France: When racism peaks - and the mountains are claimed as white‑only spaces

France: When racism peaks - and the mountains are claimed as white‑only spaces

Submitted by Tassa Adidi on Thu, 09/24/2026 - 10:35 Black and Arab communities in France confront deep‑rooted prejudices when they venture into outdoor sports. But the 'we're coming' movement is pushing back People sit beside a lake above L'Alpe d’Huez in the French Alps, 23 August 2023 (Jeff Pachoud/AFP) Off

It all began with a video posted on TikTok in August, where the author celebrated the absence of ethnically diverse hikers in the mountains and claimed the space as one exclusively reserved for white people.

“One of the rare places in France without Wallah and Gucci caps, where you can feel safe,” he wrote over a breathtaking Alpine landscape, using an interjection meaning “by God” in Arabic that has passed into French slang.

The video, now deleted, triggered two types of reaction on social media.

First came a wave of racist and Islamophobic insults, arguing for the confinement of people from the banlieues – France’s working‑class, often ethnically diverse suburbs – to their neighbourhoods. Comments such as “stay where you belong, in your Islamised districts” were rife, along with accusations of a lack of civility, such as: “Nature must stay clean. No peeing, no trash, no animal‑like screaming.”

Then came an unexpected counterattack that became a viral trend, both humorous and political, rallying around the slogan “Wallah, we’re coming”.

Young people, alone or in groups, women wearing hijab, families – all posed in forests, on mountain peaks, on horseback, or while trekking and hiking, to announce their presence in spaces where they consider themselves fully legitimate.

Among them was Zeynab Alabbar, co‑founder and creative director of Kamak, a modest sportswear brand. She joined the movement by filming herself and friends scrambling up shaded trails or admiring the scenery.

“We love nature too,” reads the caption accompanying her widely commented video, including a simple “thank you” from Rim’k, a well‑known French‑Algerian rapper.

“I’m part of a women’s sports group. In summer, we usually organise activities in the mountains. So when I saw that racist TikTok video, I decided to respond with humour, to show that nature belongs to everyone, including veiled women,” Alabbar told Middle East Eye.

She points to the paradox of ethnic minorities constantly being urged to “integrate” in France while simultaneously being excluded from activities and places that should belong to everyone.

Alabbar lives in Switzerland, a country known for its exceptional ski resorts. There, she said, sharing outdoor spaces at altitude is not an issue.

“I’ve never faced racist remarks in these places or elsewhere, even though I’ve worn the veil since I was eight,” she said.

“By contrast, as soon as I arrive in France, people’s stares become heavy and unsettling. You can feel you’re not welcome.”

‘They want to keep us out of the mountains’

Alabbar’s experience is far from isolated.

Jumia Alaoui, a 38‑year‑old mother from Essonne, south of Paris, often hikes in the Fontainebleau forest with a group of hijabi friends.

“Some walkers stare at us as if our presence were out of place. Once, a man asked whether we weren’t too hot being covered from head to toe. We told him it was none of his business,” she said.

‘Some walkers stare at us as if our presence were out of place’

–Jumia Alaoui, hijabi hiker

For Alaoui, the video promoting “a mountain without Arabs” – and the supportive comments it received – perfectly illustrate this rejection and echo a racism that is increasingly uninhibited and even openly embraced by part of the political class.

Alaoui, a former supermarket cashier who lost her job two years ago after refusing to remove her headscarf, is worried about the consequences of this growing hostility.

“If we don’t push back, one day we won’t even be allowed to leave our homes wearing a veil,” she told MEE.

The National Rally, Marine Le Pen’s far‑right party currently leading the polls for the 2027 presidential election, wants to ban the hijab in public spaces if it wins, reinforcing fears among veiled women.

“Before, young people from the banlieues were subjected to racial profiling at nightclub entrances,” Alaoui said. “Now, women in burkinis are targeted in municipal swimming pools and at the beach. Even sports with the veil are banned,” she added, pointing to a 2023 ruling by France’s highest administrative court that confirmed sports federations’ right to prohibit the Islamic veil.

