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Chirac’s speech
The logic of Chirac’s tv speech on Monday echoed that of the Kerner Commission Report on Civil Disorders from the 1960s. The riots are an expression of “discontent,” he declared. The main problem he pinpointed was “discrimination.” While he noted that the law would be enforced, he insisted that “discrimination undermines the very foundations of our Republic.” He referred repeatedly to “troubled youth.” Many programs would be needed. Businesses must take action on “the crucial issue of diversity and employment of youth from troubled neighborhoods…. We reject the logic of quotas … rather we must give young people the same opportunity for employment.” He actually said: “Our diversity is our strength.”
I was amazed by the setting. Chirac, the President of the Republic, sat spoke before a wall of plain concrete blocks; it looked like the corner of an unfinished basement. He seemed diminished, vacant—as how could a man not be, who has spent his entire professional life selling out his country to its enemies, all in the hope that this would enhance his power? The entire speech could have been a scene out of The Camp of the Saints. Email entry |