France went to the polls overnight in the second round of its presidential elections, and authoritarian racist Nicolas Sarkozy has emerged as the winner. I use that latter term unreservedly; Sarkozy has done to Front National leader Jean-Marie Le Pen what John Howard did to Pauline Hanson: appropriated his xenophobic discourse, normalised it, and brought it into the center of politics. This sort of (barely disguised) dog whistle politics may play well with the electorate, but its not good for long-term social stability - a point Jim Bolger recognised when he rightly rejected it.
Jerome has some cynicism about the reaction of the international (meaning American) media over on European Tribune.
5 comments:
Wait a mo'... perhaps we should be mildly encouraged that Segolene Royal didn't do herself any favours by some ugly racially-charged scare mongering of her own. Sorry, but while I've my problems with 'Sarko' I'd be damned if I'd vote for anyone predicting race riots in the streets if I didn't vote for them.
It appears a crucial and substantial bloc of centerist voters felt the same. I guess it's to the credit of the French -- or a electorally critical section of their electors -- who weren't buying fear.
Posted by Craig Ranapia : 5/07/2007 11:25:00 AM
From what little I know of Sarkozy, I have to agree with your characterisation of him as an authoritarian.
But racist? I'd be interested to know more about that ...
Posted by Anonymous : 5/07/2007 12:24:00 PM
Craig: given Sarko's proven ability to inflame such situations (remember the 2005 riots? And him calling the rioters scum who had to be washed away with a firehose? Way to go in calming the situation), I'd say it should be a slight worry. And at the same time, yes, its a fairly underhanded and desperate tactic (I of course would say the same about racial dog whistling as well).
Posted by Idiot/Savant : 5/07/2007 04:29:00 PM
I/S,
What exactly do you mean by 'racist dog whistling?'
I've seen enough politicians play the 'evil racist' card here (e.g. against Don Brash) that I like to pin people down quite carefully as to the specifics.
Posted by Anonymous : 5/07/2007 05:05:00 PM
There's a number of issues that I disagree with Sarkozy over - Turkey's admission to the EU is one, but these allegations of racism and authoritarianism are just the mindless left wing dog whistles so common these days.
He'll push for sorely needed Roger Douglas-style economic reforms and will be less anti-US and anti-Israel than Gaullist Chirac.
He's an odd character - initially he comes across rather badly but the more you hear him the better he sounds. The complete reverse of Royal. But she could have won but was mortally wounded by a Socialist Party in desperate need of reform.
Posted by Anonymous : 5/07/2007 06:44:00 PM
Post a Comment
(Anonymous comments are enabled).