Freedom Fried

It is, perhaps, of little consequence elsewhere, but the vicissitudes of French political life can often be instructive. Not terribly edifying, but instructive.

One of the constants of French politics concerns the parties of the Right. Whenever they slip in the polls, in advance of an election, they fill the airwaves and newspapers with fear of crime, what is called there l’insécurité, and with exaggerated claims of immigrant skulduggery. It happened time and again in the 1980s and 1990s – if you believed the right-wing press, you were probably too afraid to go out at night.

Recently French president Nicolas Sarkozy, the most buffoonish European leader of our day (after Silvio Berlusconi, of course), went after the headscarf and the burka, which, he said, were threatening French national identity. He was, by no coincidence, very unpopular with voters at the time, the French economy having tanked spectacularly. By focusing on a visible minority, a minor irritant, he managed to change the subject.

On July 30 of this year, Sarkozy gave a momentous speech in Grenoble, the gist of which is that the French government should be able to strip French citizenship of anyone who has been naturalized less than ten years and who is guilty of certain crimes. He also said that automatic citizenship at age 18 for some children of foreign parents – the French Right got rid of birthright citizenship in the 1990s – should be re-examined.

In another forum, Sarkozy stated that “everyone should practise their religion with a humble discretion that attests… to the fraternal respect he bestows on the neighbor with whom he wishes to live.” The Swiss minaret ban had just passed a few weeks earlier, so everyone heard the dog-whistle contained in the words “humble discretion.”

All of these positions are faithful echoes of the platform of the Front National, a rabid and openly racist (and anti-Semitic) party of the Right that has plagued French political life for more than three decades. In effect, Sarkozy has mainstreamed many of their extremist views, all in the service of changing the subject away from his incompetent governance.

He is playing with fire.

Other politicians, in other countries and states, would do well not to follow Sarkozy’s example.

Know what I’m saying…?