“And as if all that weren’t enough, now they want to keep us out of the mountains.”

A reflection of society

Lea Sallenave, a geography lecturer at the University of Geneva and specialist in domination and inequality in Alpine spaces, explains that “recreational mountain culture has been shaped by a dominant group that imposes its codes, creating the feeling that other users don’t belong there”.

Her research draws on a body of images, including websites of Alpine ski resorts, which “overwhelmingly showcase people perceived as white”.

‘Recreational mountain culture has been shaped by a dominant group that imposes its codes’

– Lea Sallenave, geography lecturer

In a 2020 study on a municipal programme in Grenoble aimed at introducing banlieue youth to nature and outdoor activities, Sellenave identified forms of race identity assignment – a mechanism of domination that excludes individuals by reducing them to their ethnic origins – based on participants’ testimonies. Some said that “the higher [they] climbed, the whiter the people [they] encountered seemed”.

“What I want to show is that the mountain is not neutral, it is part of society. And if our society contains racism, classism and sexism, we will also find them in the mountains,” she told MEE.

For example, young people from working‑class neighbourhoods told her they had faced racist behaviour in ski resorts, while mountain professionals reported encounters with people hostile to the presence of these youths.

Sallenave’s observations are echoed by Samir Souadji, the founder and director of Apart, an NGO in Seine-Saint-Denis – one of the most disadvantaged French departments, northeast of Paris – which offers climbing, mountaineering and outdoor activities to help young people in difficulty rebuild their lives.

Souadji recalls the obstacles he faced early on, for instance to secure partnerships with major sports brands. “When we said we wanted to do mountain activities, I felt we weren’t taken seriously,” he told MEE.

Later, while taking groups of young people to discover France’s mountain ranges, he also faced contemptuous and racist reactions.

“Here, you’re not in your council estate – these aren’t 13‑storey towers you’re climbing,” a hiker once mocked, addressing Souadji’s group as it was returning to a base above Chamonix.

Further on, two hikers asked, chuckling, if an African congress was scheduled in the area.

The need to be ‘irreproachable’

For Nacira Guénif-Souilamas, sociologist and anthropologist at Paris VIII University, this hostility stems from a nationalist and exclusionary reading of the territory.

“Some users behave as if they were the legitimate owners of the mountains and consider that not everyone is allowed to enjoy the beauty of the landscape,” she told MEE.

‘They are never considered French enough, no matter where they go’

– Nacira Guénif-Souilamas, sociologist and anthropologist

She explains that this exclusion reflects “racist stereotypes weighing on Black and Arab people in France, denying them basic rights, including the right to enjoy nature”.

“They are never considered French enough, no matter where they go – whether in the mountains or at the seaside,” she added.

Souadji, who is also a social educator, notes that those making racist remarks are not necessarily mountain locals, who are generally welcoming, but city dwellers who “consume the mountains”.

“They are people we meet every day in the city, who can’t stand seeing us there in the same places as them,” he said.

According to Guénif‑Souilamas, this stigmatisation places a psychological burden on ethnic minority hikers.

“They report being constantly observed, suspected of not respecting the environment,” with patronising comments about waste management, for instance.

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“They feel forced to be irreproachable to ‘prove’ they are not dangerous or disrespectful,” she said.

Souadji agrees, saying he is very strict about the attitude of the young people he accompanies in the mountains.

“I tell them that behaviour, respect for people and nature are extremely important to break the caricatured image imposed on us,” he said.

Souadji has organised several expeditions abroad, including in Nepal, Kyrgyzstan, Bolivia and Norway, and says hostility towards ethnic minority groups in mountain spaces is mostly a French phenomenon.

“Strangely, everywhere else in the world we’re welcomed, except at home,” he said.

Nadir Dendoune, a French‑Algerian writer and sponsor of Apart, argues that contempt and identity ascription in mountain sports are a continuation of perceptions inherited from the colonial era.

In 2008, he climbed Mount Everest with no prior experience. At the summit, he planted a sign reading “93”, the number of the Seine-Saint-Denis department. He told his extraordinary story in his book A Loser on Top of the World, later adapted into the film The Climb.

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