Why France doesn't care about anti-Semitism
THIS IS THE JEWISH GROUP!While 2014 was a bad year for the Jewish community in France, 2015 promises to be even worse. Last year saw a rise in the number of anti-Semitic incidents, Jewish emigration from France to Israel grew, and the extremist National Front party gained strength, according to a presidential poll. None of these facts bode well for French Jews, yet France doesn't seem to care.
Although survey data would suggest the majority of France citizens are not anti-Semitic, what is becoming clear is that fighting anti-Semitism has ceased to be a national priority. This is because the French have begun viewing anti-Semitism as part of a more general wave of xenophobia, and, as a result, the authorities have become less inclined to devote their attention to addressing its unique traits. In what could be considered an acknowledgement of this fact, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said, following a violent anti-Semitic attack in which a woman was raped for simply being a Jew, that France must make the fight against anti-Semitism "a national cause" – something it has failed to do thus far.
But anti-Semitism is not "just another form of racism." It stems from larger social and political malaises, and it is aggravated by larger structural issues in France.
The extreme right – including National Front – benefits from the corruption, rivalry and paralytic loss of innovation that has been fragmenting France's mainstream political elite. A vicious cycle has developed, whereby the extreme right capitalises from the failures of the mainstream parties, who in turn move rightward in an attempt to regain voters' support. The Roma, another classic scapegoat, have also borne the brunt of this. During his days as interior minister, even Manuel Valls, who himself was born in Spain and immigrated to France, backed the deportation of Roma on the grounds that they were incapable of integrating into French society. This sentiment echoed one evoked in the past against Jews.
more: http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.635359
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Last edited Mon Mar 9, 2015, 06:27 AM - Edit history (4)
I would be glad to talk about it in this group. I don't think I have the strength to participate in GD anymore, the antisemitism is so rampant, so dog-whistle-y, so accepted, that I just can't engage anymore, at the risk of losing all my energy and life-force fighting the dumb and the evil.
After the defeat of the French and British army by Hitler (War declared September 3, 1939, Battle of France May 10 - June 22, 1940, 59,000 French soldiers dead not counting Naval deaths ). The French Army sacrificed itself on the beaches of Dunkirk to allow the British Army to escape back to Britain and continue the fight against the Nazis - the story related to me by my French husband is that the French were outnumbered 4 to 1 on the beaches, and accepted this as the price to pay to defeat Hitler eventually. I add this as the antidote to the "French Surrender Monkey" theme so popular in the USA.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bataille_de_France#Cons.C3.A9quences_de_la_d.C3.A9faite
The subsequent Nazi occupation of France started on June 22, 1940. You can't talk about antisemitism in France without talking about the reality of the Occupation. Much of it is heroic, and much of it is disgusting, venal, and corrupt, and the vast majority is the reality of people trying to survive and not get killed. It's too complex to post a link, but I can recommend a good biography, either of Jankélévitch or of Camus. Hannah Arendt is also a brilliant source on this subject.
To assure you that I'll stay on topic, the 2 penny response to the OP is that a serious person can't say "France doesn't care" about antisemitism. But to really examine what is happening, you have to know the history. Michel Onfray, who is a brilliant contemporary philosopher, states that many people on the "Left" hide their traditional antisemitism in the anti-Israel position. Then there is a visible population of Muslim immigrants and 1st/2nd generation offspring to France who hate Jews because they follow Islamist fundamentalism, as they have been indoctrinated. Then there are a very small group of RW Extremists, possibly Neo-Nazi, who hate Jews.
Then there is the overwhelmingly huge population of French who are quiet, who believe in the Republic, who believe in "Laicité", and who really don't care about what religion people practice, and who are horrified that Jews are no longer safe in some areas of France. The biggest threat to Jews in France today is political Islam, and the reason why French Jews are having to consider leaving France is because of bullying and harassment by punks and delinquents, the children of immigrants of Muslim origin, who live in the large Urban cities like Paris.
This is a really complex, difficult subject. 
On edit: Most French Muslims are integrated, or wish to and are on the way to integrating into French society. Muslims are an integral part of France, as are Jews, as are Christians. I am not saying that ALL French Muslims are extremists and/or fundamentalists. There is a visible divide in how Muslims practice their faith, as we see in the news all over the world. I add this because, the climate being what it is, I cannot assume that everyone reading this post will know that I do not discriminate against Muslims.
