French election Scandal

The Fédération Française de Go woke up this morning to the news that last week it had elected what one member called a“total racist” to the position of its President. However the overall reaction among the French Go players was mixed, with many expressing anger, other expressing shame, some indifference, and others genuine pleasure.

Emerdic Saumon defeated outgoing president Chantal Goujons by a vote of 115 to 97 at the annual general meeting, which took place at the Kremlin-Bicêtre, Paris — a name with obviously left wing connections. However, it was only today that he announced that he was a member of the National Front party, an organisation whose members have engaged in holocaust denial, Islamophobia, anti-antisemitism, homophobia, racism, and various other hate crimes. We spoke to individual members of the French Go Federation to better understand their views.

Saymon Billet “It was a real shock to me, I have used to invite this guy over to my house to play games. I had no idea he was supporting this kind of views, else I would never have voted for him. ”

Blement Cendi “It is a disgrace that he did not told to us about his true views before the election. How do we look now? How does France look?”

Monique Beret “In public he comes to my wedding when in private he asks for it to be banned. How we can trust this man?”

Totoro Imam-Cornuejols “Confusion will be our epitaph.”

In Somn Hwang “I vote for this guy to find out that he want to deport me. Shit.”

Richard Renaud “This result could turn a man to drink.”

Still, Jef Versailles told us, with the old-fashioned sexism characteristic of the French dan player “At least he is a man, not like the last President.”

However Ivan Dubriois said “Racism is a detail of history. There must be an authority, and I believe that the most qualified authority in a household is the Frenchman’s”

For his part Saumon disparaged his detractors saying “I want to refute (sic) those who accuse me of racism and being a bad guy. For those who critic my ideas for new containers for the stones, haven’t we always said in France that tout est bon dan le cochon (everything is good in the pig). My new Chez Nous policy for tournaments will be an international success. I love France, I love the French people, the real French people.”