Quenelle greeting
The quenelle greeting ( French quenelle , a special kind of dumplings ) is a gesture from France in which one hand is placed on the other, outstretched arm. There are also other variants of the gesture. It is also referred to in the press as the Reverse Hitler Salute or French Nazi Gesture .
Origin and use
The gesture was made famous by the French comedian Dieudonné M'bala M'bala . He is known for anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic positions and is considered a prominent representative of right-wing extremism . Dieudonné portrays the gesture as an expression of protest against the political establishment and is understood as such by many performers.
The gesture is also shown in connection with right-wing extremist ideas, among other things in the campaign of M'bala M'balas list anti-sionist for the European elections in 2009 or in front of the Holocaust memorial in Berlin by his colleague Alain Soral . The gesture is therefore sometimes compared to the Hitler salute. As expressed Moshe Kantor , president of the European Jewish Congress that he see a lesser-known Nazi salute in the gesture.
The right-wing extremist politicians Jean-Marie Le Pen and Bruno Gollnisch from the Front National were also photographed performing the gesture.
Use in sports
The greeting gained notoriety outside of France when Nicolas Anelka showed it in December 2013 after scoring for his club West Bromwich Albion . As a result, Anelka was suspended from his club and later dismissed. The English Football Association (FA) suspended Anelka for five games and a fine of 80,000 pounds , the shirt sponsor of West Brom ended the cooperation with the club.
Even before Anelka's gesture, other French athletes (including Tony Parker , Teddy Riner , Nikola Karabatić , Yannick Noah , Samir Nasri and Mathieu Deplagne) had used the greeting. In 2014, the Swiss sprinter Pascal Mancini used the greeting at the Swiss championships in 2014 and at the European championships in the same year.
Criminal liability
The gesture is partially seen as a substitute for the Hitler salute and is therefore, depending on the specific context, also punishable as racial discrimination in Switzerland. In August 2017, for example, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court sentenced a young person for racial discrimination ( racism penal norm ) for doing the quenelle in front of a synagogue .
Web links
- “Une enquête en cours sur deux militaires pour une« quenelle »devant une synagogue parisienne” , slate.fr of September 9, 2013: Article about an investigation against two French soldiers who showed the gesture in front of a Paris synagogue
- “Arrêtez de dire que la quenelle est antisémite” , brain-magazine.fr from December 5, 2013: photo series with the gesture in an anti-Semitic context
Individual evidence
- ^ France's tricky noodle debate , Spiegel-Online, December 29, 2013
- ↑ a b "Quenelle" greeting is a criminal offense , SRF, August 3, 2017
- ↑ "Quand l'extrême-droite mue: petite plongée dans la galaxie des fachos“ antisionistes et anti-impéralistes ”" , Article11.info, 10 July 2009.
- ↑ La Quenelle, the new sign of resistance. Alles Schall und Rauch, November 15, 2013, accessed on January 10, 2014 (blog post from the German right-wing scene): “France is under the total control of the global financial elite and the population is completely robbed by them. The Quenelle is mainly directed against them. That is why the organization against racism and anti-Semitism called the Quenelle "reverse Nazi salute" "
- ^ "" Quenelle, comment un geste antisémite est devenu un emblème " , Le Monde , 11 December 2013
- ↑ Controversial Quenelle greeting: West Bromwich striker Anelka causes a scandal , Spiegel Online, December 28, 2013
- ↑ 'Heil' storm. Modern 'Nazi salute' sweeping Europe , Times of Israel, Dec 13, 2013
- ^ French use Nazi-like salute with impunity , Times of Israel, December 25, 2013
- ^ "Controversial Quenelle greeting: West Bromwich striker Anelka causes a scandal" , Spiegel Online , December 28, 2013
- ↑ a b La quenelle, le geste sulfureux de Dieudonné aux idées subliminales . sudouest.fr, October 11, 2013.
- ^ Nicolas Anelka faces sanction for 'disgusting' gesture in West Brom draw , Guardian article , Dec. 28, 2013; see. also: "Anelka's friend threatens to be banned from appearing" , Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, December 29, 2013
- ↑ NBA star Parker apologizes for "Quenelle" greeting . rp-online.de, December 30, 2013.
- ↑ Mathieu Deplagne imité Dieudonné en une glissant quenelle . pensetouseul.unblog.fr, February 23, 2013.
- ↑ Racist Facebook posts: Sprinter Mancini before the European Championship ?. In: bluewin.ch from July 31, 2018.