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Trump and Vance have smashed the old order – how should Europe respond?

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This assault on democracy has left Europe reeling – and alone

For years, many of us assumed that with the decline of the US-led liberal international order, the split between democracies and autocracies would be what shaped the contemporary world.

Liberal democracies in America, Europe and Asia would stick together, while China, Russia, Iran and North Korea would increasingly cooperate. The pessimists worried about the decline of multilateralism giving way to a “multi-order world” in which like-minded autocracies would start to cluster, making the search for global peace and prosperity ever harder.

The reality looks much worse. Donald Trump’s US is now subverting the very idea of liberal democracy in order to undermine it, both in the US and, as has become painfully obvious, in Europe too.…  Seguir leyendo »

In front of the location of the Ticaret shop (31 rue du Chaudron, 10th arrondissement), old school graffiti with a B-Boy, on Nov. 25. For a long time, Ticaret was France's only hip-hop store. (Cyril Zannettacci/Agence VU/ for The Washington Post)

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Since November, the French hip-hop world has been in turmoil. A true French art form is currently under siege, and defending the future of the genre means remembering its past — and its roots in France.

A highly contested, newly proposed law meant to “professionalize dance education” is seen as trying to kill the genre. According to that law, hip-hop dance teachers would be required to hold a state diploma to teach. But in response, many members of France’s hip-hop community have signed a petition against the institutionalization of dance and for the promotion of popular culture.

Without question, hip-hop is core to French culture.…  Seguir leyendo »

Karim Benzema and Kylian Mbappé after a Uefa Nations League match between France and Spain in Milan, Italy, October 2021. Photograph: Soccrates Images/Getty Images

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France is home to Europe’s largest Jewish and Muslim populations. Inevitably, what is happening in the Middle East has a particular resonance here. The grotesque images that circulated after Hamas’s horrific attack on Israeli civilians on 7 October, planned and carried out in a chillingly meticulous way, sent shockwaves through France that are still reverberating.

A big part of the country’s public debate has been fixated, since the massacre, on avoiding the “importation” of tensions connected with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. After a spate of antisemitic incidents, Emmanuel Macron is rightly concerned about the fear gripping “our compatriots of the Jewish faith”.…  Seguir leyendo »

A rally organised by staff in Stains, in the Paris suburbs, to protest against the government’s abaya ban in schools, 6 September 2023. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

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Shortly before schools opened for the new term in September, Unicef France issued an alert that almost 2,000 pupils were homeless, twice as many as in January 2022. The UN’s warning was timely, because parts of the state education system in France are in crisis – if not entirely dysfunctional. Yet what made the headlines wasn’t such urgent challenges, but a manufactured controversy over what children are accused of wearing to school.

In a country where the far right is steadily gaining ground, politicians and policymakers know how to play on the fear of Islam as an easy way to mobilise public opinion and pander to populist ideas.…  Seguir leyendo »

A protester holding placard saying ‘Justice for Nahel’ during a march in Nanterre, Paris, 29 June 2023. Photograph: Telmo Pinto/Sopa Images/Shutterstock

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Since the video went viral of the brutal killing by a police officer of Nahel, a 17-year-old shot dead at point-blank range, the streets and housing estates of many poorer French neighbourhoods have been in a state of open revolt. “France faces George Floyd moment”, I read in the international media, as if we were suddenly waking up to the issue of racist police violence. This naive comparison itself reflects a denial of the systemic racist violence that for decades has been inherent to French policing.

I first became involved in antiracist campaigning after a 2005 event that had many parallels with the killing of Nahel.…  Seguir leyendo »

Emmanuel Macron at a ceremony marking the 78th anniversary of the victory of 8 May 1945 in Paris. Photograph: Eric Tschaen/Sipa/Shutterstock

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As France was commemorating the end of the second world war in Europe this month, Emmanuel Macron cut an isolated figure on a near-empty Champs-Elysées, surrounded by steel security barriers to prevent any member of the public from getting within shouting, let alone pot-banging, distance.

For the first time, and by police order the French people were barrred from a large area ringing the official 8 May remembrance of the liberation. Six years after his first presidential victory and a year after winning a second term in the Elysée, Macron can scarcely show his face in public without being booed, heckled or insulted.…  Seguir leyendo »

A woman shouts during a demonstration on March 16 as thousands took to the streets in Toulouse, France, to protest policy changes being implemented by President Emmanuel Macron. (NurPhoto/Getty Images)

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The face of the young woman fiercely confronts a police officer, guarded by helmet and shield. Her bravery and the strength of her gaze echo the determination of so many in France’s younger generations to defend not only an endangered welfare system but also a way of life.

