo made by the Fdesouche site.
“A mix of genres that I cannot condone”
The announcement of this “Iftar Pop'” had sparked criticism from the socialist mayor of Villeurbanne and the PRG. “Under no circumstances can a religious moment be used for a political event. There is a mix of genres that I cannot condone, ”pointed out Cédric Van Styvendael in the daily Le Progrès. The PRG had for its part judged “irresponsible to play with secularism” by worrying in a press release about the “community practices” of the Popular Union and LFI.
Naming this evening “Iftar Pop'” is “a semantic clumsiness”, admitted Gaëtan Constant on Friday. “There is no connection between LFI and religion. And we have always defended secularism within the municipal council, on the same line as our partners, ”he insisted.
VIDEO. Ramadan: these isolated students break the fast together for 3€
Muslims voted overwhelmingly in favor of Jean-Luc Mélenchon in the first round of the presidential election (69%) before supporting Emmanuel Macron (85%) in the second round, according to an Ifop survey for La Croix and Le Pélerin published Monday, the next day of the outgoing president’s victory.