Fodé Sylla

Fodé Sylla (born 23 January 1963 in Thiès, Senegal) is a French politician who was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for France from 1999 to 2004.

Early life He spent his youth in Sablé-sur-Sarthe, a French rural commune, the first one inside metropolitan France that ever had a Black mayor, Raphaël Élizé, in 1929–1940. He has a BA in History and a M.A in Political Science and wrote several books, e.g. Qui a peur de Malcolm X ? (Who is afraid of Malcolm X ?) and Préférence nationale : un Apartheid à la française (National preference, a French apartheid).

SOS Racism He was the second president of the French anti-racist organisation SOS Racisme between 1992 and 1999.

Political career Although close to the French Socialist Party as a president of its near-affiliated organisation SOS Racism, he was selected as a non-party candidate by the French Communist Party for the 1999 European Elections. After his mandate, in 2006, he joined the center-left Radical Party of the Left under which label he unsuccessfully candidated for the 2007 legislative elections.