Basically in mid-July a couple of guys from a rough neighborhood in Grenoble ripped off a casino (instead of a casino ripping off the public, for once). A high speed chase ensued, with gunfire both on coming from the police and the robbers. One man was killed, Karim Boudouda, and his neighborhood reacted as neighborhoods do in France when the police kill an inhabitant: it exploded. For three nights cars were burned and rocks were thrown. Live amunition was fired at the police, even. The collective anger about police harassment, high unemployment, lack of educational opportunities, and systemic racism echoed events in 2005 when neighborhoods throughout France rioted for weeks in response to the deaths of two young boys being chased by the police.
The other side threw back rhetoric. Sarkozy flew to Grenoble, which is a relatively small and terribly provincial town that usually has no national exposure outside of the ski season, and threatened to remove French citizenship from people of 'forgeign origin' who commit certain types of crimes, such as violence against a police officer (ironic since I can imagine nothing more French than a good protest) or female circumcision. This is the man who lit the match way back in 2005, back when he was minister of the interior, by going showing up in the neighborhood where the boys were killed and calling the rioters "racailles" (what's the best translation here? scum, I think, is often used, but I think it's more explosive than that. Maybe not to the level of the N-word, but it certainly is more racially tinged than scum. Thoughts from the Frenchies out there?).
This is coming from a political party that is currently trying to expel gypsies from its territory. A party that, a few months ago, had a minister tell a French man of north African descent, "When there's one it's fine, it's when there are too many that we have problems." And this was a dude who was actually a member of his own party. This is a party who has a minister (Etrosi) who is now demanding of recent immigrants, "French or thug, you have to decide."
For a country whose long term immigration policy has centered around erasing race and relying simply on nationality, we're seeing disturbing proof that there are two distinct classes of French citizen: White and Other.
The sad truth is that we understand why this rhetoric is coming out now. Sarkozy is in trouble. Recent polls show that if the election were to be held today he would lose to the leading candidate of the socialist party; a majority of French folks would like to see the socialists win the next election (http://www.linfo.re/-France-/Nicolas-Sarkozy-perdant-en-2012-selon-trois-sondages). Yet this is a country where the overtly racist Front National (a video came out yesterday with its leader talking about the importance of having a country home because he would prefer his children seeing cattle than arabs... yeesh) consistently wins 15-20% of the vote. Sarkozy is pandering to this far right to try to build a coalition that will ensure his reelection.
Needless to say this type of overt racism is incredibly troubling, but the fact that it is so clearly for political gain only increases the insult.
And I feel it's necessary to point out that this rhetoric is not coming only from Sarkozy. The entire UMP (his party) has made a dramatic shift to the right. Say what you want about Chirac, but his brand of conservatism was largely absent this type of overt racism. Chirac actually talked about instituting affirmative action (called 'positive discrimination' in French) and brought a number of people of color into his cabinet, including the problematic but always thought provoking Azouz Begag. Recently, the UMP has become increasingly open about its casual and not so casual racism, including the previously cited quotes from UMP ministers as well as the suggestion that a magazine calling Sarkozy a "thug" for his recent actions be censored. The move, in many ways, mirrors the Republican push to the right we've seen recently; talk of 'anchor babies' and repealing the 14th amendment isn't really so different, conceptually, from the idea of citizenship contingent on assimilation.
France remains a deeply segregated country. Since the post WW2 period when immigrants were shipped in to France to work in factories but housed in slums outside of the major cities, people of color have largely remained on the exterior, literally. In Grenoble, like in Paris, the scenic center of the city is full of white people; the communities of color, largely French citizens from former colonies (another story) in north and west Africa, remain in the suburbs, in sprawling public housing projects. Unemployment in these communities can reach as high as 40% in young men. This story has little changed in a generation.
Sarkozy may be right about one thing: France's integration policies for the past 50 years have been an abject failure. But, unlike Sarkozy, I am more likely to blame governments and police forces that routinely targeted minority groups, have a history of doing so (have we forgotten what it meant to be of north African descent in France during the Algerian war?!?!?), and continue to cart off peaceful protesters with violence (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/02/france-racial-intolerance-sarkozy).
In light of such historic, pervasive and systemic violence against people of color in France, how can it be shocking that communities of color would want to throw rocks at the cops? Perhaps it is even justified.
LINKS:
Guardian article with the video of the protesters being removed by the cops
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/02/france-racial-intolerance-sarkozy
Newsweek analysis of the important of the French far-right:
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/08/17/nicolas-sarkozy-is-courting-right-wing-extremists.html
Terrible NYtimes article about Grenoble:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/09/world/europe/09grenoble.html?scp=1&sq=grenoble&st=cse
Right wing reaction to a leftist news outlet calling Sarkozy a thug:
http://www.liberation.fr/politiques/0101651505-tir-groupe-a-droite-contre-la-une-de-marianne
A couple of early articles about the violence and the political reaction:
http://www.liberation.fr/societe/0101649756-sarkozy-veut-evaluer-les-droits-et-prestations-des-sans-papiers
http://www.liberation.fr/societe/0101648580-violences-a-grenoble-un-jeune-homme-condamne-deux-enquetes-ouvertes
Video of Le Pen joking about Arabs and cattle:
http://bigbrowser.blog.lemonde.fr/2010/08/25/pas-drole-le-pen-prefere-montrer-a-ses-enfants-des-vaches-que-des-arabes/
The recent poll numbers on Sarkozy:
http://www.linfo.re/-France-/Nicolas-Sarkozy-perdant-en-2012-selon-trois-sondages
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