In Blanc-Mesnil, the partnership with Sarah Knafo, Eric Zemmour's advisor, is causing a lot of talk ...

In Blanc-Mesnil, many employees of the municipal media library Édouard-Glissant wonder what becomes of “Alexandre and Aristote”.

Behind these two first names, which refer to the great Macedonian conqueror of Antiquity and his teacher, hides an algorithm for recommending reading.

Its founder, Sarah Knafo, went to Blanc-Mesnil last winter to present her association to the city's cultural agents.

Since then, "Alexander and Aristotle" have been discreet.

It is true that in the meantime, the young enarque from Pavillons-sous-Bois has acquired a certain notoriety.

Her closeness to Eric Zemmour, an undeclared candidate for the 2022 presidential election convicted of "incitement to racial hatred" and "racist public insults" and with whom she appeared on the cover of Paris Match last month, sparked the anger of several media library agents.

Which criticize the "very oriented" list of thousands of works proposed by the algorithm and fear to be associated with a "political enterprise".

Unfounded fear, believes the adviser of the polemicist, who defends the ideological neutrality of his initiative.

“A question: where did the 20,000 euros go?

"

During the presentation on January 29, Sarah Knafo was accompanied by part of the team of "Alexandre et Aristote", the mayor (Libres!) Of Blanc-Mesnil Thierry Meignen and his chief of staff (DVD) Vijay Monany, also departmental councilor of Seine-Saint-Denis, with whom she co-signed in June 2016 a forum on the Atlantico site on the 2017 presidential election. At the end of last year, the city council granted a grant of 20 000 euros to the association.

"The problem is that, since December 17, 2020, the date of the grant vote, nothing has happened at the media library," underlines Didier Mignot, the former mayor (PCF) of Blanc-Mesnil now at the head of the opposition group, in its column published in the last municipal newspaper.

No software, no books.

And the partnership with

seems stillborn.

Therefore, a question: where did the 20,000 euros go?

We ask for this partnership to be stopped.

"

Alexandre Galien "broke off all contact with the association"

In the corridors of the Édouard-Glissant media library, municipal officials confirm this impression. None of the references in the list of books proposed by the algorithm would have come to line the shelves of the departments. This is not to displease the librarians who, in search of an "outside view" on the situation, alerted the General Inspectorate of Education, Sport and Research, a State service having took over in 2019 the missions of the General Library Inspectorate.

The partnership between "Alexandre & Aristote" and the town hall of Blanc-Mesnil remains however very topical, assure in chorus the municipality and the founder of the association.

"After studying the list of books and removing duplicates, the City will acquire a list of books for 18,000 euros", we assure Thierry Meignen's office, specifying that this amount will be included in the original 2022 budget. The purchase order should be signed in December.

Le Blanc-Mesnil, January 29, 2021. A member of the original team of “Alexandre & Aristote”, the novelist Alexandre Galien has distanced himself from the association because of the political ideas of its members.

LP / AA

Last January, Sarah Knafo said she was "impatient to present the service to residents, especially in high schools", in order to reach her "core target, 16-25 year olds". The 28-year-old senior official, who has just been made available from the Court of Auditors and who is announced as the campaign manager of the candidate Zemmour, indicates that he now returns to Pierre Fontaine, municipal councilor in Versailles (Yvelines) , to "bring this partnership to life".

A partnership in which the novelist Alexandre Galien, who took part with Sarah Knafo and other volunteers in the constitution of the database of the algorithm, regrets having been associated, he who was present at Blanc-Mesnil on the 29th. January during the morning of the presentation of the service to the agents of the media library.

"Zemmourian thought being the opposite of mine, I have broken off all contact with the association and its members since around February-March 2021", said the winner of the 2020 Quai-des-Orfèvres prize.