[War] France: The Carrot...

[Daniel Garcia]

"France:  The Carrot..."
President Zoé Ampère, French Republic
January 31, 2013


<A Speech in the Parisian Suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois>

"Just over seven years ago, this commune was inflamed by riots and  
violence, signaling the start of a dark period for France.

"This dark period was fueled by two coincident and confluent trends.   
Firstly, the high unemployment rate among the young of France,  
struggling to find their first stable job in a system designed to  
cherish stability over all economic and financial sense.  Secondly,  
there was a growing discomfort among the ethnically French, empowered  
portions of society with the young, growing immigrant and ethnically  
diverse sections of the French population.  These two trends came  
together here violently.  Young people, unable to find work due to  
the nature of the French economy and due to growing discrimination  
among those in power, particularly among the police, exploded in rage.

"This event proved to be the first of many, the prologue to a dark  
chapter in the history of France.  I wish I could say that with a  
magic word or act, that all these problems could be made to  
disappear.  Unfortunately, there exists no such word or act.  What  
must come in the next several years is the beginning of a journey  
down the road of recovery.  The beginning of acceptance and  
reconciliation.  This will not be an easy road.  Impatience, anger,  
and the other demons of the recent past will continue to plague our  
society.  We must resist these temptations of darkness, and continue  
down the road of reconciliation.

"That being said, we must have a point to start, a point of departure  
down this road.  There has been a failure of the system of law with  
regard to equality before the law.  In art, justice is depicted as  
blind, and yet in France it must be admitted that Lady Justice has  
been keeping an eye open, judging by appearance and background.  And  
as the law is, for many practical purposes, the last resort for the  
downtrodden, this has been one key source of the discrimination of  
the minorities of France.

"Early next week I will be submitting to Parliament legislation to  
create, at the department level, the position and office of Ombudsman  
for Discrimination.  The Ombudsman will be responsible for collecting  
complaints and, if enough complaints are received or if the situation  
warrants it, take legal action on the behalf of those who have been  
wronged.  Additionally, the Ombudsman will make statistics and other  
information public, making full use of the power of the public  
spotlight.

"It cannot be expected that the results of this endeavor will be  
either immediate or spectacular.  But it is a place to start.   
Moreover, complaints filed against organs of the government *will* be  
taken seriously.  If verified, there will be consequences for those  
responsible.  It is important that the civil service remember it  
exists to serve all the people of France, no matter their background  
or appearance, even if only as a matter of professionalism.  This is  
not intended to be an inquisition, but if you can not trust the  
machinery of government in the least, then where or when can there be  
true justice from fair laws?

"France is emerging from a dark era, and era that I know many people  
would like to forget.  Many people, good people among them, want to  
ignore the causes and effects which led France into the past half- 
decade.  I am here to say that we can not now forget this past, not  
when the wounds are still so open, and not when the danger of relapse  
is still so prominent.  We need to make changes, need to address  
these issues.

"Today we take the first step in this direction.  It will not be the  
last step along this difficult road.  It will take years for the  
specter of discrimination to fade.  And it will take courage and  
determination to stay the path as hard, difficult reforms are  
undertaken to make sure that the France of tomorrow is a far better  
place for all the people of France than the France of yesterday."


ACTIONS:

1)  Create the position of Ombudsman for Discrimination at the  
department/subprefect-level.  Their job will be to accumulate and  
investigate complaints of discrimination, primarily on the basis of  
race, nationality, status, and such, and then pursue legal remedies.   
The office will have a staff of attorneys and necessary legal  
personnel in order to carry out this task.

2)  Each ministry will review itself for possible discriminatory  
behavior in either its own personnel, or in the programs that it  
runs, and take care of anything that they find.  If an Ombudsman  
should receive a complaint which they are able to substantiate, then  
the officials directly responsible will be sternly warned, with  
subsequent complaints (those coming after the warning) warranting  
dismissal.  Their boss will also be warned, and will be demoted for  
the first warning after one of their subordinates is fired for  
discrimination reasons.

3)  Statistics on complaints to the Ombudsman will be published  
quarterly by each Ombudsman's office, with a public report each year  
by the Ministry of Justice, under whom the Ombudsmen will technically  
fall (though they'll largely be autonomous in an administrative sense).

4)  Ombudsmen for Discrimination will be chosen from among the most  
prominent reconciliation activists in a department.