Faculty comment on rise of Le Pen in France
Vardi, Welch say extremist's showing in election a fluke, signifies emerging racism
By
PATRICIA DONOVAN
Contributing Editor
Right-wing
extremist Jean-Marie Le Pen's electoral success in the qualifying race
for the French presidential election, which the London Daily Standard
referred to as "the awakening of a vampire," may signify emerging racism,
but will be "dealt with responsibly by European nations," a UB human-rights
expert says.
Claude
Welch, SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Political Science,
says he was surprised by the showing of Le Pen and his ultra-right wing
National Front, which has been publicly deplored throughout Europeeven
by the rightfor its virulent racism and attacks on immigrants
and immigration laws.
"It
demonstrates the streak of racism that can emerge in the privacy of
the voting booth," Welch says.
"I
think his success so outraged the French because France has Europe's
third-largest Jewish population, as well as a history of anti-Semitism
to which the French government and people are very sensitive," he says.
He
adds, however, that this election "should not be the immediate concern
of Americans, since Le Pen almost certainly will lose the run-off election."
Liana
Vardi, associate professor of history, agrees, calling Le Pen's success
a fluke and "the unfortunate result of an overconfident political left
that wanted to 'send a message' to France's socialist prime minister,
Lionel Jospin, by voting Green or for another splinter Left party, in
the first election round."
"They
now have learned a very painful lesson," she says. "This is a wake-up
call to the government and to the political left, and I believe it will
be heeded."
She
says that Le Pen, who is demanding more prison beds, an expanded police
force with new powers and an end to immigration, speaks to people's
fears about growing violence and unemployment that the government has
not addressed head-on.
He
has done so, she says, by appealing to racism and xenophobia. "Le Pen
got 15 percent of the vote in the last election and 17 percent this
roundenough to get him to the second ballot, but not enough to
demonstrate a great shift to the extreme right by French voters," says
Vardi.
"The
drawback of his making it this far is that he will get equal time on
television and will be very visible" until the run-off election is held
on Sunday.
In
spite of the furious call-to-arms Le Pen's showing has provoked in left-to-center
politicians across Europe, Vardi says there is no doubt in anyone's
mind that Jacques Chirac will win the election, despite several charges
of corruption related to his tenure as mayor of Paris.
She
points to an editorial in the French left daily, Liberation,
that urged the French to vote for "the crook and not for the fascist,"
and to television interviews with left-wing voters that indicate that
they will indeed rally to Chirac, however reluctantly.
"There
has been a lot of discussion in the press about mounting anti-Semitism
and demands that the government take it seriously," Vardi says.
"It
seems to be coming out of the suburbs, rather than fascist skin-head
groups associated with the far right and is an inappropriate, to say
the least, extension of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict onto home-ground."
While
Le Pen's success in this election will be short-lived, one thing Americans
should keep an eye on, according to Welch, is the recent success
of right-wing political parties in Norway, Italy, Denmark and Portugal
that may be seen again in the upcoming Dutch and German elections.
"Le
Pen represents something larger than himselfthe underlying streak
of racism that exists in nations throughout Europe. Even though now
it does not have widespread popular support, it could be a threat to
civil liberty," he says.
"If
moderate governments were to react to the activities of the right wing
by clamping down on free expression everywhere, they would sorely test
the limits of free speech.
"I
want to stress, however," Welch adds, "that Europe is a made up of mature,
responsible societies that certainly will deal with the far right and
its activities in a reasonable way."
He
says the current rise in support for the European right wing is due
in part to the fact that Europeincluding Francehas a higher
rate of unemployment than the U.S., and many Europeans blame North African
and Turkish immigrants for taking jobs away from native Europeans.