Paris 2 March 2007
The most troubling episode of the French presidential campaign has come and gone without attracting serious attention even in France: Socialist candidate S√©gol√®ne Royal willingly participated in ‘a dhimmitude allegiance ceremony.’ This was organized by the Collective ACLEFEU at Clichy-sous-bois, which was the kickoff point of the November 2005 “incidents” (i.e.riots). Even if you don’t understand French, click on Royal’s site and watch the video of the ceremony. Don’t miss the young woman in double-decker hijab sitting to the left of the candidate.
Readers will recall the three-weeks of 2005 French mayhem the media presented as the French version of Watts, the “burn-baby-burn” riots of the French dispossessed yearning to be free. Others, myself included, saw a Muslim inspired intifada-type attack against the French state and French society.
To review. The punk jihad riots were sparked by the accidental death of teenagers Ziad Benna and Bunya Traoré who took refuge in an electric substation to avoid a police inspection on their way home from a soccer match. Had they been up to funny business on a nearby work site or were they suspected because of their origins? Did the police pursue them so relentlessly that they had no choice but to run through the cemetery, ignore the skull and crossbones warnings, jump the fence, hide for hours in the substation, and get electrocuted? Did the police, knowing they were hiding in the substation, deliberately or negligently fail to alert the electric company to turn off the current?
The incident has been thoroughly investigated and the results are useless. Those who believe the two boys are innocent victims of police harassment stick to their guns. A Frenchman, Jean Claude Ivroas, who was beaten to death earlier that same day in another banlieue, Epinay sur Seine, was killed for intruding on someone’s territory and taking a snapshot of a lamp post installed by the company he worked for. Middle class housewives don’t go around with t-shirts marked “Jean Claude, dead for no reason.” He is not a cause c√©l√®bre. Any collective that would formulate twelve pages of single-spaced imperative demands sparked by his murder would most likely be classified as “Islamophobic far right extremists.”
The Dhimmitude Allegiance Ceremony
Forgoing her hallmark coquetterie, Ségolène Royal, shapelessly dressed in a beige trench jacket over dark slacks and a nondescript shirt, solemnly placed a wreath at the foot of the monument to the martyred boysРthe shahidsРand went on to a public ceremony organized by the ACLEFEU guys in their black t-shirts. The Socialist candidate, who usually stands, smiles, flashes her teeth and swishes her skirts, sat demurely at a table. She assured the good people of the banlieue that they are not the problem, they are part of the solution.
But the promises Royal made in her little speech are nothing compared to the “Social Contract” she signed. She took the liberty of reminding them that they would also be asked what they can do for their country… because her intention, when elected, is to ‘mobilize energies,’ not smother them in welfare. And she told them there were some provisions she could not sign, namely certain unrealistic fiscal recommendations. The applause was no less enthusiastic.
Did ACLEFEU tear twelve pages out of the jihad manual and wrap them around S√©gol√®ne Royal’s neck? Not exactly. But a band of Muslim marauders attacked French society, then portrayed themselves as victims, and dictated their conditions. And Royal participated in a parody of a dhimmitude ceremony, a pledge of allegiance to? To what?
It’s simple: I read the whole document. Attentively.
ACLEFEU (“assez le feu,” literally “enough with the fire”) stands for Association Collectif Libert√© Egalit√© Fraternit√© Ensemble, which is already stretching the point. All French presidential candidates have been invited, or more exactly convoked, to sign the Social Contract no later than March 5th. In exchange for the signature, the Association pledges to oversee compliance. I’m not kidding, that’s the deal: sign here and to show how nice we are, we’ll bug you if you dare to renege on your promises. The contract was drawn up on the basis of a “cahier des dol√©ances,” a register of grievances collected by an ACLEFEU that traveled from banlieue to banlieue in the wake of the November riots, registering complaints and by the same token inscribing their movement in the hallowed French revolutionary tradition.
Your Money or Your Life
Today’s sans culottes dressed in sweat suits and Nikes want to be recognized as French citizens with all of the rights and a few of the responsibilities that entails. They want to be fully integrated into French society, on condition that the society is transformed to cater to their special needs and interests.
The preamble sets the tone:
“These revolts were a violent, angry, exasperated response to injustice, humiliation, contempt, social grief and pain to our identity-as to our place in the nation-to two events, the tragic death of two children chased by the police and of two other people [?], a police attack against a place of worship [a teargas canister exploded near a mosque during a riot]…” [N.B. this translation and those that follow accurately reflect the confusion of the original.] Though torching was the wrong method it was a justified response to the living conditions of families abandoned by the government for thirty years, harassed by the police, stigmatized for their religion and culture. To put out the fires once and for all, citizens and residents of France should demand that presidential and, subsequently, legislative candidates sign the Social Contract.”
Grievances are treated in 9 categories [See footnotes below]: Employment, Discrimination, Housing, Justice, Education, Citizenship, Distribution of Wealth, Women, Health. For each category, an overall assessment is followed by specific recommendations. Generally speaking the aggrieved are innocent victims who should never be punished no matter what they do, and the guilty parties-rich people, government officials, society at large-should be treated with utmost severity.
