A Paris comedy evening aimed at publicising the fight against racism and anti-Semitism in France attracted more than fifteen major artists.

Organised by the French Union of Jewish students (UEJF) and the SOS Racism association “Laugh against racism” intended to people together through humour.

Some three thousand people attended the show and were entertained by sketches by comics such as Laurent Baffie, Dany Boon, Michel Boujenah, Anthony Kavanagh, Rachida Khalil, and Anne Roumanoff.

“Thanks to this show we proved people could share a same cause despite their different origins. We are here to silence racism”, Yonathan Arfi, president of the UEJF told EJP.

“Fighting against racism and anti-Semitism must become more popular. Everybody must feel concerned and do some things, not only associations,” he added.

The funds collected from the event, held at the Zenith spectacle hall in Paris, will pay be donated to the ‘Laugh against racism’ association.

“Racism and anti-Semitism have became routine. Even if the local quarters councillors are aware of these problems, there is still a prevailing racism,” Arfi added.

Dieudonne: “Revolting”

Answering a question about Dieudonne’s repeated anti-Semitic remarks, Dominique Sopo, president of SOS Racism, stressed to EJP that the Black comedian “can’t take hide behind laugher to tell anything.”

“His words and his comparisons are revolting. There is no competition between pains. That’s why fighting against racism and anti-Semitism must go on,” he said.

Arfi also emphasized that last Sunday’s referendum on the European Constitution, which saw French voters reject the treaty, “shows a risk of community withdrawal in France.”

Jewish humorist and actor Michel Boujenah noted that “to show that Arab, Blacks, Muslims, Catholics, Jews humorists can laugh and make laugh together, makes things advance.”

He however regretted a lack of communication in the media around this event. For him, such an event must become as popular as actions aimed at combating homelessness or children’s diseases.

“People come, pay, laugh and do a good action. I don’t think it will stop racism but it’s a good manner to say they are all together irrespective of race or creed,” humorist Dany Boon said.

United Fight

Since its creation in 1944 during the Resistance to the Nazi occupation of France, UEJF has worked to encourage integration and the fight against racism and anti-Semitism.

In 1984, it founded the SOS Racism association and the two associations intend to be an example of brotherhood and tolerance.

“We always work together with the same conviction,” Sopo said.