A mosque on the duvet of a authorities information for welcoming refugees? It’s a distorted picture | EUROtoday

“The great suicide of our civilization”, denounced an Internet consumer on X. Shared on social networks since Friday March 27, a picture offered as the duvet of a information for the reception and integration of refugees in rural areas in France is agitating far-right Internet customers.

Published by a authorities company, the Interministerial Delegation for the Reception and Integration of Refugees (DIAIR), the information seems to show an illustration of a panorama within the French countryside on the duvet.

We see components which are controversial: portraits of a veiled girl and a black man, in addition to the picture of a mosque. This illustration provoked a response from Jean Messiha, former spokesperson for the far-right Reconquête celebration, who wrote on March 27 on Facebook :

“We begin by asking you to welcome and combine refugees in rural areas.

Before welcoming individuals turn into individuals to welcome as soon as nearly all of individuals welcomed.

This propaganda poster does not even cover it since within the background, our rural world already has a mosque.”

By asserting on the social community an alleged future reversal of the state of affairs between “welcomed” and “welcoming” individuals, Jean Messiha refers back to the far-right conspiracy idea of the good alternative, which fuels fears by postulating a alternative of so-called “native” populations by populations of immigrant origin.

In the feedback of Jean Messiha’s submit, a consumer explicitly states this idea: “The great replacement thanks to the naivety of Europe and our democracy…”

A twisted cowl

This picture of a supposed authorities poster has really been manipulated. It comes from an genuine doc revealed in September 2023, the “welcome information [des réfugiés] in rural areas.

This doc was really supposed to supply municipalities an inventory of suggestions and good practices for the settlement and reception of refugees in rural areas. It was revealed in a context the place Emmanuel Macron had spoken out in favor of a greater distribution of foreigners arriving on French soil, notably in rural areas.

However, because the Interministerial Delegation for the Reception and Integration of Refugees (DIAIR) confirmed to the Observers editorial workforce, the picture shared on social networks is a diversion from the true cowl of the primary version of this information.

The authentic information could be discovered on the DIAIR web site. On the duvet, no mosque, veiled girl or black man is seen. These components had been subsequently added to the poster shared on social networks to spark controversy.

Asked about his publication and the origin of the poster he shared, Jean Messiha has not but returned to us on the time this text was revealed.

In a remark favored a number of hundred occasions on Jean Messiha’s submit, a consumer deplores the deceptive publication of this picture retouched by the politician:

“The doc you might be sharing does exist, however the picture used is deceptive.

The surprising components (mosque, emoji characters) have been added and don’t seem within the official model of the report revealed by the State. It is subsequently a staging supposed to information notion, not a trustworthy reflection of the content material.

[…]

We can in fact debate the substance and the migration coverage, but it surely should nonetheless be completed based mostly on correct info, with out visible manipulation or exaggeration.

The debate deserves higher than that.”