“Dati sees herself as living proof that it is possible in French society to overcome poverty and discrimination through hard work.
“We need to stop seeing people of immigrant background as either problems or victims,” she once said.
“It’s not always easy for us to climb the social ladder. But the Republic makes success possible. Public examinations are the same for everyone.”
Dati does not see herself as a spokeswomen for France’s troubled suburbs – and has often been at loggerheads with community groups in the suburbs critical of Sarkozy’s tough line on immigration and law and order.
As justice minister, she would be in charge of rolling out Sarkozy’s planned reform of criminal law, that would toughen sentences for young offenders, including from the suburbs.
But Dati has also repeatedly defended Sarkozy against charges of racism sparked by his tough campaign talk on controlling immigration and defending French identity.
She also supports Sarkozy’s call for some form of affirmative action, based on socio-economic rather than ethnic grounds.”
Er, could he have chosen anyone more in line with his policies? I love how people that have had a bit of luck with all their hard work like to claim that it's possible for everyone.
*North African on the outside, bigoted Caucasian on the inside
Update : Hm, Maghrebism has challenged my classification of Ms. Dati:
You know, I’ve seen this a lot/it happens a lot. Apparently, we Moroccans/North Africans in Europe, are subjected to an invisible law that states that we can only be government-members if that government is “leftist”.
Apparently there is also another invisible law that states that North Africans have to have the same view on immigration and integration as the “leftists”.
And if we don’t share the same views, we’re bigots, traitors and Uncle Toms.
Isn’t thatWhy can’t an immigrant child share the same views as Sarkozy? (or any other rightist politician for that matter)
Is the “right” always wrong on immigration issues and the “left” always right? Why can’t a Moroccan share the same views as Sarkozy, based on her own evaluation and experience? Why does that make her an “Oreo”/ Uncle Tom?
Isn’t that also discrimination and bigotry? Well, yeah it is.
Actually, no, it’s not. Ms. Dati’s parents wouldn’t even have been allowed to enter France under Sarkozy’s proposed immigration policies, and that’s just one of the reasons I find her so hypocritical. She’s pursued Sarkozy for years, begging to be part of his team – obviously morals are trumped by career ambition in her case.
Aimee
May 18, 2007 at 5:25 pm
Isn’t that what our leadership did? Anyone that didn’t tow the line “resigned.”
France’s first North African Justice Minister at Maghrebism
May 18, 2007 at 5:42 pm
[...] a lot of people though, is the fact that she is in a Sarkozy-government. Some even called her a French Oreo (North African on the outside, bigoted Caucasian on the inside) How can a North African women be a [...]
P.S.Canton.de.Brétigny
May 19, 2007 at 6:10 pm
Le Maghreb salue l’arrivée de Rachida Dati, pas celle de Kouchner…
Au Maghreb, l’arrivée de Bernard Kouchner et de Rachida Dati au gouvernement est largement commentée depuis vendredi. Au Maroc, la presse s’emballe pour Madame Dati. L’éditorial du quotidien Libération (celui du Maroc) lui est consacré: “La…
Hilary
May 21, 2007 at 11:20 am
Why do you assume that this woman has tried to be in this government to better herself — and not in order to CHANGE things for others?
Does change come from the people who sit back and judge, label and criticize others — or from those who take action, get in there and educate the people who need to make the changes? Does lasting change more often come from the outside or from the inside?
I cannot think of any great social change that took place through people sitting back and doing nothing but commenting on others, but going in there, understanding why they do things a certain way, and then helping them see another solution — that can build lasting change.
Try out my rule in life: “Give her a chance before you judge her … she may surprise you!”
Felix
May 21, 2007 at 2:52 pm
Gosh, that’s just lovely, Hilary, but try taking off your rose-colored glasses.
I’m judging her based on numerous statements made BY HER in her career up to this point.
