WHERE'S THEIR THATCHER?:

France's Most Successful Immigrant Son: In the Ghetto with Nicolas Sarkozy: For better -- though most often for worse -- he has been the face of the recent rioting in France. But love him or hate him, French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy is admired for his tough talk and hands-on approach. Can he solve the problems that generations of French politicians have made worse? (Ullrich Fichtner, 11/14/05, Der Spiegel)

The event was being sponsored by the UMP, France's conservative ruling party, which had been established three years ago as a platform for the re-election of French President Jacques Chirac. It has, though, since strayed from its original mission. Within a year, Sarkozy became chairman of and grabbed control over the party -- or "movement" as the party itself would have it -- and with his charisma has already managed to recruit 60,000 new members since January. His entrance into the auditorium was nothing short of triumphant.

At approximately 8:30 p.m. on October 27 -- just as Sarkozy was giving his speech in faraway Lorraine -- the first car was being set on fire in Clichy-sous-Bois, 350 kilometers away in Paris. The fire began near a concrete housing project called Chêne-Pointu -- and a process began which would soon yield television images depicting street scenes in the country's most impoverished suburbs that could just as easily have transpired in places like Baghdad, Lagos or Port-au-Prince. In his speech, Sarkozy spoke informally and effusively about the values of the French republic. He had no idea how soon these values would be called into question.

"It cannot be, my friends, that the grandchildren of the first generation of immigrants are not as well-integrated as their grandparents," Sarkozy told his audience. "We must bring an end to the division of our country, we must put an end to this talk about real and inauthentic Frenchmen, and we must wake up after 30 years of failed policies. Today, anyone who wants to be French is a Frenchman, no matter how long he has been in the country, and no matter where he came from."

Mr. Sarkozy, at least, recognizes that the French can't be both nationalist and integrationist. However, as long as the idea that defines France is equality of outcomes, they can't build a decent society out of the French Proposition either.

Posted by Orrin Judd at November 14, 2005 10:22 AM