The French language did not belong to the French anymore and they should think of renaming it to reflect its “creole nature”, said the country’s radical left-wing de facto leader of La France Insoumise (LFI) Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
According to him, no ethnically fixed definition would assign the French language to a specific group, as it was spread through colonialism, he posted on June 23.
“If we want French to be a common language, it has to be a Creole language,” he said at a conference on the future of the French-speaking world organised by Greens MP Aurélien Taché.
The idea of the “creolisation” of France was one that Mélenchon introduced during the 2022 presidential race.
For the LFI leader, the French language should be considered as a cultural and political object and could be established through la francophonie.
“The French themselves don’t even realise they are francophones,” he said. “They speak their mother tongue and often fail to look around them.
“The truth is that the French language hasn’t belonged solely to France or the French people for a very long time,” he argued.
“Therefore, the French language is no longer the exclusive property of the French nation — and certainly not of those who want to freeze French identity within the language itself,” he added.
That echoed the words of author Édouard Glissant from Martinique: “I’d rather we said we all speak Creole, because that would suit us better than saying we speak French, and that would probably be truer.”
Mélenchon’s ideal situation was to make France a universalist nation.
“From our point of view, France is neither a language, since 29 nations share it, nor a religion since there are six religions in our country, with Christianity first and Islam second, nor any of the other supposed national characteristics,” he said.
Mélenchon’s statement, made on June 18 but published on his own social media platforms on June 23, has drawn criticism in France, especially on the Right and centre-right.
Minister of Justice Gérald Darmanin stated that Mélenchon and LFI wanted to destroy the nation.
“The French language belongs to the French people. It is our most precious heritage,” he said.
“What LFI is proposing is decidedly the deconstruction of our nation. No one can be complacent about such an approach,” he added.
For Darmanin, Mélenchon’s statement was disdainful of the “most humble French citizens”.
The French right-wing and Conservative press were also saying that that idea was “absurd”.
Following the backlash, Mélenchon stated that those who criticised him did not listen to his speech and that France belonged to those who spoke French.
“French is the official language of 29 countries. French belongs to those who speak it! To the Senegalese, to the Quebecers, to the Maghrebis,” he said on June 25.
He said that the controversy over his remarks was “absurd”.
