Penned with Le Pen

By Hosny Abdel-Rehim

Bardot, considered sympathetic to the cause of Jean-Marie Le Pen's fascist National Front (FN), is married to a prominent FN activist and boasts of a deep and long-standing friendship with Le Pen.

The FN, which has managed to capture some 15 per cent of the national constituency, has of late attempted to polish its image and become more mainstream. Manipulating the conservative right and using their slogans, the FN has manoeuvred to broaden its base and displace the conservatives from the centre of the political spectrum. Skilfully brandishing an anti-immigrant banner, the FN has consistently called for "national preference in employment policies," openly calling for the expulsion of "the foreigners" who usurp French jobs.

The FN base broadened considerably during the '80s and '90s, which witnessed soaring unemployment levels especially among the youth. Le Pen's brand of nationalist populism also appealed to a segment of the working class, including small shop owners who are particularly vulnerable to rising unemployment and recession. Accordingly, party membership and the FN constituency expanded over the last two decades to the extent that the party now controls four municipalities and boasts a total of 2,200 elected officials across the country. As a result, slur campaigns against immigrant labour are on the rise, frequently degenerating into violent assaults against individuals.

The FN's social and intellectual background is varied. Some party intellectuals are close to the ideology of the World War II right-wing Vichy collaborationist government. Others, represented by the FN's number two man, Bruno Megret, can be viewed as catholic fundamentalists -- who reject Muslims from a religious and cultural platform. A third trend, represented by Le Pen, adheres to the Pieds Noirs (French settlers in North Africa) brand of colonialist ideology. The Pieds Noirs, who had to leave their last stronghold in North Africa after Algeria gained its independence in 1962, are also right-wing nationalists calling for a halt to immigration and the expulsion of foreigners.

The southern suburbs of Marseille and Nice, which have sizable Pieds Noirs communities, have become FN strongholds of sorts. During municipal elections, the FN has repeatedly gained over 25 per cent of the votes. While the Communist Party previously controlled the same numbers in the '60s and '70s, the FN seems to have stepped in and displaced the left in the '90s.

Deeply disillusioned with previous governments of the left that promoted a market economy and tightened social spending -- more so than governments of the centre-right -- workers massively abandoned the traditional left. Discredited and unable to offer solutions, the left evidently lost out to the resonance of Le Pen, who finds easy prey in immigrants, promises jobs and vigorously heralds change while remaining in the opposition.