More Thoughts on France

A few pieces came to my attention today that I thought were worth highlighting in the wake of yesterday's French elections and the challenges that Sarkozy's government will face in coming months. First off, Socialist Segolene Royal, maneuvering to avoid total disaster at the polls, has proposed an alliance with Francois Bayrou's centrist Democratic Movement (MoDem). Many seem doubtful whether such a move will stave off electoral catastrophe or merely stanch the bleeding.

Despite Royal's outreach, I think that we may be seeing the death throes of France's Socialist Party (PS). While the Left in other European countries has moved away from pure socialism towards social democracy, the PS has remained firmly wedded to full-fledged socialism. Bayrou's relatively centrist MoDem was partially offering an alternative to the old left/right divide but he failed to make it into the second round. Should the PS suffer a crushing blow in the upcoming election, and should Sarkozy succeed in implementing his reforms, the party may be too devastated to offer any serious opposition, ceding its role as a major party to MoDem or another. This isn't to say it would disappear altogether but rather be reduced to the ranks of the minor parties of the left, which includes not only your garden-variety communists and greens but also parties devoted to "workers' struggle" party and at least one Trotskyist party (not kidding).

The second item of note was that French Sikhs have gone to the European Court of Human Rights, seeking permission to wear their turbans in school as well as in official identification photos. As to the former complaint this is a consequence (unintended or not) of the controversial law passed a few years ago banning students from wearing overt religious identifiers (aimed primarily at Muslim girls' headscarves) in schools. The law is rooted primarily in the traditional French zealousness for a certain national unity without regard for race or religious creed, a notion which has been severely abused in recent years.

The law came under fire from multiple directions when it was passed. Some accused it of being an assault on Islam (apparently Europe too has its grievance theater types). One of the more interesting criticism I remember at the time was the Economist's libertarian reaction. Of course young Muslim girls donning the head scarf may not actually be their choice?