 |
|
Afro-French protesting racism in a Paris rally.
|
By
Hadi Yahmid, IOL Correspondent
PARIS,
April 25, 2006 (IslamOnline.net) - More than two-thirds of Afro-French
people want "positive discrimination" to make up for their
under-representation, especially in high rungs of the government's
ladder, a new survey showed on Monday, April 25.
The
survey, conducted by the CSA polling group, found that 64 percent of
French of African origin want a
specific
quota in the county's high-profile public posts.
Fifty-seven
percent of the polled believe that Afro-French deserve better
political representation.
Around
68 percent of the respondents said it would be "impossible"
to see an Afro-French in the Elysee.
A
Sorbonne research released last year by the French Observatory Against
Racism found that names and dark complexion represent an obstacle to
jobseekers.
There
is no official number of people of African origin in France as laws
ban census based on ethnic or religious grounds.
But
unofficial estimates indicate that Afro-French represent 10 percent of
the country's some 70 million population.
Second-Class
 |
|
Cesaire snubbed a meeting with Sarkozy over a law glorifying French colonialism.
|
Afro-French
leaders have long complained of being treated as second-class
citizens.
Comedian
DieuDonne has regretted that his fellow Afro-French were socially
looked upon as inferior.
Afro-French
leaders have recently established a representative council as an
umbrella body for their sizable minority.
France
has further touched a raw nerve when it adopted a law glorifying the
"positive" aspects of colonialism in Africa, sparking
massive protests both at homer and in former colonies.
Famed
Afro-French writer Aime Cesaire snubbed a meeting with Interior
Minister Nicolas Sarkozy unless the government reversed the
controversial law.
Admitting
that the law was "dividing the French," President Jacques
Chirac intervened and ordered the National Assembly to write a new law
that would maintain national unity.
He
further set May 10 as a national day to remember the sufferings
endured by Africans during the repugnant slavery era.
Frustration
has been growing among ethnic minorities in France over racism,
unemployment and harsh treatment by police.
Many
feel trapped in the drab suburbs, built in the 1960s and 1970s to
house waves of immigrant workers.
Last
October, thousands of youths of African and Arab origin took to the
streets in destructive riots to tell the government "enough is
enough."
