You don`t say!
Darius Nakhoonwala
Things were slow for the editorialists last week. Poor chaps had nothing to get their nails into. Slow, if one goes by topics that catch everyone`s fancy. The riots in France came to the rescue. It was easy to say this or that, even though the total number of editorials on France in a year do not exceed one -- and that too in the Indo-French context.
But thank god for cable TV and BBC and CNN. Everyone is an expert now on various things French. Everyone wrote on the same day, moreover. No one will write about France now for a year or so.
The facts were simple to grasp as well. The French are racists, and discriminate against Muslim immigrants, especially from North Africa . That might have been par for the course in a white country except that a minister said France "ought to get rid of the scum." That didn`t go down well with the scum which floated up and struck back. The riots went on for two weeks, nearly and over a 1000 cars were burnt.
But, Indians may note, only one person has died in the rioting.
The Telegraph said that "France`s official policy of equality erases the particularities of cultural and religious background with the goal of assimilating all comers under republican tenets. In reality though, this works out to be a form of invisibility for ethnic minorities. Even the cities are planned on the basis of an implicit idea of segregation."
It also said that there is a certain amount of political posturing by the major leaders. "Mr Sarkozy, is angling for the right-wing vote in the presidential elections, in which the prime minister, Mr Dominique de Villepin, is an interested party. Minority issues are inextricably tied up with big politics."
The Hindu, focused a little more on the political situation. "The riots and the apparent inability of the police… have spotlighted political battles within the French Cabinet and in the ruling party." The 2007 elections are due and some politicians are positioning themselves for it. It seems to be a straight contest between Nicolas Sarkozy, the Interior Minister, who is of Hungarian descent and prime minister Dominique de Villepin. Both are looking to capture the right wing vote.
The Indian Express turned ruminative and philosophic. It said "Two great ideas that modern France represents — republicanism and social welfare — today stand tottering amidst rioting by the Arab-African immigrant underclass, most of who are Muslims." It then lamented that fact that "the notion of equality among citizens (which) comprises the core of France`s contribution to modern political thought" is in question today. "It is a notion that the French political class has been ready to defend by any means."
From the sublime, it quickly went to the ridiculous: that the riots were only because France was not creating enough jobs. Really? What guarantee is there that the new jobs would be given to the coloured chaps and not to the whites from eastern Europe? "Given the great political gift for mankind that the republican idea is, one can only hope France will begin to marry it to another great idea: economic liberalism."
The Pioneer warned against Islamic terrorism starting in France because "the rioters are young men in their teens or just out of these - the age group that is often particularly vulnerable to the call of heroism and martyred." It then asked for a "more nuanced" immigration policy, which, presumably meant keep out the Muslims but not Indianw (Hindus?) because "Asians, particularly Indians, had scrupulously avoided getting involved. Indeed, the Indian community has come out strongly against the riots."
The Deccan Herald, on the other hand, said the rioting "has nothing to do with religion. It has everything to do with France`s failure to accommodate its immigrant communities….
The French government has approached the issue as a law and order problem. This approach is escalating confrontation between the alienated immigrants and the authorities."
Contact: Darius.Nakhoonwala@gmail.com