"The election of Barack Obama
exposes, through cruel contrast, the shortcomings of the French Republic and
the gap that separates us from a country whose citizens were able to overcome
the race issue and elect as president a man who happens to be Black."
Prompted by the victory of of President-elect Barack
Obama, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the first lady of France, is backing this
manifesto calling for major changes in the way Europeans percieve race,
and the way they consider those in power.
The election of Barack Obama exposes,
through cruel contrast, the shortcomings of the French Republic and the gap
that separates us from a country whose citizens were able to overcome the race
issue and elect as president a man who happens to be Black. America has
confirmed the validity of a democratic model based on equality and diversity.
What a lesson! We French, who
claim our universalism to be a part of this diversity, must listen to this. By
neglecting its own diversity, France has disappointed a large segment of its
young people and prevented them from being proud of their country. We feel the
tension of identity everywhere, from whistling during the playing of La
Marseillaise [the French national anthem] to calls for public order that are in
vain and misunderstood.
No one should be surprised
that Obama is so popular here: this reflects the aspirations of all the
children of the Republic, who are vicariously experiencing a
recognition that France doesn’t afford them. This also betrays the bad
faith of those who welcomed the victory of modernity beyond our borders, but
who tolerate the status quo here.
Meanwhile, French society is
one of the most mixed in the world. But what concept of humanity must one have,
to accept that the economic, political and social elite here should remain
exclusive? Countries that succeed in promoting equality and justice are the
only ones who will have a place in the globalization of people and ideas. The
others are doomed to become old-fashioned, outdated and out of touch outposts
of democracy. To escape this fate, we need politicians who are resolutely
committed to equality and diversity. Proclaiming equality isn't enough to make
it fact: it is an arduous and non-spontaneous process that we have a duty and
an interest to pursue.
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The United States has, in its
time, committed itself to positive action that has allowed the emergence of a
Black middle class that was waiting in the wings of the elite. Without a doubt
those actions need to be adapted to the French context. Oh how we need them! France has had
enough mediators, organizations with overbearing voices, symbolic acts and
formal declarations.
With the arrival of Obama, it
will soon no longer be possible to make diversity the enemy of merit, nor to
justify injustice through the principle of equality. We, the participants in
public life, French people with good intentions, who are committed to the
democratic promise of our country and who want to restore an authentic civil
conscience, demand the effective implementation of a minimal program for real
equality:
-- Implement public policies
that combat the social consequences of discrimination.
-- Systematize policies of
educational success and the encouragement of talent in poorer neighborhoods.
-- Promote urban policies
that allow the realization of social and population diversity.
-- Formally push employers,
the state above all, to establish policies to encourage diversity that are
based on obligatory of results.
-- Impose term limits to
force renewal in the political world.
-- Subject political parties
to a national pact for diversity and organize a nationawide
town hall meeting on true equality and diversity.
To join the signatories of
this appeal, write your name in the comment section. No pseudonyms. Your first
and last names are necessary to be counted.
