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| Mourad
Boudjellal ... the 'rugby emperor' of Toulon, champion of European rugby and of the French marginalised. Photo: sarugbymag.com |
By COLIN RANDALL of The Nation
On the morning after the French rugby
club Toulon won Europe's Heineken cup final in May, the club's owner, Mourad
Boudjellal, depicted the victory as a source of pride for people, like him, of
immigrant
Aiming his remarks at Marine Le Pen, the
leader of the far right, anti-immigrant Front National, Boudjellal, the son
of an Algerian father and Armenian mother, said: "Let's hope Marine takes
note.
"When access to culture and
knowledge is given to the children of immigrants and they are trusted, they get
to do a few things for their country and city," he told the French
television channel BFMTV.
"When you do not hold them back,
they can do good things."
As François Hollande launches his
initiative to alleviate unemployment, poverty, poor housing and crime in the
shabby suburbs where much of the immigrant community lives, he arguably needs
such role models to show success in life, from modest beginnings, is possible.
Boudjellal's case is exceptional. A
self-made millionaire, he made his fortune in publishing comic books before
selling a controlling stake in his business, Soleil Productions, in 2011 to
devote his energy and resources to the rugby club of his home city.
But there are other examples, elsewhere
in the fields of sport and commerce but also in politics and the arts.
A glimmer of hope
From the former French football captain Zinedine Zidane to Rachida Dati, the high-profile centre-right former justice minister who is mayor of a smart Parisian arrondissement, or administrative district, they offer a glimmer of hope to the sons and daughters of settlers from France's old Maghrebin and African colonies.
From the former French football captain Zinedine Zidane to Rachida Dati, the high-profile centre-right former justice minister who is mayor of a smart Parisian arrondissement, or administrative district, they offer a glimmer of hope to the sons and daughters of settlers from France's old Maghrebin and African colonies.
One left-leaning economist, Jacques
Reland, says it is important to enable residents of the banlieues, as suburbs
are called, to feel as French as those from more comfortable backgrounds.
He sees an apparently growing presence of black and Arab-French faces in television news "vox pops" - random interviews with members of the public - as a welcome change from finding them only in media coverage of the sports, entertainment and crime.
He sees an apparently growing presence of black and Arab-French faces in television news "vox pops" - random interviews with members of the public - as a welcome change from finding them only in media coverage of the sports, entertainment and crime.
But Reland, who is head of European
research at the Global Policy Institute in Paris, acknowledges that the trickle
of success stories from the suburbs brings only superficial encouragement.
France, home to Europe's largest Muslim
population, is no stranger to bold plans of action to improve daily life in the
suburbs.
"There have been so many that
French people no longer believe they will achieve anything," says Reland.
"Whether this latest one succeeds
may well depend on whether France is able to maintain and improve on its recent
economic boost."
Financial turmoil
Recovery may be too strong a word after the financial turmoil and social consequences of recent years. But Mr Hollande was buoyed by second-quarter returns showing France had risen gingerly out of recession with growth of 0.5 per cent, twice as high as predicted.
Recovery may be too strong a word after the financial turmoil and social consequences of recent years. But Mr Hollande was buoyed by second-quarter returns showing France had risen gingerly out of recession with growth of 0.5 per cent, twice as high as predicted.
He said the economy was "still
fragile and precarious" but spoke of a feeling that "something is
happening".
Hollande's new initiative is hardly a
Marshall Plan for the suburbs. But in difficult times, it represents what his
government sees as its best hope of making a difference.
Separately, France is working with Qatar on boosting small to medium-sized businesses.
Separately, France is working with Qatar on boosting small to medium-sized businesses.
Qatar is a major investor in France from
outright ownership of the Paris Saint-Germain football club and palatial
Parisian and Riviera hotels to stakes in leading companies including the oil
giant Total, the Lagardère media group and the water and waste management firm
Veolia.
After an earlier plan to aid
disadvantaged areas provoked a political row amid claims from the far right and
far left of "Islamification" or "financial colonisation",
respectively, France and Qatar have settled on a more structured joint scheme
worth €300 million.
"I'd like to see young people
encouraged to make more of their lives," says Othman Nasrou, a
Moroccan-born businessman and the president of the citizens' association in
Trappes, a suburb south-west of Paris that was the scene of rioting in July.
"But the main problem is the lack of skills and qualifications of young
people, which contributes to unemployment rates rising to 40 to 50 percent
among the young in this area."
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