04 November 2005 Blog Home : November 2005 : Permalink
This week [Sarkozy] has been forced over and again onto the back foot over the charge that he is provoking the violence in the suburbs through his uncompromising use of language.
On Tuesday it seemed that he was being manoeuvred out of the government front line, as Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin took questions on the crisis in the National Assembly - with Mr Sarkozy sitting beside him.
And at the weekly cabinet meeting Wednesday, it was President Jacques Chirac who delivered the veiled rebuke - saying that "the absence of dialogue could lead to a dangerous situation".
The interesting thing is that l'Escroc, Vile Pin & their media sycophants seem to think that conciliation (a.k.a. spineless appeasement) is popular with the French public, and that the immigrants can be fobbed off with yet another political talking shop and dialogue instead of any actual concrete action:For Mr Chirac and his protege Mr de Villepin, the crisis has brought out their deepest instincts for conciliation and compromise.
While insisting on the need for a return to "Republican" order, they pepper their comments with calls for "mutual respect" between communities - and the prime minister has even promised yet another "action plan" to tackle the underlying social problems.
In fact I think they are utterly, utterly wrong and that Sarko is going to come out of this mess in a far more healthy position. As the BBC points out Sarko does in fact have a real plan:But for Mr Sarkozy, who is Mr de Villepin's probable rival in France's 2007 presidential race, this is the same old "langue de bois" - or cant - that got France into the mess in the first place.
Ever proud of his willingness to "call a cat a cat", he refuses to disown his now famous comments that crime-ridden neighbourhoods should be "cleaned with a powerhose" and that the rioters are "racaille" - rabble.
Instead he calls for zero tolerance towards the gang-leaders and drug-lords who he blames for taking over the worst-hit areas and a boosted presence for riot police.
This would be counterbalanced in the longer-term by a policy of positive discrimination to help young French Arabs out of their depressing ghettoes.
Of course the BBC also makes it quite clear that the French media is not exactly highlighting part two (positive discrimination) of the Sarko plan and thus attempting to paint Sarko as "Rambo". The BBC says that this is unpopular:Even if a majority believe hardline measures to be necessary to quell the disturbances, most French also have hot-wired into them a deep sense of social justice.
They expect a certain tone from their leaders - one that recognises there may be an "issue" at stake, and "underlying causes" to be tackled. They actually quite like the "langue de bois".
So for once, Mr Sarkozy finds that his tough-talking is out of kilter with the national mood, which urgently wants a return to quiet and knows that the best way of getting it is if the government makes the right kind of gestures.
I do not think that this is correct. The French general public may indeed want the "underlying causes to be tackled" but I don't think they are quite stupid enough to think that a presidential talking shop will in fact tackle said underlying causes and I really don't think that either they or the rioters believe that "the right kind of gestures" will solve anything.Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, who has ambitions to be president, has not been much help. He called the rioters "scum" and said the answer was zero tolerance of crime. A better answer would involve job opportunities, decent housing and good education for these new citizens.
<Sarcasm>What can you expect from dumb New Yorkers?<Sarcasm>