Unfortunate turn of events in France

The rioting has stopped, for now, but looking at how the government is reacting to the root cause of the problems of racism it is only a matter of time before this pops up again. In the middle of the crisis Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy made a number of inflammatory statements which aggravated the situation but for me came as a surprise since he has consistently been the only French politician to discuss racism (well before the riots) and correcting the problem via affirmative action.

The government, led by Chirac, had put together a team to study the problem and surprise, surprise, they rejected any affirmative action plan because in their eyes it runs counter to the theory that everyone in the state is equal. Hmm. France loves math and logic and racism somehow fails to fit into the theory (and god knows they love theory) that everyone is equal already. This rejection of affirmative action is absolute rubbish and guarantees a continuation of the festering problem of racism here.

If anyone takes any time to look at racism in France, new visitors will be welcomed at immigration by blatant cases of discrimination, where anyone that is not white will regularly be questioned and whites will pass through without question. Look around on the streets and see who is pulled over by the police and all too often, they are not white people. Go into an office in France and look who is sitting at a desk and who is cleaning up. It's disgusting, it's archaic and has no place in the modern world in this day and age.

This committee and their response is a sham and a disgrace to equality. I really hope that in 2007 Sarkozy learns to control his outbursts and instead focuses his energy on fixing this problem of racism. Dismissing the problem of racism and talking about theory is so last century. Get with the times.