Sarkozy and his racist right-wing populist drive for votes

This video is utterly harrowing to watch where French cops forcibly, brutally and violently move these women and their children (one traumatised baby is seen being dragged underneath his/her mother by the cops…Words fail me other than feeling immensely bloody angry!).

The film was shot in the early morning on 21 July in a particularly volatile town called La Courneuve, outside a block of flats called Balzac. The decaying 15-storey building is set to be demolished, leaving dozens of squatters homeless. Many are young women originally from the Ivory Coast, and it was these who were mainly filmed as they were targeted while taking part in a sit-down protest. At least one pregnant woman faints, while a little boy is in hysterics as he is dragged along the ground under his mother.

Sarkozy is on a racist right-wing populist spree targeting, vilifying, stigmatising and scapegoating immigrants, travellers and Roma. And the above video shows people being dehumanised and brutalised by a racist state. It is beyond comprehension, these women are treated like they are nothing. But then Sarkozy thinks he can gain a few votes by playing to racist right-wing populism.

This is not the first time Sarkozy, who before his election in 2007 was the country’s tough-on-crime interior minister, has been accused of exacerbating social tensions for his own political gain. Last year he embarked on a much-derided quest for “national identity”, an exercise which critics said had more to do with deciding who and what was not French rather than who or what was. Before that, he imposed a harsh new quota-driven expulsion policy for illegal immigrants, and, while still interior minister, caused outrage by referring to youths in city suburbs as “scum”.

Scum? That definitely fits the profile of Sarkozy….

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I haven’t been blogging as much as I usually do. Don’t have the energy nor the inclination which is odd as that’s not like me at all. Lack of concentration and mind in a fug. Not like myself at all. Bereavement is odd, well for me it is, grieving for someone you really don’t want to grieve for. And especially so when you are put in a position to explain estrangement. Dredging up your past and bringing it to the forefront. I am kinda berating myself because I shouldn’t be like this, I should be moving on. I couldn’t stand the woman. Here now have said it in black/white. But ….. so contradictory.

It’s hard to face up to grieving for someone who hurt me so much. And that’s central to all this (the GP gave it a medical term, ‘delayed shock’) finding myself in a place where I don’t want to be. Fighting the feelings of grief because I don’t want to feel that way, ignoring them as well, along with wishing they would go away, disintegrate, dissolve and disappear…. but no… it doesn’t happen. And that has prolonged things not facing up to the truth, also I keep having that, ‘why aren’t you over this yet’…. The GP quoted the various ‘stages’ you go through. And time varies etc.  etc. Instead of giving me pills he gave me a list of counsellors who deal with this area. Though seeing the doctor triggered something inside my head which I am not entirely sure what it was. I kinda crumbled and all the defences I have built inside my head, fortresses to protect me from grief have kinda shattered (though the pain was starting to seep through anyway). And to my detriment kept ignoring and hope it went away.

So at the moment I feel jaded and … numb (again) staring into space. Why aren’t I over this, why should I be grieving for that woman.

Oh, must not be myself as someone from the David Miliband campaign called me yesterday asking me who I was voting for… there was so much I wanted to say (polite..of course) but just didn’t have the energy nor the inclination.