Rokhaya Diallo: on Racism, French Elections and the Far Right

As France heads to the polls, with Marine Le Pen’s far-right party emerging as a major political force, we speak to French journalist, writer and documentary filmmaker Rokhaya Diallo about feminism, racism and the fight for equality.

Rokhaya Diallo is one of France’s most prominent anti-racist voices. As a journalist and activist, she has spent years calling out racism in a country that rather looks away from the topic of race and struggles to confront its colonial past (a comparison with the Netherlands is not hard to draw).

She sharply exposes France’s myth of universalism and is highly critical of the concept of laïcité, France’s particular form of secularism that promotes colour-blindness. Diallo is also a leading feminist voice, arguing that anti-racism and feminism are inseparable: “You can’t be a feminist without also actively addressing racism.”

Ahead of the French elections in April, we talk about the fight against racism and the struggle for gender equality at a time when the far right has become an established force in European politics. What happens when conservative ideas about women begin to take hold in our society? And what does it mean to fight for equality when the political landscape is shifting to the right?