Plus ça change….
Looking for scapegoats
Over the course of recent months, we can detect a massive national row that has been developing over a single person who is attributed with the potentialto turn the country into a maelstrom of violent hatred for a particular minority group. The Independent pitched in recently venturing into a veritable field of caltrops when it headlined, “Le responsable du MJS 66 soutient la liberté d'expression de Dieudonné contre Valls” (“The person in charge of MJS 66 supports liberty of expression of Dieudonné against Valls”).
The MJS is the Movement of Young Socialists in the département of Pyrénées Orientales (66). The person referred to was uncomfortable with the socialist Interior Minister Manual Valls banning a comedian entertainer called Dieudonné M’Bala M’Bala for perceived racist humour. He preferred the nationally much espoused freedom of expression to state repression.Local keyboards rattled furiously.
Yet again, this month we find another headline, “Le spectacle de Dieudonné à Nantes pourrait bien être interdit” (“Dieudonné’s show in Nantes could be forbidden”). This was followed barely 10 hours later by another article “Affaire Dieudonné:acte II de l'offensive, le minister Valls mobilise ses préfets” (“Dieudonné affair: act II of the offensive, minster Valls mobilises his prefects”). Added later were accusations of money-laundering and eviction from his lieu of work.
For those who are more familiar with the actual substance of the case against M.Dieudonné it has been ongoing for some time and has a particular cohort following at rented premises, “La main d’or”, in the XIe arrondissement as well as on his own website and Youtube. However, it is only in recent months M.Dieudonné has become a figure of state-censuring proportions.
While this brouhaha is going on, it cannot escape one’s notice as we look around France at the moment, in both the rural and urban areas, the country appears to be slipping into a recessional economic and mental condition. The president and his cabinet team are extremely unpopular to an extent never seen before in a time of peace. Unemployment at 11% officially has become of a structural type and difficult to reverse. No one in the socialist government apparently has any answers to offer a beleaguered nation as prices rise with incomes remaining static and most certainly declining in value. Worryingly, output is stagnant.
Unfortunately, there are also trends characterising a government that has lost its way and seeks smoke-screens behind which it may buy some much needed time to reorganise its forces, hoping to re-establish a credible authority through a restoration of economic fortunes.
In such situations, it is essentialheads remain cool and misplaced reactions are avoided where individuals and groups are singled out for public ridicule and worse still persecution. They ought to read Holly Sklar’s useful book entitled “Chaos or Community? Seeking Solutions, Not Scapegoats for Bad Economics”. Sensibly, she emphasised, “We need vigorous debate over how to reshape economic policy in the public interest- not the pseudo debate of false campaign promises, negative political ads and talk radio hate-mongering.”
Across The Aude while public officials resist this poisoned chalice, there are bloggers who think it is unimaginable that politicians, exploiting a docile media, continue to delude the public into believing that the Franks are suddenly going to pour out onto the streets in a frenzy of hatred against minority tribal factions because a comedian, or anyone else for that matter, is making ridiculous noises and signs on stage to select audiences. One stated, “…French people are intelligent enough to be able to tell the difference…”
Aude cybernauts note too that trumpeting noisily the target of state ire has now made Dieudonné known to all those in this region who have never heard of or know little about the polemical comedian: oh for the oxygen of publicity! One Narbonnaise asked about this issue replied that until last month she knew nothing about it.
One local e-mailer claims censorship is in danger of becoming a regular feature of political life here implying the need for regional resistance: the latent traditional concern by Audois about Parisian interference is aroused once more. One news-media blogger asked the Interior Minister how it was that in Marseilles there have been 20 murders recently but no arrests, yet so much priority given over to this affair. Another contributor asked if this government didn’t have a problem with Dieu (God): Dieudonné and Dépardieu?
Comments made by tweeters here allude to the concern by one very important political leader, who refused live on French TV to respond to questions put to her about this issue, citing the statistics for unemployment, poverty and health neglect amongst the Franks as worthier of due consideration. While many in the region would agree, not everyone in Paris does, apparently.
Gnaeus