The protest movement that this young woman embodies was launched in response to President Emmanuel Macron’s overhaul of the nation’s retirement system, a deeply unpopular reform he ultimately forced through the French parliament without a vote. Although Macron was already jeopardizing the future of the French welfare state, it was his avowedly antidemocratic approach that truly undermines the ideals of the nation.…  Seguir leyendo »

Demonstrators in Paris protest the French government's plans to revamp the pension system on Feb. 16. (Benjamin Girette/Bloomberg News)

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Like tens of thousands of others, I was proud to be on the Place de la République recently to defend the legacy of the French welfare state. This is the Parisian square where so many protests have begun and whose name is a symbolic reminder of the storied ideals of the French republic: liberté, égalité, fraternité.

Across the country, millions have gathered in periodic protests to defend one of the crown jewels of the French welfare model: the pension system. President Emmanuel Macron is determined to reform the pension system and to increase the retirement age from 62 to 64 (he first intended to push it to 65).…  Seguir leyendo »

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On April 24, the day of the final round of France’s presidential election, many woke up to a chilling development: Majorities in the overseas departments (or territories) of Martinique, Guadeloupe and French Guiana — who cast their vote a day early due to time difference — voted for far-right candidate Marine Le Pen over President Emmanuel Macron.

Though Macron ultimately won the election, Le Pen won 41 percent of the total vote, the far-right’s best-ever performance in a French presidential election. More than 60 percent of voters in each of the three departments, along with majorities in the Indian Ocean departments of Mayotte and Réunion, contributed to that.…  Seguir leyendo »

Campaign posters of French President Emmanuel Macron, Marine Le Pen and Jean-Luc Mélenchon are displayed at France Affichage Plus dispatch hub in Mitry-Mory, outside Paris, on March 22. (Benoit Tessier/Reuters)

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In 2017, France was lauded for sending an important message to the world: that there was no place for a far-right head of state. At age 39, Emmanuel Macron became the youngest president in French history, defeating far-right candidate Marine Le Pen with 66 percent of the vote. He appeared as the champion of the “Revolution”, which was also the title of his book announcing his ambitious program.

Claiming to belong to neither the left nor the right, Macron and his En Marche party shook up the political landscape. He scooped up so many voters that the socialist party went from being the presidential party in 2012 to ending up with only 6 percent of the vote in 2017.…  Seguir leyendo »

French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech at the Élysée Palace in Paris on Jan. 11. (Ludovic Marin/AP)

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Never before has the far right appeared as strong in a French presidential campaign as it does now. That should concern everyone who cares about the future of rights and equity in France — but shouldn’t obscure the ways in which government policies are already intrusively targeting Islam.

According to recent polling, far-right candidates are poised to receive about 30 percent of votes in the election’s first round. For the first time, two figures from the far right seem almost equally likely to access the second round of the April election.

One of them in particular has garnered much attention. Éric Zemmour, a controversial pundit who officially declared his candidacy at the end of November, has managed to find a place for himself among the contest’s leaders.…  Seguir leyendo »

Josephine Baker poses at the Bois de Boulogne waterfall, near Paris, in June 1949. (AFP/Getty Images)

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Josephine Baker, one of the most fascinating figures of French 20th-century history, is finally being interred at the Panthéon, after an announcement by President Emmanuel Macron in August. She is the first woman of color and first artist to be interred at the mausoleum, which houses the remains of the most distinguished French citizens. There is no doubt she deserves the honor — but France should not use this moment to congratulate itself on its treatment of people of color.

Baker is a national hero in many ways. The granddaughter of enslaved people, born in 1906 in St. Louis, she later fled to France to escape segregation, succeeding in a career she could never have had in the United States, where, even as an international star, she was not allowed to stay in luxury hotels.…  Seguir leyendo »

French Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer leaves Elysee Palace after attending the weekly cabinet meeting in Paris on Oct. 20. (Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images)

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Months after having identified “Islamo-leftism” — a so-called trend that nobody was able to precisely define — as wreaking havoc in universities, French Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer has found a new opponent: “wokeism” and “cancel culture.”

Despite the fact that schools have not recovered from the major challenges caused by the covid-19 pandemic, Blanquer decided to focus his attention on the creation of a think tank, the Republic Laboratory, meant to reflect on the values of the French republic “at odds with wokeism”. According to him, young people should be prevented from “approaching their social life entering a resentment contest” and be protected from a “doctrine” that “fragments and divides,” “has conquered certain political, media and academic circles” and had brought Donald Trump to power in the United States.…  Seguir leyendo »

Christiane Taubira speaks to journalists in January 2016 in Paris. (Thomas Samson/AFP via Getty Images)

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Almost a decade after the election of socialist president François Hollande, no one could have predicted how bad the state of the French left would be. Since the debacle in the 2017 election, when the socialist candidate scored a historically low result of 6.3 percent, the Socialist Party has imploded. And despite the larger support for Jean-Luc Mélenchon of La France Insoumise, a party situated on the left, the French left seems to be seeking a credible leader.

