Saturday, Nov 11, 2006
Opinion
Unemployed swelling ranks of the Right http://www.hindu.com/2006/11/11/stories/2006111106801100.htm
Vaiju Naravane
Jean-Marie Le Pen of the National Front could exploit the upsurge in protectionism and nationalism and the fact that France appears to be "at war with itself."
A FEMALE torso still adorns the façade of Aubade, one of France's best-known makers of lingerie. For over half a century, through its hugely expensive near-nothings of lace and satin, Aubade has contributed to the creation and definition of French feminine mystique.
But Aubade's story, in France at least, will soon be coming to an end. The owners have decided that with shrinking profit margins, the time has come to uproot and re-locate in Tunisia, where labour costs four times less than in France.
Aline, has worked at Aubade for the past 30 years. A kerchief tied around her head she rattles off statistics about the female form with enviable ease and is a fund of precious knowledge about styles and shapes.
Aline and all her colleagues suddenly find themselves on the mat. Her knowledge, she says is of no use to her anymore. "Overnight, just like that, they decide to close; not because we are losing money but simply because their levels of profit have come down. We are honest workers - I started here at the age of 18 and have worked here ever since. Where am I to go now? Who will employ me? With cheap imports coming in from China and elsewhere our jobs are being driven out of the market. What I get angry about is that the owners will get Tunisian labour for one-fourth our salaries. But they'll still sell Aubade products for the same price on the French market. We are being sacrificed for profit and greed, nothing else."
Aline's bitterness is echoed by countless workers, most of them blue collar, as factories close across France to move to emerging economies, whether in Europe or elsewhere, to take advantage of cheaper labour and manufacturing costs. And Aline makes no bones about who she will vote for next year: Jean-Marie Le Pen's National Front (FN). "Everyone in Paris and the big cities is screaming about the suburbs just because those troubles are at their doorstep. Do any of our leaders spare a thought for people like us - we are French, sons and daughters of the soil, and our bread is being snatched away by those illegal immigrants who have come pouring into our country and who are now setting fire to the buses and causing trouble. France should be for the French. I don't want to know about the misery of the rest of the world," says Aline.
A recent study showed that France's stubbornly high unemployment rate - nearly 10 per cent of the active population, especially amongst blue collar workers - is swelling the ranks of the extreme Right, xenophobic National Front and other extreme Right parties. Workers, retired people, low level office employees - all those who find it most difficult to make ends meet today, constitute the bulk of the National Front electorate. Over 28 opinion polls conducted in 2006 indicate that these people, usually the staple electorate of the Communist Party, are crossing over in droves from one political extreme to the other.
As the National Front begins a three-day conference to hammer out its strategy for the 2007 presidential election, its leader Mr. Le Pen appears assured of at least 15 per cent of the vote in the first round. The professionals - doctors, lawyers, teachers or company executives - are amongst those least seduced by the National Front's vitriolic anti-immigrant rhetoric. Interestingly, the number of farmers and fishermen among FN supporters has gone up significantly since the last presidential election of 2002.
A typical National Front voter is male, white, catholic and between 35 and 69 years of age. More often than other French people, FN voters say they do not care for politics and harbour a deep mistrust of politicians. The strength of the National Front lies not in the big cities but in the thousands of big and small towns and villages. Significantly, the fastest growing segment of Le Pen voters is women, mainly rural women, like Aline, whose families have been forced out of agriculture and into jobs in manufacturing, which they are now in the process of losing because of globalisation.
Favourite themes
Immigration, insecurity, unemployment, globalisation, anti-Europeanism, and the reintroduction of capital punishment are the National Front's favourite themes. Eighty-six per cent of FN voters feel there are too many immigrants in France and have little sympathy with the Africans or Arabs living in big city suburban ghettos, most of whom now have French nationality. Immigrants, they feel, are the major cause of insecurity, delinquency, and drug-related crimes, they say.
As the FN prepared for its conference, its leader cast himself in the role of Zorro, ready to defend a disillusioned people from the political establishment. "I am the Zorro of French politics," Mr. Le Pen said in an interview with the Financial Times in London.
Mr. Le Pen, 78, told the financial daily he hoped to profit from a reported deep mistrust among French voters of "corrupt" politicians. Dissatisfaction with their performance has reached record highs especially on subjects such as law and order, immigration, social and employment reform. Mr. Le Pen could exploit the upsurge in protectionism and nationalism and the fact that France appears to be "at war with itself."
What is more worrisome is that the ruling conservative UMP party led by the hugely ambitious Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy is likely to enter into a tacit electoral pact with the FN and another right-wing party - the UMF - led by Philippe de Villiers, a fundamentalist catholic and Muslim baiter. Recently, the UMP said it would not bar its local elected officials from sponsoring Mr. Le Pen's candidature.
In order to be on the list of presidential hopefuls, Mr. Le Pen, like any other candidate, needs 500 signatures from elected officials.
Copyright © 2006, The Hindu.