I’d love it if -
A. She became somewhat more compassionate and liberal
OR
B. She stuck to her guns, and her policies work, proving me wrong.
I have doubts that either one will happen.
mike
May 21, 2007 at 4:54 pm
I know the whole ‘oreo’ thing makes for a nice metaphor, but ‘North African on the outside, bigoted Caucasian in the inside’? Why not bigoted North African on the inside? Or are only caucasians bigots?
Further on the topic of Sarkozy’s proposed immigration policies, surely if Ms. Dati’s parents wouldn’t have made it into the country then neither would Sarkozy’s dad.
Felix
May 21, 2007 at 7:44 pm
Good points, Mike – I meant to imply that she was just like Sarkozy on the inside (bigoted Caucasian), perhaps I should have made that more clear.
I read a bit about Sarkozy’s Hungarian refugee parents, but I figured that I’d opened up a big enough can of worms for one post…
Shaheen
May 23, 2007 at 9:17 pm
Sarkozy’s not bigotted, he’s just a bit of a populist. Whatever bigotted thing he might have said was a reflection of what a significant portion of the French electorate wanted to hear. There have been times when he was much more friendlier towards French Maghrebis, but they dealt with him like real political strategy morons.
As for Rachida Dati, I definitely don’t see her as a self-hater, or a traitor or an uncle tom. Contrary to people like Boutih, Amara or Kaci for example, she just doesn’t make a capital of being an Arab and being an alibi for the bigots. She just embraced completely her French identity (as understood in the dominant discourse) and she’s fine with being herself. Whether she’s misguided or not in adopting that kind of identity is arguable given her visible origins, but if it wasn’t for her name or her skin color, you wouldn’t even notice she had them.
Felix
May 23, 2007 at 9:29 pm
Shaheen – Thanks for the insights, very interesting stuff. So you think he doesn’t actually buy into the bigoted stuff he says, but just spouts it to make his supporters happy?
I’ll have to do a bit of reading on the other figures you mentioned…
Shaheen
May 24, 2007 at 12:03 am
> “So you think he doesn’t actually buy into the bigoted stuff he says, but just spouts it to make his supporters happy?”
I don’t know whether he buys them or not, but whatever he thinks, I trust he’ll put his career first and he’s good at that. So if it was more interesting for him not to make those remarks career-wise, he sure wouldn’t have done them. There was a time French Maghrebis had political momentum (2002-2004, had Jospin shut his big mouth on Hizballah he would have gotten enough of their votes to make it to the second round and probably to the presidency). Sarkozy showed signs of opening and even took political risks for them until they proved that the momentum was more a matter of morons’ luck than that of organized political strategy.
Now, there’s the fact he’s from the right. You won’t expect a right winger to shed tears over the many ghetto losers who don’t fight for themselves. I don’t. France is extremely unfriendly towards its Maghrebi minority, granted, but even though you have to spend much more effort than average, it’s possible to do something about yourself nonetheless. Sitting in a ghetto and whining about French discrimination doesn’t help and doesn’t deserve compassion. Leftist lip service and patronizing help even less.
Felix
May 24, 2007 at 11:50 am
Hm…but I don’t think it’s just the ghetto losers whining, is it? What about the student protests regarding the CPE? And while we’re on that, if over 20% of the 18-25 age bracket in France are unemployed, how are the ghetto kids supposed to find jobs, given the discrimination they already face? Maybe that’s where the extra effort you mentioned comes in, but it seems daunting.
I should say that I have about zero sympathy for the hoodlum sort of kids.
Shaheen
May 24, 2007 at 2:57 pm
(arf my comment was caught as spam)
> I don’t think it’s just the ghetto losers whining, is it? What about the student protests regarding the CPE?
The anti-globo crowd, the socialists, etc. All those who swallowed the French anti-capitalist rhetoric. That rhetoric being widespread doesn’t make it any less rooted in economic illiteracy. The protests against the CPE are to be framed into that context.
