Marseille's Actoral Festival Loses €90,000 in Departmental Funding After National Rally Pressure

The Actoral festival in Marseille has been stripped of €90,000 in subsidies by the Bouches-du-Rhône departmental council, a body led by Martine Vassal of the divers droite. The funding cut followed a campaign by the Rassemblement National against the presence at the cultural event of essayist Louisa Yousfi, whom the far-right party accuses of making "anti-White" remarks — an accusation she denies. The decision, reported by Le Monde, marks a direct financial consequence for a contemporary arts festival after political pressure over a participant's alleged statements. Actoral is a multidisciplinary festival held in Marseille; the €90,000 reduction represents a significant loss of public support. The council's move was taken under the presidency of Vassal, while the RN's offensive targeted Yousfi specifically. Yousfi contests the characterization of her words attributed to her by the lepéniste party. The episode places the festival at the center of a dispute over political interference in cultural programming in France, with funding used as leverage after a far-right objection to a single invited figure. No further details on the festival's response or the timing of the cut were provided in the source.