Gérald Darmanin discovers racism the day he leaves the Ministry of the Interior – Libération

Billet

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“If my name had been Moussa Darmanin, I would not have been elected mayor and deputy and I probably would not have been Minister of the Interior,” declared the deputy from the North before handing over the keys to Place Beauvau to the very right-wing Bruno Retailleau on Monday, September 23. Too easy.

A revelation? A liberation? A discovery in the middle of the night? Gérald Darmanin, the brand new former Minister of the Interior, now a simple deputy from the North, said a few words on the steps of the Beauvau hotel before handing over the keys to his successor: the very right-wing Bruno Retailleau. Under a gray Monday sky, the departing man spoke as always about his career. His mother, Annie Ouakid, a concierge for the Bank of France but also a maintenance worker to make ends meet, is often mentioned. Stories to soften the heart.

On the steps, Gérald Darmanin returned to his birth. He was on the verge of being called Moussa (which would ultimately be his second nickname), like his maternal grandfather, born in Algeria, in the west of the country. A rifleman, a military medalist, who was a harki during the Algerian War. Darmanin visited his grandfather’s homeland in 2022. Why talk about his grandfather and his first name on the day of his departure? “If I had been called Moussa Darmanin, I would not have been elected mayor and deputy and I probably would not have been Minister of the Interior.” Hey, racism? Has he just discovered it?

Doors closing

His sentence is ba