The CPE (and now the CNE) was absolutely necessary. The lack of flexibility in the French labor market (e.g. the CDI) combined with its high cost is one of the main reasons behind the high level of unemployment. Unless we switch to a communist regime, businesses can’t be forced to hire if 1) they’re unsure they can lay off during rough times 2) unsure they can lay off deadwood 3) have to endure costs that are higher than the threshold of profitability. The higher the costs and the inflexibility, the higher the threshold, eliminating the least desirable workers from the competition, i.e. those who have less skills and experience to offer like the young, and among those, the least “ethnically desired”, like the Maghrebis. The inflexibility of the French labor market only serves those who are desirable enough to be able to lock a job-rent.
> that’s where the extra effort you mentioned comes in, but it seems daunting.
It can be daunting, but then again, it’s a matter of where your sympathies lie. That is, whether you think the losers who sit and whine are a model deserving compassion, or promote those who make it despite the hurdles as an example to follow. Sarkozy’s the first significant political figure in France who openly supports affirmative action to remove those hurdles. I don’t like the idea of affirmative action, but as you can see, it has nothing to do with bigotry.
Groucheaux
May 28, 2007 at 8:16 am
Shaheen, it’s necessary to understand the whole CPE/CNE thing in a broader perspective than narrow neoliberal economic expediency. What brought the kids – and their parents and grandparents, blancs, beurs et noirs – out on to the streets all over France was the widespread perception that the so-called ‘loosening’ was in fact a licence for a no-holds-barred, no-rights, hire-and-fire culture. It was a perception that was allowed to remain uncorrected – suggesting what? Given the habit of many (maybe most) French employers of already doing everything they can to manipulate and cheat the existing system – cheating the govt is the national sport here – the protests weren’t against the notion of flexibility, but against the notion of employement being a one-way transaction and employees being no more than economic commodities. Very few in France in fact object to the concept of a little more flexibility – even here in the Socialiste France profonde – but it’s flexibility to create real jobs with a real future that the kids want – not MacJobs for the benefit of global corporations.
There’s a great of BS talked about the French economy anyway – for a more accurate and thought provoking view of our reality, I commend you to http://www.eurotrib.com/?op=displaystory;sid=2007/5/4/113029/9034
Sokari
June 5, 2007 at 1:04 pm
Your blog has been included in the Review of North African blogs on Pambazuka News
Larbaa Nathirathan
June 16, 2007 at 12:47 pm
L’arrivisme Faustien, sacrifier son ame au diable, c’est bien Datti … L’altruisme eleve a l’art cynique c’est Sarkozy nommant Dati comme Porte Parole, puis Ministre de la Justice; c’est comme nourrir une vache de son lait pour mieux en faire de la viande.
Quel beau couple de Francais; Le Pen aurait il pu faire mieux! ….
Et, pour finir, que l’on colle l’ettiquette de droite ou de gauche a quelqu’un … la discrimination sur la base de l’origine ethnique d’une personne … ne peut etre qualifiee que d’un seil adjectif: “BIGOT-BIGOTTE”
Felix
June 20, 2007 at 4:35 am
Larbaa, I don’t care whether someone is classified as “right or left,” I just thought she’d have more sympathy for immigrants.
France: Profile of Justice Minister Rachida Dati, First French Minister of North African Origin « Progressive Muslima News
July 4, 2007 at 2:07 am
[...] 3rd, 2007 Although this article has a very positive spin, others (including Morocco Time) refer to Rachida Dati as a French Oreo. In clubby France, a Muslim woman as justice minister [...]
james
July 23, 2007 at 9:58 am
In America, minorities are appointed as long as they are the most right-wing supporters. Think of Clarence Thomas, the US Supreme Court justice, arguably the most right wing judge. Then there is Gonzalez of the Justice Department, the weakest and most right-wing, simply uspporting torture as legitimate. In most caes, minorioties are used as social/political capital, to give a nice face to oppressive policies.