The recent events that set La Belle France ablaze are rooted in its colonial past; a past full of shame and mortification. The French, who still hold a remarkable sway over their ex-colonies, are conducting their little secret colonial war in Ivory Coast without a peep from the rest of the West which delights in disciplining and punishing at will anyone who does not toe the line: Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan.

This time, though, the unrest comes from within La Métropole : the immigrant who has been languishing to find the stable strikes back with a vengeance. Although it remains doubtful, his late revolt may force Maman Fouance to take a hard look at herself in the mirror and face up to its anti-Semitic, xenophobic, and racist past and present. Beleaguered and sandwiched between Germany to the East, Great Britain and the US to the West, the country that used to be the envy of the world can hardly breathe today. Read More »