Twenty-four hours after having banished it from its shelves under pressure in particular of the extreme right, the brand estimated “after examination” that the game had “nothing likely to justify a refusal to market it “.
mo12345lemonde with AFP
It is a turnaround operated in the space of twenty-four hours. Fnac announced, Tuesday, November 29, resume the sale of the Antifa board game withdrawn the day before its shelves after criticism made on Twitter, notably from the far right. The Commerce brand finally considered that the game had “nothing likely to justify a refusal to market it”.
“Not knowing the exact content of this game and pending in -depth verification, our teams have decided as a precaution to suspend the sale”, Fnac In a press release . But “since yesterday, we have taken the time to analyze the content of the game in depth,” said the distributor to justify his turnaround.
The chain of stores therefore “decided to lift the suspension and resume the sale of the game”, “in accordance with its mission as a cultural diffuser which markets everything that is authorized by law, in the mind that always has was his of freedom and diversity “.
lifting of shields on the far right
“This weekend, Fnac teams were alerted by our customers about the Antifa game, who had not been referenced at the group level, but that certain Fnac stores had decided to put on the shelves, As they have the freedom, “explains the distributor.
Sunday, the union of the commissioners of the National Police (SCPN) had notably criticized the Fnac by accusing it of “highlighting the antifas, which break, fire and attack in the demonstrations”.
Several elected officials of the National Rally (RN) had also arrested the distributor on this game published by Libertalia editions. “Case 1:” I block a college “; box 2:” I beat up a right -wing activist “; box 3:” I attack an RN meeting “; Case 4:” I launch a Molotov cocktail on the CRS “. Fnac, you are not ashamed? “, Tweeted on Sunday, Grégoire de Fournas, deputy (RN) of Gironde, recently excluded from the National Assembly for fifteen days, after having made racist remarks.
The store chain thus justified his decision to withdraw the game from his site by explaining to understand that he can “strike” certain audiences.
imagined by the Horde, an anti -fascist collective who says he is “upset, unruly and united”, the game was designed and used for two years as a tool for training activists, before being marketed in September 2021, which had already aroused the outbreak of the extreme right . The first 4,000 copies have passed in one month, and Fnac sold 15 % of the total, according to Libertalia.
Reissued in early November in a simplified form, he offers players to embody activists responsible for thwarting the “extreme right abuses” by opposing “an equal or superior strength”. “At no time does the game glorify the damage to people,” justified its author, who calls herself Hervé de la Horde, to the world on Monday, refuting the accusations of the extreme right.
The case in any case gave this game little experienced an unprecedented spotlight, so that Libertalia indicated Monday afternoon that the new edition of the game on sale on its site was exhausted. The publisher specified on Tuesday on its site having launched a reprint and being able to deliver new copies in January.