France greets Obama victory with rejoicing, and reflection
November 13, 2008
Obama election sparks jubilation and soul-searching about the racial divide in France.
Anyone who says the French dislike America has not been in Paris the past few days. Uncharacteristic enthusiasm and pro-American sentiment have been in evidence since the election of Barack Obama. Red, white and blue Obama posters dot windows all over Paris as the US election was the most closely watched and most celebrated in France in many years.
For many in France, Obama embodies hope for change in US-French relations and a departure from what they see as the unilateralism of the current US administration. But there is an aspect of guilt mixed in with the joy, because if the election of Barack Obama proves that anything is possible in America, it also reminds the French of how much is still impossible in France.
Barack Obama’s race and multinational background is an inspiration to many in France of all colors and origins, as it sets the example of a minority overcoming the past and rising to leadership of a historically white, Western superpower. But blacks in France are still very far from achieving anything like Obama’s rise in their own country. While women in France have made great political gains in recent years, people of color have remained largely shut out of the French political mainstream. Many black and Arab people in France are immigrants from former colonies such as Algeria, and many have not fully assimilated into French society, though whose fault this is is the subject of hot debate.
In any case, the evidence is clear: the lower house of parliament in France has 555 members from the French mainland, but just one is black.
A manifesto published Sunday entitled “Oui, nous pouvons!” (French for Obama’s campaign slogan “Yes, we can!”) urges steps to turn French ideals of equality into reality for millions of blacks, Arabs and other disenfranchised minorities. The manifesto, which was written by an Arab-French businessman, appeared in the Journal du Dimanche Sunday newspaper.
Even the First Lady of France made a statement about the state of race inequality in France. Commenting on the manifesto, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, former model and wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, said, “Our prejudices are insidious,” and that she hoped the “Obama effect” would make a big difference in French society.
The biggest and most surprising change that Barack Obama’s victory has wrought in France so far is that it has caused the French not only to look at America differently, which might have been expected, but also to take a hard look at themselves. Similar soul-searching has been reported in other European countries with large but under-represented minority populations.
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