Paris is quieter and sombre today. The view from my
window is bleak. Sacre- coeur at a distant, as I watch
lying in my bed, even looks like chronicling its
dissent; Paris is not the same tonight, it is not a
vivacious town tonight. The west bank hide out of the
Parisian intellectuals, Café Deux Magot was deserted
tonight, the very place that had seen Mitterand
plotting his next elections soon after even the first
was over was devoid of intellectuals discussing every
plausible intrigue and dimension of a debate. In a
corner sat my friend of two decades Didier, as we
ordered the third cup of espresso he could only utter
‘all discussions are dead today.’.
For months, polls had consistently projected that
Chirac and Jospin would finish in the top two spots.
In a shock result Chirac, a conservative, polled19.54
percent of the vote, Le Pen an extreme rightist 17.26
percent and Jospin a leftist with 15.9 percent. By
virtue of this shock result, Chirac and Le Pen
graduate to the next round.
What an Irony! The very country that supported a
campaign to impose sanctions against Austria in
February 2000 for including the ultra-right Freedom
Party in its government is now facing a serious threat
of a serious build-up of right wing.
Today Le Pen, notorious for once describing the
Holocaust as ``a detail'' of history, is a man who is
going to face Chirac in the second round of the French
elections. Le Pen’s victory has provoked astonishment
from the French people. ``That's not possible,'' said
Jessica Sibier, 21, a student in Paris. ``It's
unbelievable .We were all expecting a contest between
Jospin and Chirac. '' Jerome Didier, 26, said he
hadn't voted Sunday but would do so in the next round.
``It's scandalous,'' said Jerome. ``I've always been
anti-vote. Now I'm going to vote in the second round
to make sure that Le Pen doesn't become becoming
president.''
On a Eurostar 1407 train leaving London for Paris on
Sunday evening, travellers exclaimed in disbelief
after the election result was announced. Le Pen, who
virulently opposes immigration and has been accused
during his long political career of racism and
anti-Semitism, was in second place with more than 95
percent of the vote counted, defeating Socialist Prime
Minister Lionel Jospin.
The fact that Le Pen got close to 18% of the popular
vote and Chirac around 20% is an indication that
racial powers are on the rise in France and possible
in Europe. Le Pen's victory could cut both ways. Known
for his anti-immigrant views, it is conceivable that
the French decided to cast an anti-Arab vote?
They certainly don't love their unruly and
unassimilated Arabs (with the exception of Zidane),
who are now nearly 10% of the population, but casting
an anti Arab vote also meant legitimising the EUROPE’S
biggest Nazi party and undoubtedly it has long been
France’s National Front, led by Jean-Marie Le Pen.
Jews may have supported Le Pen in the first round for
the sake of him being so anti-Arab but he is equally
anti-Semitic.
Jean Marie Le Pen, the leader of the National Front,
has often spoken about the presence of so many Jews at
key crossroads of the country. 'The Jews hold the most
senior positions in print journalism,' he once said,
'in the electronic media, in academia and in the
economy and have questioned as leader of the far right
as to how did they get so rich?'
The fragmented and infighting of the Left helped
propel Le Pen to win the first round but the second
round the odds are stacked against him. It is not
important as to the extent of Chirac’s victory but
extreme right will certainly get a huge boost in
Europe from this victory. Joerg Haider and Le Pen, his
exceptional political come back, is not an ordinary
event in a Europe that is trying hard to become United
States of Europe. In the next round on April 4th, I
see a real of possibility of a previously unthinkable
unholy alliance between France’s 10% Arab immigrants,
the powerful Jewish lobby, Left and Liberals united by
a common purpose to defeat Le Pen.
Le Pen himself has a long personal history on the far
right. As a student he was a great admirer of Marshal
Pétain, who ran the Nazi approved regime in
non-occupied France during World War Two. Le Pen was a
Poujadist (extreme right wing) deputy in the French
National Assembly in the 1950s, and fought against
anti-colonialists in Algeria. Active in far right
politics throughout the 1960s, he helped found the
National Front in 1972. Anyone who doubts what the
National Front stands for should recall that in the
1980s Le Pen boasted that the Holocaust was ‘a mere
detail of history’. He has refused to withdraw that
remark, and made many more similar statements since.
In 1998 he publicly argued that he believed in the
‘inequality of races’ and he has made repeated
anti-Semitic comments on French TV.
Today, a shocked Jospin announced he would retire from
political life immediately after the presidential
election, which ends with the May 5 runoff. It is
expected that Chirac will beat Le Pen 72-28% but what
a tragedy that extremist like Le Pen can garner a
second round place is a poor prognosis for humanity.
Extremists taking power in the third world is a
concern for the entire European elite but neo-nazis
rising star is a disturbing sign for an integrated
Europe that has colossal ambitions and a common
currency.
A country that has values rooted in egalitarianism,
liberty and fraternity cannot afford Le Pen’s election
victory, albeit in the first round, as it is a
contradiction to its very foundation and idealism on
which the 5th Republic is based upon. I am
disheartened that the sacred land of Descartes,
Voltaire, Diderot, Victor Hugo, Jean Jacques Rousseau
is caught up in a regressive political thought
process.
The very land where Social contract was authored and
liberty was nurtured with most precious of gift of God
deserves so much more. As I jog down in early morning
along the river Seine and go past the Museum Louvre
looking towards perhaps the greatest avenue in the
world, Champs Elysee’s, I cannot help but ask myself
whether we are seeing the undoing of liberty and
egalitarianism in Europe?
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Iqbal Latif (Ike) |
