The Hindu : Wake-up call in France

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 24, 2002

Opinion

Opinion - Editorials

Wake-up call in France

THE SHOCK WAVES from the verdict in Sunday's first round of the French Presidential election will continue to be felt on the continent and beyond for a long time. The immediate fallout of the upset victory scored by the far right candidate, Jean-Marie Le Pen, is the eclipse of the Socialist Prime Minister, Lionel Jospin, who has announced that he is bowing out of politics altogether. In the longer term, the political after-shocks can be damaging to the fabric of the society. The eruption of popular anger, shame and revulsion at Sunday's result signals that there will be better mobilisation of political forces during the second round run-off. Mr. Le Pen will most certainly be stopped on May 5 by the incumbent Gaullist war-horse, Jacques Chirac. But Mr. Jospin's resignation from the Socialist Party will leave the left political forces without an effective leader during crucial parliamentary elections due in June. This can prove a crippling handicap in the three-way battle for the French Parliament between the Gaullists, Socialists and the National Front. The danger is that the political vacuum created by the fall of Mr. Jospin, who was hoping to succeed to the throne of Charles de Gaulle, will be sought to be filled by the xenophobic, anti-Semitic group led by Mr. Le Pen.

The increasing popular appeal of the National Front confirms a clear continent-wide shift to the political right, not in the least spurred by the ascendancy of the Republican party in the U.S. Much of western Europe — Austria, Germany, Italy, Portugal — has voted rightist parties to power in recent elections. Not all of them are xenophobic but many will not hesitate to raise the foreigner bogey to garner public support or boost sagging morale. Apart from voter apathy, which is proving a deep-rooted affliction of most democracies, there are other factors which have facilitated the emergence of fascist forces in Europe. One direct consequence: the Left is on the run, still to recover from the shocking collapse of the Soviet Union. In fact, Europe is fast seeing the erosion of the progressive liberalism that characterised politics in the mid-20th century. Founded and nurtured on the Left Bank of the Seine, the liberal spirit was forged in the fire of the fascism of Spain's Franco, Germany's Hitler and Italy's Mussolini. A half century later, today, the socialist in the mother country lies bruised and broken.

As the traditional political parties in France begin to decipher the results, it must be tempting to conclude that Sunday's vote was Europe's slow but unambiguous answer to September 11. Mr. Le Pen played on voters' insecurity about immigration, mostly Arab, and attempted to whip up anti-Semitism, both favourite themes with the fascist groups that vociferously support him. There have been attacks on Muslim immigrants in Paris and, during the run-up to the current election, synagogues in southern French cities were targeted. These were attempts by fringe groups impatient with the record of France, which has the largest Jewish and Muslim communities in Europe. The country is paying a heavy price for the failure of the mainstream parties to counter these fascist tendencies with clear ideological programmes. Fascism is like the plague bacillus which never dies or disappears for good, wrote Nobel laureate Albert Camus adding, it may lie dormant for some time before one day deciding to rouse up its rats again. Sunday's vote is proof that Europe's premier nation is yet to be rid of that political plague. Certainly men like Mr. Le Pen should not be allowed to devastate the social stability of France, the most liberal and pluralistic nation in Europe.

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