big day in France today. There has been a sweep to the political right (and authoritarian right wing at that) accross Europe over the last decade.
I was living in France during the last election, when the choice was between Chirac (corrupt, right wing) and Le Penn (fascist). the level of racism in France is possibly the worst of any of the 23 countries I’ve lived in
at least there is a left wing contener this time, but Sarko is widely expected to win
The riots will begin when he is elected
Nabila Ramdani
Sunday May 6, 2007
The Observer
A bright spring morning on Paris’s Left Bank and les flics are already
out in force. You can glimpse the red bands on their kepis as they lurk
behind bushes waiting to trap another speedster. Here’s one now,
accelerating as he sees the path opening up in front of him.
Faster, faster and then a sharp blast from a whistle as he’s pulled over
by at least three stationary policemen. They know offenders will come
quietly, offering names and addresses in expectation of a caution, or
even a fine.
Such heavy policing is to catch people jogging on the grass. There is a
€33 punishment for breaking Luxembourg Gardens bylaws. Particularly
antisocial runners might even earn a truncheon swipe to the chest.
This is law and order, Sarkozy-style. It was as ‘le tough cop’ that
Nicolas Sarkozy styled himself during two terms as Interior Minister,
producing a police force almost entirely in his own image, that is to
say small-minded, awkward, at times extremely nasty, and – as far as
keeping the peace is concerned – surprisingly ineffective.
As a young Frenchwoman of Algerian descent who has spent more time in
Paris’s banlieues than its famed Latin Quarter, it’s clear to me that
Sarkozy shows no sign of learning from his mistakes. Urban unrest will
be a prevailing feature of his presidency, starting with rioting on the
night he is elected. In the words of a friend: ‘It may be that thousands
take to the street, but I can’t help feeling it’s going to be worse than
that’.
A chilling blend of uncompromising brutality and extreme pettiness has
dominated France since Sarko became Interior Minister in 2002. His first
bill introduced prison terms for a vast range of petty offences from
begging and ‘insulting security guards’ to ‘loitering in communal areas’.
Civil liberties groups said it was waging ‘war on the poor’; Sarko said
it was fighting an ever-rising crime rate, one that is still escalating.
A tough, intimidating police force was viewed as a priority by Sarko,
and thousands more officers were put on the beat.
When Azouz Begag, the minister for equality, disagreed with the
reactionary approach to the suburban riots of autumn 2005, he was
threatened with a punch by the diminutive Sarko. Such aggression was in
people’s minds when, last month, a riot broke out at the Gare du Nord
after the police had laid into an alleged illegal immigrant who had not
paid his metro fare. Witnesses said officers hit him ‘time and time again’.
The so-called ‘blacks’ and ‘beurs’ – those with African or North African
backgrounds – are often singled out for physical reprimands. Sarko has
made crackdowns on immigrants the cornerstone of his law and order policy.
Go to the suburbs at any time of day or night and you’ll see Sarko-style
violence used to quell everything from unruly schoolboys to domestic
disputes. Alleged offenders will be lined up against walls, handcuffed,
and then punched viciously. This unofficial policy reached its zenith
during the civil unrest of 2005.
It began in the Parisian suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois, following the
deaths of two teenagers attempting to hide from police. It was Sarko who
at first described protesters as ‘hoodlums’ and ‘gangsters’, but it soon
became clear they were victims of the police brutality he had done so
much to encourage. In February, two officers were charged in connection
with the deaths.
With an alienated, unemployed and largely immigrant underclass blamed
for making a political protest through the disturbances, the ever
tactful Interior Minister called them ‘scum’ to be ‘washed away with a
power hose’.
In last year’s ‘circulaire Sarkozy’, Sarko proposed giving residency
papers to immigrant families with children already integrated in French
schools. Some 25,000 applied. It was then just a matter of refusing the
vast majority and going to arrest those who remained. Parents were
picked up as they collected their children from school.
The political establishment may complain about Sarko using his
state-funded henchmen to investigate everything from political rivals to
troublesome journalists, but it is those who are regularly victimised
who suffer most.
There have been sops to immigrants, of course. Sarkozy is too smart to
ignore a sizeable electoral power base. In 2002, he set up France’s
first Muslim council, he opposed the ban on headscarves in schools and
he favours positive discrimination. All small comfort for those who know
that a Sarko presidency will be characterised by aggression towards
those who do not fit his vision of an ordered, small-minded state. And
there will also be no running on the grass in Luxembourg Gardens.
· Nabila Ramdani is a history lecturer at Paris University.
