The video below has just blown up in the face of Brice Hortefeux, the French Interior Minister and close friend of President Sarkozy. In it, Hortefeux is bantering with Amin, a young party activist of Algerian origin from Sarkozy’s UMP party. Apparently talking about France’s north African immigrant population, the minister cracks a joke: “When there’s one that’s all right. It’s when there are a lot of them that there are problems.” [more of the exchange below]
That was enough to trigger a full-scale outcry from the Socialist opposition, anti-racist groups, editorialists and so on. The exchange, which has turned into a YouTube hit, is the top national news item this morning. Ségolène Royal, the Socialist Madonna, has just called for Hortefeux’s resignation.
Hortefeux has come up with clumsy attempts to extract himself. He was, he claimed, not talking about Arabs, but talking about Auvergnats, people from the Auvergne, because both he Amin hail from the central France region.
The mini-scandal will blow over, but it it is damaging because it plays to the racist reputation that clings to Hortefeux from his days as Sarkozy’s first minister for Immigration and National Identity. It also reinforces the ugly image that has clung to Sarkozy’s administration despite his appointment of ministers from the immigrant banlieues. Before the new incident, Rachida Dati and other former Sarkozy appointees from the minorities had complained that Hortefeux was condescending towards them.
Since becoming Interior Minister, which includes the job of chief of police, in the summer, Hortefeux has been trying to shed his sulphurous image. To show he meant business, last month he sacked a prefect -- top state official -- for complaining that the chaotic security measures at Orly airport were “like being in Africa”. The black personnel complained to the police. Today the dismissed prefect, Paul Girot de Langlade, was crowing on the radio. “I hope he joins me soon.”
Amin is insisting that he did not feel insulted or “disrespected” by the minister’s banter. Hortefeux says that he said nothing about anyone’s north African origins. The fuss is being overplayed, but his explanation does not wash. The exchange in the video tells you about the old-fashioned attitude in sections of the the UMP -- formerly the Gaullist -- party towards the underclass descended from immigrants from the former colonies.
A woman introduces Hortefeux to Amin, saying “he eats pig and drinks beer”.
Hortefeux jokes: “So he doesn’t fit the stereotype at all.” [Il ne correspond pas du tout au prototype, alors]