Until this month ‘taking a knee’ has not been a French phenomenon. When the Black Lives Matter movement spilled out of America twelve months ago and spread across the world, France was one of the few Western nations where it failed to make any headway.
In a bold television address at the time, Emmanuel Macron declared that there would be no statues toppled in France. Meanwhile, the leader of the far-left France Insoumise, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, rubbished the idea of ‘white privilege’.
The French looked on in bemusement as Britain seemed to lose the collective plot, hauling down statues, denigrating Churchill and then, when the rugby and football seasons started, dropping to their knees.
When Marseille played Manchester City in a Champions League Group game in October, the French team stayed upright as their opponents genuflected. It caused outrage among some of the British Twitterati, and Marseille felt obliged to defend their position.
It’s curious why they’ve adopted this stance now
‘The gesture is an American one,’ said a spokesman for the team.
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