Actor Roschdy Zem Criticizes Political Climate as National Rally Gains Ground in France

Invited to the France Inter morning show on Wednesday to promote his new film "Elyas", Roschdy Zem spoke about a burning political issue: the rise of the National Rally (RN) of Marine Le Pen and the upcoming legislative elections. Without mincing his words, Roschdy Zem, interviewed by Léa Salamé, stated that the current political climate is only the consequence of the lack of a social policy in the vision of the rulers. "I believe that we are faced with something that is, in my opinion, not at all surprising. From the moment a government, and those who preceded it, have abandoned the social policy, that’s how the extremes are born," he argued.

The 59-year-old actor believes that the breakthrough of the RN in the last European elections is a sanction vote against this lack of social policy. "The anger is expressed through a vote largely for the National Rally, in a way, we kind of asked for it." To reverse the trend, the actor who plays the lead role in Florent-Emilio Siri’s new feature film calls for more "pedagogy" to "explain" to the many French people who voted for the RN, victorious in the Europeans with more than 31% of the votes, that "the answer is not in this party which is for me a xenophobic party which is already beginning to take liberticide measures..."

Of Moroccan origin, Roschdy Zem, born in France, also deplored the various forms of discrimination in France, particularly in "housing and hiring", recalling the blockbuster from which he had been fired at the beginning of his career 25 years ago because "the lead actress did not want to share the poster with an Arab." "I was fired. I never held it against her. I held it against the director for calling me to announce that without any complex. At the time, I hadn’t realized what I was confronted with, but today I realize the violence of the statement, of the situation. It was humiliating, I wanted to quit. Fortunately, my parents were there, they told me that it was normal to be confronted with that in the cinema, in that world."

He added: "Sometimes I wonder, even if we are a few, aren’t we the tree that hides the forest? No more director would allow himself that kind of phone call. If it exists, it remains secret, in a conclave. But we must remain vigilant and alert." As the day before on the set of Quotidien, Roschdy Zem did not fail to insist on the importance of voting to change the situation. "But it’s a situation for which we are all more or less