Paris
– Paris transport chiefs have been forced to deny they were behind an English
translation of the Paris Metro map which went viral on social media this week.
The map humoured some but rights groups were angered by “overtly
racist” translations for some stops.
There’s
a Metro map of Paris doing the rounds online –
and all the station names have been translated into English. If you
haven’t seen it, here’s a look.
— LICRA (@_LICRA_) October 25, 2017
The map went viral after it appeared on a French satirical
news site Tagel and then on reddit.
Many presumed Paris transport chiefs RATP were behind the
translated version, which at first glance appeared fairly harmless.
Belleville, for example, had been translated to Beautiful
Town. Couronne was Crown and Bonne Nouvelle was Good News.
However, on closer inspection, some of the “translations”
were revealed to be racist and antisemitic.
Richard Lenoir was translated to Richard the Nigga. ANd
“Villejuif”, which could literally be translated to “Jewish Town”, was written
as “Auschwitz”.
The post prompted a complaint from Rights Group Licra,
which slammed the map as “overtly racist, antisemitic, and xenophobic”.
The group added that it doubted the Paris transport network
RATP was actually behind the map, adding that whoever had written it should
face criminal charges.
The RATP took to Twitter to deny being behind the
translations, and Tagel removed the post.
Later on Wednesday, a popular YouTuber going by the name of
Babor Lelefan claimed responsibility for the map, apologising for what he
called his “unacceptable behaviour”.
