[HIGHLIGHTS] Florence Bergeaud-Blackler: “Behind the attempted censorship of the right in Brussels, the “soft” Islamization of Belgium”

The mayor of Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, Belgium, canceled a conference to which around forty participants were invited, including Éric Zemmour, Viktor Orban, and Nigel Farage. The Council of State decided and, ultimately, the event was maintained.

For the anthropologist*, who was among the guests, this affair is indicative of the deleterious political climate in Belgium. The conference was then moved to the Sofitel Hotel, which ultimately gave up. The anthropologist* is a doctor of anthropology and research fellow at the CNRS. In 2023, she published the book Frérisme and its networks, with Éditions Odile Jacob. The interview has been edited for length and clarity by Philippe Close, PS (socialist) mayor of the municipality of Brussels, who first banned it. It has been condensed and edited for brevity by Philippe Close, PS, and The Paris Review, which has published the interview at a cost of £20.