One possible figure comes to mind, though she has already been upfront about her current lack of interest. Christiane Taubira has been questioned for years about her possible candidacy in the 2022 French presidential election, and her answer sounds quite clear this month.…  Seguir leyendo »

A French soldier checks a woman's temperature as people wait in a reunion and evacuation center at the French military air base 104 of Al Dhafra, near Abu Dhabi, on Aug. 23, after being evacuated from Kabul. (Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images)

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“We must plan and protect ourselves against large irregular migratory flows that endanger those who are part of them and fuel trafficking of every kind,” said French President Emmanuel Macron in a speech last week after the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban. His comments sparked outrage in France. To many, especially on the left, this framing — which criminalizes refugees facing atrocities and presents their entry as a potential threat — suggested a “shocking” lack of empathy. The hashtag #EmmanuelLePen, in reference to French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, trended on Twitter.

A lot has been said, and will continue to be said, about this response to the crisis.…  Seguir leyendo »

Visitors look at the Rosetta Stone next to social distancing markers on the floor at the British Museum in August 2020 in London. (Chris J. Ratcliffe/Getty Images)

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In June, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet offered a reminder that “systemic racism needs a systemic response.” She called for the immediate dismantling of the systemic racism that Black people face around the world and set out a four-point agenda for this transformation.

Just over a year after the killing of George Floyd, the report was widely discussed. But a key aspect was not as visible in public discourse as it should have been. Among other points, the report recommends the necessity of reparations for colonial injustices.

This poses a significant question for European countries, which have benefited greatly from wealth stolen in the colonial era.…  Seguir leyendo »

Police officers demonstrate outside Parliament in Paris on May 19. They gathered over growing concerns for their safety amid a series of recent attacks against French police officers. (Kiran Radley/Getty Images)

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Until last month, Sara Zemmahi was a relatively unknown figure. A candidate based in Montpellier from President Emmanuel Macron’s République En Marche party standing for a regional election, and who happens to wear a hijab, she could not have anticipated how her appearance would create division at the national level.

After Jordan Bardella, a member of the European Parliament from the far-right National Rally, discovered her picture on a campaign poster titled “Different but united for you”, he tweeted: “Is this fighting against separatism?” And he tagged Marlène Schiappa, a prominent member of the government who is one of the leading figures fighting what the government has labeled “separatism”.…  Seguir leyendo »

Women hold signs reading "Don't touch my headscarf" as they demonstrate Oct. 19, 2019, on the Place de la Republique in Paris. (DOMINIQUE FAGET/AFP via Getty Images)

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“France, the world is watching”, Muslim American Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) posted on Instagram recently, with a video of herself wearing her religious head covering along with the viral hashtag #handsoffmyhijab. The hashtag, created by American Muslim women to support their French counterparts, spawned millions of videos on TikTok after France’s senate voted to ban children under the age of 18 and mothers who accompanied them on school trips from wearing the hijab, and to ban burkinis at swimming pools.

This global movement came in stark contrast to the silence of prominent French voices, who have said little about the new provisions that are part of a law designed to fight the “separatism” that is supposedly threatening France.…  Seguir leyendo »

Protesters hold a UNEF students' union banner during a demonstration in Paris on March 16. (Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images)

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Mélanie Luce is the first woman of color to lead the UNEF, a progressive student union founded in 1907 in France. When she joined a news show to speak about the precarious social conditions of students, she could not guess that she would soon be the center of national attention. Luce admitted that the union sometimes organized safe spaces to support students of color, and the interviewer labeled the initiative as “closed to White people”.

The outrage quickly spread across the political landscape. Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer called the meetings “racist”, “deeply outrageous” and potentially “leading to things that look like fascism”.…  Seguir leyendo »

A farmer walks a cow on the square facing the city hall of Lyon on Feb. 22 during a demonstration to protest the city majority's decision to keep meat off city schools' menu. (Olivier Chassignole/AFP/Getty Images)

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In France today, when a mayor decides to take meat out of the school menus in his city, it becomes a matter of national debate across the political landscape.

Last month, Lyon Mayor Grégory Doucet announced the city would stop serving meat in school cafeterias. Meant to be temporary, the official goal of the policy is to reduce food options to more easily adhere to social distancing rules. In fact, animal proteins will not even be totally banned since cheese, fish and eggs will still be served.

But it was enough to spark national furor. First farmers protested, driving their heavy vehicles and livestock in front of the of the city hall.…  Seguir leyendo »