France is a
pluralistic country, French citizen believe that we can live together in a
society, no matter our background, our faith or traditions. The political
system represents this aspect as it counts six main different political
parties, the Socialist and the Popular Movement parties being the most known
and voted for.
During the 2002 presidential elections, two candidates were chosen by
French citizen for the second round, Jacques Chirac and Jean-Marie Le Pen. The
latter was the representative of the FN party or “National Front for French
Unity Party”. His electoral program was based on the expulsion of any immigrant
without a regular situation in the country, the repeal of the law allowing
foreigners to vote and was supposed to give French citizen the priority to
get a job, housing or financial aids while leaving aliens. He was able to get
to the second round with 17.4% of the population votes. Fortunately, he did not
win the presidential elections with a wide margin; Jacques Chirac was elected
with 80%.
However, a
flaw was noted on the part of the French political system and its extremist
parties. Since then, racist talks increased and were made a commonplace. In
2013, a former minister of the FN party posted a photo montage on internet
comparing Christiane Taubira, an African American woman and French worker at
the ministry of Justice, to a young primate. She was then repeatedly insulted
by a group of young adults yelling to her “Who is this banana for? It’s for the
guenon!” during a protest against gay marriage, a law Taubira defended.
The
“politically correct” became too important in the French culture. What happened
to Christiane Taubira is the result of the trivialization of racist talks happening all over the country. It became frequent to hear a family member, an
acquaintance or a neighbor openly say something racist. No one opposes their
opinion by fear of being rude, different, or rejected by the community. This
silence allows racism to flourish.
Marine Le
Pen is considered a strong candidate for the 2017 presidential elections.
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ReplyDeleteLaura, I think you bring up a very interesting point. Racism is still a major global issue. We tend to think of problems in relation to the United States, and while it does serve as a prominent example of nationwide, legalized segregation and racism, the problem is by no means confined to the United States. However, the belief expressed by the traditional narrative which Dr. McKinney discussed in class, that racism ended after the desegregation of schools or the Voting Rights Act, is wrong. We want to believe that this is true, as shown by the Supreme Court's 2013 decision to strike down part of the Voting Rights Act, but events (like the incident with Christiane Taubira) demonstrate that this narrative is incorrect. Racism is still rampant globally, and this reveals the continued need for a global civil rights initiative, as well as the relevance and importance of what we are learning in class about the civil rights movement.
ReplyDeleteThe use of media in political campaigns and politics in general is essential to penetrating the sphere of public consciousness. With the rise of technology and increased access to various forms of social media, the use of media in politics has become of heightened importance. Especially in the political narrative, the use of negative ads or radical messages is much more effective at influencing public opinion than positive ads. I think this is interesting in pairing Laura’s argument concerning racism in France. In her example concerning the comment made about Taubira, the use of negative media specifically influenced the public political sphere. The commonality of racist comments in France I think is important to juxtapose Laura’s original description of France priding itself on being a country of open-mindedness and accepting. Pairing this with the importance of Presidential campaigns is increasingly important. The President is the face of the country creating a type of social norm and relevancy for his people. The increased acceptance of racism in France could have specific policy implication that could effect future generations. Therefore I think Laura is right in that we should be conscious of the way racism and racially driven policies are constituted through our political leaders and the media.
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