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PARIS,
Aug 28 (IPS) - France, a colonial power until the 1960s, is ill
at ease over the World Conference Against Racism (WCAR), scheduled
to open Friday in Durban, South Africa, say political analysts and
anti-racism activists.
As
proof, they note that the government will send only a small delegation
to the conference.
Absent
will be right-wing President Jacques Chirac, who has a reputation
for embracing international meetings as opportunities to thunder
against everything from pollution to discrimination against women;
Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin; and Foreign Minister Hubert
Vedrine.
The
French delegation will comprise only a handful of bureaucrats and
will be led by Minister of Co-operation Charles Josselin.
The
Aug. 31-Sep. 7 Durban talks are expected to focus on African demands
for reparations from the continent's former colonial powers and
on Arab countries' desire to have Zionism condemned as a form of
racism.
''The
French government doesn't want to openly oppose these demands,"
Mamadou Gaye, director for international affairs at SOS Racisme,
a non-governmental organisation, said.
By
sending only a low-level delegation, ''the role of France in the
conference will automatically be watered down,'' he said.
For
Christophe Ayad, a journalist at the newspaper Liberation, ''the
absence of leading French state representatives at the Conference
suggests the unwillingness of this country to confront its past
as a colonial power''.
''France
may have been the first country of the world to have stated in a
law that slavery was a crime against humanity,'' Ayad said. ''But
it doesn't want to face demands of reparations nor to publicly present
excuses to its former colonies.''
Officially,
according to a foreign ministry spokesperson, France wants the Durban
conference to avoid ''useless rhetorical combats on regional conflicts.''
The
spokesperson said: ''In Durban, the European Union should prepare
the future through a consensus condemnation of racism. This should
be our way to examine the questions of slavery and colonialism.''
However,
analysts said they believe France only wants to avoid public reprimands
from its former colonies.
A
public scolding against Paris could come from the Algerian government.
Former French army officers have recently conceded that during the
repression of the Algerian independence movement in the 1950s and
until 1962, France practised torture on a large scale.
The
retired officers, including Generals Jacques Massu and Paul Aussaresses,
who were France's top military representatives in Algeria during
the war of independence, admitted having summarily executed hundreds
of Algerians.
Although
the confessions of Massu and Aussaresses shocked the French public,
the government has so far refused to apologise to the Algerian people.
Francis
Jeansson, a philosophy professor in Algiers in the 1950s, said ''the
question of torture cannot be dissociated from colonialism and racism''.
''During
the war that France waged against the Algerian independence movement,
our army committed the worst crimes, from inhumane conditions in
the prisons, to rapes and systematic torture,'' Jeansson said. ''French
army officers believed they were morally superior to the so-called
Algerian terrorists.''
He
added, ''the typical answer to demands of discussions of our past,
is that we cannot offend France's honour. But it is not the glory
or the honour of a country which are at stake, but our relation
to the truth.''
Other
observers said Chirac, a neo-Gaullist, and the Socialist-led government
opted out of going to Durban because of upcoming elections, in which
the status of the country's ethnic minorities will feature prominently
as a subject of concern and as a rallying cry for racists.
According
to opinion polls, more than 60 percent of French adults consider
themselves racists. During the 1980s and 1990s, political parties
campaigned with open racist slogans and themes.
Among
these parties, the National Front (FN) obtained up to 18 percent
of the votes in regional and local elections. But the FN broke up
three years ago, and now plays only a minor role in French politics.
For
the next parliamentary and presidential elections, scheduled for
early 2002, the main political Socialist and neo-Gaullist parties
will scramble for the support of former FN voters.
During
the summer, children of Arab, sub-Saharan and Southeast Asian origin
have been the targets of harassment by right-wing politicians, who
claim the ethnic minorities are mainly responsible for crime.
In
addition, France has a bleak record on the treatment of refugees.
Last
July, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT)
accused French authorities of systematically mishandling refugees
and asylum seekers.
In
a 96-page report, the CPT listed ''unacceptable practices'' it had
discovered during a month-long examination of French prisons and
refugees' reception centres.
The
CPT documented numerous cases of refugees and asylum seekers who
presented bruises, bone fractures and other wounds, inflicted upon
them by French police agents.
Physicians
working in reception centres and prisons, where refugees are being
held, told the CPT that many detainees had ''traumatic wounds''.
''Most
of the victims refused to explain the origins of their wounds,''
the report said. This fear would confirm that police agents caused
the wounds, it suggested.
The
CPT also said that ''when asylum seekers and refugees refuse to
be expelled from France, the police use brutal methods, often provoking
grave concussions''.
In
addition, France intentionally keeps the refugee camps in miserable
conditions, as to prevent further migration into the country, according
to experts.
A
typical case is the camp for refugees in Sangatte, in the northern
region of Pas de Calais. Some 1,000 refugees caught trying to reach
England through the Eurotunnel have been crammed into an open-air
makeshift camp designed for 500 people.
Although
human right organisations, such as the Information and Support Group
for Immigrants, have urged the French government to improve the
refugees' living conditions in Sangatte, the situation in the camp
continues to deteriorate.
Other
forms of racism and discrimination are daily routine in France.
During
the summer, vacation centre owners denied Arab and Black youth access
to their holiday camps. The owners defended this exclusion with
crime statistics allegedly showing that non-French youth are responsible
for more than 80 percent of offences nationwide.
''It
is not racism,'' said Henry Debre, owner of a vacation centre on
the Atlantic Coast. ''It is only self-defence.''
Activists,
however, said that French courts have described as unlawful discrimination
similar measures taken by discotheques and bars in Paris and other
cities.
''With
statistics that nobody can prove and that at best are relative,
people try to hide their fundamental racism,'' said Gaye. (END/IPS/EU/HD/JG/RJ/AA/01)
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