President Jacques Chirac called on France yesterday to "wake up" to the growing problem of racism and anti-semitism. In an emotive speech, given at Chambon-sur-Lignon, where villagers hid thousands of Jews during the Second World War, Mr Chirac pledged to lead the fight against the "darkest side of human nature" and called on his countrymen to "remember the still-recent past" of Nazi round-ups and French collaboration. He said: "I invite them to tell their children of the mortal danger posed by fanaticism, exclusion, cowardice and resignation in the face of extremism. I ask them forcefully to show our resolve, our common ability to live in harmony and mutual respect ... Faced with this danger, I call on them to wake up. Discrimination, anti-semitism - all kinds of racism are spreading insidiously. All these acts reflect the darkest side of human nature. They are unworthy of France. I will do everything to stop them."
A series of attacks over recent months prompted Mr Chirac to speak out. In April, 127 tombs at a Jewish cemetery were desecrated. Last November, arsonists burned down part of a Jewish secondary school on the outskirts of Paris. Scarcely a day passes without reports of attacks on Jews somewhere in France. Mr Chirac said racism affected both "our Jewish compatriots, who have been present in our country since time immemorial and our Muslim compatriots, who have made the choice to work and live in our country". Until recently, M Chirac’s rhetoric ran far ahead of his actions. But he recently appointed a super-minister for social cohesion, Jean-Louis Borloo, with a remit ranging from housing to education to race relations. M Borloo was previously the iconoclastic and popular mayor of Valenciennes, in north-eastern France, a city he turned into a laboratory for tackling social problems. |