This “Register of Grievances” was established by a small minority of the total French population. The overwhelming majority of the aggrieved are black and/or Muslim. With rare exceptions, they belong to a relatively recent wave of immigration initiated in 1973. Their outrageous demands for a radical transformation of the French government, society, and economic system amount to nothing more than the special pleading of a special interest group; a banlieue lobby, so to speak.
How could the presidential candidate of a major political party sign such a document? Did any of her advisors seriously read it? Did she think it was a neat way to rake in votes and show that the banlieue loves her and hates Sarkozy? If more French people understood what happened at Clichy sous bois this week, Royal’s score might dip another few points. The latest polls accredit her with 43% to Sarkozy’s 57%.
Each category the “contract” exposes a summary of grievances and lists a series of commitments. Candidates are free to check or skip individual items, but in signing the document they commit themselves to the overall interpretation and approach to problems. The kewpie-doll postman Olivier Besan√ßenot, candidate for the anti-capitalist Ligue Communiste R√©volutionnaire, signed the contract immediately after Royal. One cannot help but hope that he will be the last. [Breaking news: Communist candidate Marie-George Buffet signed today, ecologist Dominique Voynet has a rendezvous with the ACLEFEU guys tomorrow.]
Taken on the surface, the grievances could be construed as an exaggerated but understandable cry for social and economic justice. Taken seriously, they transform the host nation into a vassal state -or dhimmi-who must pay tribute to the aggrieved population-the punk jihadis-by placing its wealth and energies at their service.
In a democracy, citizens are expected to at least attempt to balance their interests against the general welfare. The people of the banlieue base their entitlement on their victimhood, leaving no room for other claims to the public good. Specific examples of grievances and remedies (see appendix) give a partial idea of the terms of the Social Contract but cannot convey the effect of reading page after page of admonitions, extravagant demands, and disregard for economic realities. If such a document were ever implemented, France would be reduced to the economic level of Albania.
Appendix: The 9 Categories
Employment: The “inhabitants” demand job security, increased purchasing power, better wages and working conditions. Specific commitments include recognition of foreign degrees; graduates of any and all institutions will be able to practice their profession without additional studies or qualification exams. Employees will have a right to participate in management. Unemployment compensation will be increased and extended. In all a series of 21 propositions for increased rights for the unemployed, the unemployable, which, if granted, would lead to generalized bankruptcy.
Discrimination: Above and beyond equal rights, which will be imposed, the diversity of the population must be presented everywhere as a positive value. The public service has a “duty to correct inequality of wealth, change xenophobic mentalities, and heavily sanction those who commit racist, sexist, social, or physical discrimination.” The school curriculum will be adapted to give fair treatment to colonization and slave trades, and fair value to different cultures. The courts will pursue all claims of discrimination and severely punish the guilty. Mentalities must be changed, the conflation between banlieue, ‘immigrants,’ and insecurity must be eliminated.
Housing: the government must invest massively in public housing to reduce delays for access, control the real estate market, maintain a ratio of 20% between rents and purchasing power. Mayors who refuse to construct the legal minimum of 20% public housing will be suspended. Cost of public transportation should be indexed according to resources.
Justice: Judges and policemen should represent the diversity of the population. “Insecurity is the consequence of social and economic inequality, and delinquency is caused by keeping the underprivileged together. Therefore a just consideration of the social origin of delinquency should be at the center of the deontology and practices of police and legal authorities.” Massive creation of positions for monitors, social workers, instructors, psychologists, and doctors specialized in crime prevention and reinsertion of prisoners. Abolition of “ethnic ghettoisation” in prisons. will be totally abolished. “Information campaigns…to combat equation of the banlieue ‘uniform’–running shoes, baseball caps, sweat suits-and delinquency.
Education: “Schools must imperatively create conditions so that all children can succeed…” Households should be made more secure by substantial increase in welfare payments. Massive hiring of extra teachers so that classes can be reduced to 20 pupils (15 in underprivileged neighborhoods). Young people 18 to 25 should receive an “autonomy pension” so they won’t have to work while studying or in training.
Citizenship and politics: elected officials should be ethnically mixed, foreigners should have voting rights, illegals should be regularized. An investigative commission composed of legislators and associations will be named to verify respect for campaign promises, namely the promises in this Social Contract. France should move on to its Sixth Republic, the voting system should include a measure of proportional representation.
Redistribution of wealth: Many of the aggrieved expressed people a feeling of injustice at seeing the rich get rich and the poor get poorer. The media stimulate the race to acquire outward signs of wealth. Fiscality must be radically reformed in view of better redistribution. “We must escape from the logic of profit-seeking…” The TVA should be reduced and ultimately eliminated, income tax should be increased, taxes that weigh heavily on the poor should be eliminated, taxes on financial speculation should be increased.
Women: Help and protection should be granted to women suffering from specific forms of violence, including women victims of forced marriage or polygamous marriage. The aggrieved make no demands on themselves to correct these problems that cannot be blamed on French society. They ask the government to run campaigns promoting women’s rights, and to provide increased and extended child support for monoparental families.
Health care: The budget will be increased, coverage will be improved, Private physicians who refuse to treat indigent patients will be sanctioned, the price of drugs will be controlled, banks and insurance companies will be prohibited from including medical information in their calculation of risk.
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