The CRIF in action
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Published on 19 November 2005

DECREASE OF ANTISEMITISM IN FRENCH SCHOOLS

French Jewish Philosopher Alain Finkielkraut, questioned about the violence in deprived French suburbs, said he had been “terrified but not surprised”. He explained to the French daily "Le Figaro" that “there had been warning signs: the Marseillaise (the French national anthem) booed during a soccer match in Paris between France and Algeria, acts of aggression by high-school students during a demonstration against a draft law reforming the school system. There had also been warning books such as the one by Emmanuel Brenner “Les territoires perdus de la République” (The Lost Territories of the Republic), or the June 2004 report by the Ministry of Education on signs of religious identity and belonging in certain schools in difficult neighborhoods.”



The philosopher went as far as quoting a verse from a very explicit French rap song: “France is a bitch, don’t forget to f*** her till you exhaust her like a whore, you have to give it to her, man! Me, I’m shitting on Napoleon and General de Gaulle.”


He is indignant about the reactions of apparent understanding for such feelings and events: “Instead of outrage for the scandal of burned down schools, we pontificate about the despair of the arsonists. Instead of hearing what they are saying: “F*** your mother!”, “F*** the police!”, “F*** the State!” we listen to them, that is to say we convert their calls to hatred into calls for help and the vandalization of school buildings into a demand for education. “The present violence is not a reaction to the injustice of the Republic, but a gigantic pogrom against the Republic,” reckons Alain Finkielkraut.

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