Outrage at French comic’s award for Holocaust denier

News in pictures
News in pictures
On Facebook
From the blogs

Criminalising squatting: Is it worth it?

Squatters haven’t received the most glowing press over the past year. Various cases of displaced pro...

Would you be willing to profit from selling Nazi surgical equipment?

Imagine for a moment that, for whatever reason, you find yourself to be in possession of a case of m...

Why the perfect man isn’t always enough

A new app promises women the Perfect Man, but is perfection all it’s cracked up to be?

The role of corporates in abolishing human trafficking

It’s estimated that today there are more than 27 million people (half of them children) trapped in m...

The black French comedian Dieudonné provoked outrage at the weekend by giving a "heroism" award to a veteran Holocaust denier.

Dieudonné, who is known for making anti-Semitic remarks in his shows, handed the spoof award for "social unacceptability and insolence" to Robert Faurisson, an academic with a string of convictions for denying the existence of Nazi death camps in the Second World War.

Among the audience of 5,000 at Le Zénith theatre in Paris were the far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, several figures of the far left and a popular television host, Julien Lepers.

A stagehand dressed as a Jewish deportee with a yellow star on his chest gave M. Faurisson the award.

Dieudonné – full name Dieudonné M'bala M'bala – was once a kind of French Lenny Henry. Born to Cameroonian and Breton parents, his stand-up comedy satirised racial prejudices, including those of whites and blacks.

However, in the past five years, his shows have come to symbolise – some say foment – a new strain of anti-Semitism in France among Arab and black youths and on the "white" far left.

Dieudonné said: "I don't agree with all [M. Faurisson's] ideas. But for me, what counts most of all is freedom of expression."

Independent Comment
blog comments powered by Disqus

Day In a Page

The data goldmine: Why forgetting to log out can cost you dearly

Data goldmine: Have you forgotten to log out?

David Crookes finds out how much stolen Twitter accounts, hacked eBay pages and more are really worth.
The 10 best free games

The 10 best free games

From The Secret of Grisly Manor to Words With Friends...
Fear and loathing in London: The Death of Klinghoffer is staged in the capital for the first time

Fear and loathing in London: The Death of Klinghoffer

The ENO is staging the controversial opera in the capital for the first time
'Today, Rita could have signed up to Open University on Facebook'

'Rita could have signed up to Open University on Facebook'

The OU's famous fictional student wouldn't recognise the video-conferencing, social networking, flexible insitution it's grown into.
Kenya's coffee wars

Kenya's coffee wars

The boom in high-grade beans should be bringing rural Africa riches. Instead, it is fuelling a lethal crimewave
Billions of tons of water lost from world's glaciers, satellite reveals

Climate change

Billions of tons of water lost from world's glaciers, satellite reveals
Out of fashion: Designers finding new ways to sell their style

Out of fashion

Designers finding new ways to sell their style
James Lawton: Sadness and anger over the ultimate betrayal

James Lawton on Capello resignation

Sadness and anger over the ultimate betrayal
Tale of the trial: Laughter, anger... and bulldogs

Tale of the trial: Laughter, anger... and bulldogs

Redknapp's trial was the most remarkable and colourful case the modern game has seen. Sam Wallace, who was there for all 13 days, recounts the defining moments
Rhys Priestland: Praise for North star

Rhys Priestland: Praise for North star

The Wales No 10 may not be getting his kicks but he's not concerned... he plays with George North
Yayoi Kusama brings colour to Tate Modern

Colourful Yayoi Kusama

Japanese artist's retrospective at Tate Modern.
Church debate: Who'd be a bishop?

Church debate: Who'd be a bishop?

The General Synod debates women bishops again today. While they make up their minds, John Walsh weighs the palaces and puce robes against the political powerlessness
A tale of two cities: Portsmouth and London say happy birthday to Dickens

A tale of two cities

Portsmouth and London say happy birthday to Dickens
Pitch battle! Football league in Argentina renamed in honour of 'General Belgrano'

Pitch battle in Argentina!

Football league renamed in honour of 'General Belgrano'
Altar of Bones: A literary sensation – but who dunnit?

A literary sensation – but who dunnit?

The books world mulls over the identity of an acclaimed new author, but what drives writers to hide behind a nom de plume?